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NOTE: The following is a guest post by Adam Costa. If you want to submit your own guest post, click here for more information.
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Steve Jobs has been at the forefront of innovation for well over 30 years. But how did he build one of the most successful companies in history starting with only about $1,000 and an idea?
Put simply: innovation.
I’ve outlined five key lessons – with quotes from the man himself – that product managers can use to cultivate inspiration in their development.
The first step is to…
Always Look For Connections
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were stuck. They had an idea for a personal computer, but didn’t have a brand people could relate to. It was a new idea, and new ideas are often difficult for people to understand.
Jobs wanted a simple name that was in stark contrast to the corporate standard of the time, IBM. Jobs had previously worked in an apple orchard and – in a later discussion with Wozniak – Jobs pulled from the experience and named the company Apple. The process of coming up with the Apple logo is also worth reading.
The combination of new product and familiar name was a huge success. It’s a prime example of meshing together two unrelated concepts to create something unique and memorable.
Jobs himself has said “Creativity is just connecting things.”
He also cited LSD as “one of the two or three most important things I’ve done in life” because it helped him see things differently.
Of course, you don’t need LSD to see connections. But you must train yourself to see them.
Or better still, you can leverage your employees knowledge and experiences. Lee-Clark Sellers, Executive Programs Director for NC State University, says companies need to encourage employees to explore new, seemingly unrelated activities.
As she mentions in this post, employers must “provide new experiences for your teams that will motivate them to continue to look beyond their current boundaries for new and profitable ideas.”
To encourage this, host a lunch-and-learn series where different disciplines are represented. For example, have your head of marketing speak to your engineers, or an accountant speak to your sales people. By exposing employees to different frameworks, you greatly increase the chance of breakthrough innovations.
The next lesson from Jobs is to…
Treat Failure For What It Is…
A lesson. Coming from a man who has lost more money than most companies make in a lifetime, Jobs’ take on failure remains optimistic. As he once famously said:
“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”
Instead of lamenting setbacks (and losing a quarter of a billion dollars is a setback by any standard), Jobs learned from his mistakes. They must have paid off. Jobs quickly regained his losses and, after Disney bought Pixar, became the largest individual shareholder in Disney.
Failure – according to Jobs – is a way to build character. To learn what doesn’t work. Product managers often face issues with product development; embracing failure will help you improve your end design, make you a better manager and open your mind to new, previously unexplored possibilities.
Of course, the necessary ingredient to weather any storm is…
Be Passionate About What You Do
Steve Jobs has said:
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”
With product management, your heart’s got to be either in the product and/or the process. If you don’t have passion, you’ll never do great work.
The truth is: passion shows. Plus, it helps you to…
Set High Standards… And Meet Them
Everyone has their own standards. Some are higher than others. This explains why many products never fully take off: either issues with research and development, product testing, price points or faulty relationships with suppliers can all lead to failure.
The solution to this, argues Jobs is to “be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
There are many ways to create a culture of greatness. For example, you could print a large poster like this and ask your employees to sign it. Or better still, ask them what they are “the best at” and incorporate those skills into their everyday routine.
This can work wonders. By branding yourself (or your company culture) as the best, your employees and business partners will act accordingly.
Customers on the other hand, may not. Which leads us to Jobs’ final lesson:
Don’t Create Products for People
This may seem contradictory at first. Isn’t the whole purpose of creating a product to serve a need?
As an end result… yes. But it’s far easier to show someone a finished product, rather than ask their opinion along the way. Or as Jobs points out…
“It’s hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show them.”
If you truly want innovation, you need to create things people aren’t aware of yet. You need to go beyond not just what they know, but what they think is possible.
Adam
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Adam Costa is a business consultant who helps companies develop marketing materials, including sell sheets and product brochures. He can be reached via his website or on Twitter @ mradamcosta
Tweet this: Guest Post: 5 Innovation Lessons from Steve Jobs http://wp.me/pXBON-2UC #prodmgmt #innovation