Motivate With The Big Picture:

Steve Jobs was not interested in profiting more than competitors, but in producing a better, more beautiful computer. Macintosh’s team was burned out in conflict, and demoralized but Jobs had moments of brilliance. To counteract the negatives of Jobs’ management style, he would illicit the big picture. In one meeting, the issue was with regard to the booting time/start time for a new computer which was over a minute long. Jobs explained that if you combined 1 million people’s boot times, it would add up to many many cumulative hours of waste. In dramatic terms, Jobs argued that reducing the booting time by a few seconds could save about 50 lifetimes in total.

‘Making a dent in the universe’ was the overarching idea behind Apple. In 1981, IBM released their own personal computer, and Apple was confident about their market position. The problem was that IBM was a more powerful company, and had real strengths in the corporate establishment, and brand recognition. The Big Blue vision was to crush Apple, and IBM was the perfect foil for the spiritual struggle of Apple. Jobs felt that once IBM gains in a market sector, they almost always stop innovating. For Jobs, IBM was a force of evil, later the enemy was Microsoft and then Google subsequently.

Jef Raskin decided that Macintosh should use the Motorola processor which was more expensive, pushing the cost of the Macintosh upwards. Interestingly, Raskin did not like the point & click mouse. He did not like icons concept either, both of which Jobs was advocating for at Macintosh. Steve Jobs took over Macintosh in February 1981 by introducing politics, practical perspective, intensity, and bringing in Bill Atkinson into the team. Michael Scott (the CEO of Apple) gave Jobs control because it was not a serious part of Apple (Apple II was still the bread and butter product), and cleared Raskin out of the team abruptly. Jobs was energized by competition against the Lisa team within his own company. Macintosh was a computer platform that would ‘make a dent in the universe’, and help him leave the mark that Wozniak had already achieved with the Apple II.

This is an analysis based on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and other sources of research. Enjoy.

More from Steve Job’s Life	by Walter Isaacson
Location Really Does Matter for Entrepeurship	Childhood Shapes Your Thinking
Go Get What You Want, If You Have the Courage	Education Is For Conformists
Assume That You Will Die Young	Go To India
Pranking People Requires Creative Thinking	Starting A Company Is Very Difficult
Meet a Brilliant & Nobel Engineer	Meetups Bring Insanely Great Ideas Together
Knowing What You Wanted to Do	Exclude Relevant Information Where Necessary
Have Discipline Over Body and Mind	Picking A Name is as Simple As Picking Apples
Crime Does Pay!!??	Sharing Ideas Is Fine Up To A Point
Most Good Ideas Have to Be Force Down Peoples Throats	Xerox Parc
Run Your Company Our Of Your Parents House	Mike Markkula’s Marketing Theory Is Built Around Three Areas
MacKenna’s Advertising Style Worked	Don’t Worry About A Business Plan Until You Need Investment in a Serious Venture
Create A Simple Product For Households	Your Product Needs to be a Full Simple Package
Jobs’ Management Style Was “Shit” from ’77 to ’85	A Startup Will Become Impersonal With Success
Apple III was a bastard child	Being Abandoned = Ignoring Reality
Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal	Surround Yourself With “A Players”
Reality Distortion Field	Be At The Nexus of Humanities and Technology
Believe In A Closed System & Product Control	Market Research Is For Idiots
Motivate With The Big Picture	Unhealthy Competition Within A Company Can be Corrosive
The Best & Most Innovative Products Don’t Always Win	Eras Are Defined by Partnerships & Rivalry – Gates Versus Jobs Round 1
Genius Versus Shit-Head	The Boardroom Showdown & Emotionality
Advertising Does Matter	A Messy Company Can Still Work
A Clean Factory Is Insanely Great But The Product Has To Sell	Being Right Isn’t As Important As Winning
Imperfection Is A Moral Wrong	Bringing In An Outside Expert Can Be Costly
The Original Macintosh Had Bad Sales	Fall From Grace Through Management Incompetence
Finding Similarities Between Yourself & Your Business Partner May Not Be Good	Eras Are Defined By Partnerships & Rivalry – Gates Versus Jobs Round 2
Force An Ultimatum To Get Control of a Company	Never Tell The Allies of Your Opposition That You’re Planning a Coup
Brilliant Failures Help You Grow	Design Should Not Trump Processing
Do Not Disrespect Your Potential Business Partners	Get Real On Your Lean Startup
Get A VC Who Missed Out On A Previous Winning Opportunity	Avoid The Problem of Focusing on the Small
Gain Financial Control Against Your Business Partners	Rivalry of the Ants & Breaking With Disney
Build A Board That Cannot Operate Independently of the CEO	Do Not Chase Profits, Chase Value
Do Not Force Other Businesses Into Your Closed System	How To Save A Dying Tech Company – Fire the Board Or Resign
Merge Your Venture With A Giant That You Can Take Over	Targeting the Education Market Is Not Lucrative
How to Save Dying Tech Company – Return To Your Successful Roots	How to Save a Dying Tech Company – Make Products Not Profit, Fundamentally
Skate Where the Puck’s Going, Not Where It’s Been	The Loser Now Will Be Soon To Win
The Internet Is Made For Music	Brand Yourself Differently
Don’t Be Afraid to Cannibalize	Create Complimentary Product Offerings Without a Lead Loss Generator
Focus On What People Really Want…1,000 Songs	Google’s “Don’t Be Evil Mantra” is Bullshit
Get Yourself Into the Cloud & A Castle	Don’t Fear Change In Industry, Anticipate It
Create An Inventory Management System & Build a Store That Works	Converge Old Devices Into 1 New Device
Do Not Ignore Medical Diagnoses	Make Peace With Your Old Enemies