It’s amazing that how inspired I am every time I’m reading this book. The author Walter Isaacson deserves huge credit for making it such a pleasant experience to read this book. But after all, it is the stories about Steve Jobs and many other geniuses creating and transforming Apple that are truly exciting.
He is so successful because he’s extremely smart and focused.
Being smart means that he is very insightful and intuitive about things that he has never done before. Indeed, he is betting on a lot of business decisions based on his own beliefs without the back up of any market research. However, the odds are favorable. Most times he is right, such as opening the first Apple stores which was perceived the craziest idea then. Certainly there is not just luck but more of something that sets geniuses apart.
Being focused means that he indulges himself in doing whatever he believes in. That level of focus, if we really think about it, almost guarantees something big to come out, either good stuff or something really harmful…I was impressed by the story of him kept funding Pixar to make shorts from his own pocket. It was the biggest gamble in his early career but because he and John Lasseter, the two geniuses, were so focused in making shorts, they eventually paid off.
It’s easy to see the common trait between Jobs and many other successful enterprenuers – they do whatever they believe in, even when no money can be made. This is simply encouraging. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Think different.
Elle Van Buren 