Consulting the Archives...
Generating fresh insights specifically for this topic.
This may take a moment.
Generating fresh insights specifically for this topic.
This may take a moment.
Steve Jobs is best known for co-founding Apple and serving as the driving force behind the development of the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. His career began in Silicon Valley, where he and Steve Wozniak popularized the personal computer with the Apple II. Unlike his contemporaries who focused heavily on hardware specifications and open systems, Jobs insisted on complete control over both hardware and software to ensure a seamless user experience.
Entrepreneur · Industrial Designer
Steve Jobs was a defining figure of the personal computer era and a visionary who revolutionized six industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. As the co-founder of Apple Inc., he championed the idea that technology should be accessible, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing, operating at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. His leadership style was characterized by an intense perfectionism and a persuasive ability known as the Reality Distortion Field, which he used to push teams beyond their perceived limits. After a power struggle led to his ouster from Apple in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT and acquired the Graphics Group (later Pixar), where he reshaped the film industry. His return to Apple in 1997 marked the beginning of an unprecedented corporate turnaround, leading to the creation of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, cementing his legacy as a titan of modern innovation.
Featured highlights
"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected, especially at scale."
"If you don't love it, you're going to fail."
"The only way to do great work is to be obsessed with what you do."
"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right."
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."
"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."
"Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
"You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
"I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."
Source: Interview: Smithsonian Institution Oral History Project, 1995
"Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them."
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me."
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations."
"Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles."
"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something."
"We don't get a chance to do that many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life."
"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
"You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
"Things don’t have to change the world to be important."
"For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."
Source: Interview: Smithsonian Institution Oral History Interview (1995)
"I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next."
"Picasso had a saying -- 'good artists copy; great artists steal' -- and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."
"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
Quick answers about Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs shifted the paradigm of consumer electronics from utilitarian tools for hobbyists to essential lifestyle devices for the general public. His insistence on design aesthetics and intuitive user interfaces set the standard for modern digital interaction.
Apply Jobs' philosophy by simplifying complex problems and focusing intensely on a few key projects rather than diluting efforts across many. Embrace the courage to trust intuition over focus groups when creating something truly novel.
Search More
Jump to another topic, author, or pillar without leaving the archive.
"Steve Jobs remains the archetype of the modern visionary, proving that a relentless focus on quality and user experience can redefine global culture."