The well accepted facts are that the voters of Western Sydney will decide our nation’s fate over the next political cycle. If the TV news grabs are correct, then many in our West are waiting to take a baseball bat to the government.
Irrespective of whoever wins the election, the fate of every business is in the hands of business owners, not the Government.
Governments come and go. There is no doubt that government policy does affect business conditions, however it is up to all of us to make the most of the conditions that we face.
The overwhelming influence on the success of your business is your own ability to run the business.
You need to have a clear vision for the future and a strategy that gets you there.
In every industry there are good operators who are doing well, and poor operators who are struggling.
The good operators have a clear vision and strategy, and work on the business. What’s the best advise then, to ensure long term success? For the answer, we need go no further than look at one of the most successful organisations in the world and see what its founder has to say on the subject.
Apple’s Steve Jobs is one of the greatest business minds that the world has ever seen.
He is recognised as a charismatic person that revolutionised the computer and the consumer electronics fields, transforming one industry after another from computers and smart phones to music and movies.
These are the seven success principles of Steve Jobs as researched and recorded by Carmine Gallo in his book “The Innovative Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles For Breakthrough Success” (McGraw-Hill, 2010.)
1/ Principle One: Do what you love. Steve Jobs once told a group of employees: “People with passion can change the world for the better.” Jobs has followed his heart his entire life and that passion, he says, has made all the difference. It’s very difficult to come up with new, creative, and novel ideas unless you are passionate about moving society forward.
2/ Principle Two: Put a dent in the universe. Passion fuels the rocket, but vision directs the rocket to its ultimate destination. In 1976, when Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple, Jobs’ vision was to put a computer in the hands of everyday people. He knew immediately that the technology would make computers appealing to “everyday people.” That technology eventually became The Macintosh, which changed everything about the way we interact with computers.
3/Principle Three: Kick start your brain. Steve Jobs once said “Creativity is connecting things.” Connecting things means seeking inspiration from other industries. At various times, Jobs has found inspiration in a phone book, Zen meditation, visiting India, a food processor at Macy’s, or The Four Seasons hotel chain. Jobs doesn’t “steal” ideas as much as he uses ideas from other industries to inspire his own creativity.
4/Principle Four: Sell dreams, not products. To Steve Jobs, people who buy Apple products are not “consumers.” They are people with hopes, dreams and ambitions. He builds products to help people achieve their dreams. He once said, “some people think you’ve got to be crazy to buy a Mac, but in that craziness we see genius.” How do you see your customers? Help them unleash their inner genius and you’ll win over their hearts and minds.
5/Principle Five: Say no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs once said: “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.” He is committed to building products with simple, uncluttered design. And that commitment extends beyond products. From the design of the iPod to the iPad, from the packaging of Apple’s products, to the functionality of the Web site, in Apple’s world, innovation means eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
6/Principle Six: Create insanely great experiences. The Apple store has become the world’s best retailer by introducing simple innovations any business can adopt to create deeper, more emotional connections with their customers. For example, there are no cashiers in an Apple store. There are experts, consultants, even geniuses, but no cashiers. Why? Because Apple is not in the business of moving boxes; they are in the business of enriching lives. Big difference.
7/Principle Seven: Master the message. Steve Jobs is the world’s greatest corporate storyteller, turning product launches into an art form. You can have the most innovative idea in the world, but if you can’t get people excited about it, it doesn’t matter. If you are not doing as well as you would like, then review your vision and strategy and see how well you stack up against Steve Jobs’ criteria for long term success.
David Ley can be contacted at david.ley@thextonarmstrong.com.au
