Category: Creative Vulcan

Lessons from the life of Steve Jobs

I’m about two thirds of the way through Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs and it has been a fascinating read. I’m not sure it’s possible that anyone is unfamiliar with this corporate icon who transformed multiple industries. Like him or not, respect him or not, I am seeing some powerful lessons here:

  • Learning is everywhere: Steve Jobs was an avid learner; the stories of his college days are ripe with a wide variety of experiences, which he incorporated into his creative genius over the next 40 years.
  • Integration will breed innovation: Steve was a fanatic about integrating hardware and software, as well as design and engineering. As his teams worked in both of these spheres at the same time (often only by his willpower), they repeatedly developed entirely different ways to look at the same problem and often solutions that would never have been seen otherwise.
  • Intuitive and simple = customer friendly: Having grown up with Apple products since elementary school, I have seen over and over the effort that Jobs and this company put into making products that are designed to work the way people would want them to work. People are willing to pay more, often religiously, for the simplicity that Apple is known for.
  • There is power in rejecting your present reality: Steve is said to have operated in a “reality distortion field” such that he believed things could be accomplished that seemed impossible to the logical eye. He pushed his team to limits that would strain even the most flexible, and broke many. Not every time, but many times, his people surprised even themselves by achieving completely unrealistic goals. This “reality distortion field” has been regarded as one of Jobs’ most significant character flaws, but it also contributed to some of his greatest successes.

SIDEBAR: We may not take the “reality distortion field” to the extreme, but all of us as leaders have to make a decision that there are some things which may not line up with our current reality, that we should work and believe for something greater. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. called the people of our nation to a new reality, which I considered here. As leaders and people of faith, Hebrews 11 charges us that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. Are you working toward a better reality in your world, believing that God will bring it to pass, despite what you see around you?

5 Tips for Increasing Your Influence

As an individual, one personal resource that many people overlook is influence. Influence can be used to get things done, to help you get ahead personally, or to see your team advance in ways that would have been impossible without it. Here are some tips for increasing your influence:

  1. Listen – When you spend time in conversation with someone (customer, supervisor, peer), make sure you listen to what’s being said. Many people don’t do this very well and miss an opportunity. When people perceive you’re sincerely listening to them, they will share more freely and more honestly. Having more information in a business or personal exchange usually opens the door for you to gain influence in the exchange.
  2. Pay attention – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in dialogue with a sales person and thought, “This person is trying to work their agenda, rather than concerning themselves with ascertaining my needs.” You’ve experienced this. Don’t be that person. Pay attention to what your customer, supervisor, or peer is saying or doing rather than thinking about what you’re going to say next or how you will move things toward your own goals.
  3. Remember names – In my business, I meet a lot of people on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis. Taking time to remember people’s names has proven to be a strong relationship builder. 
  4. Plan ahead – Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Looking ahead to what’s coming down the pipe in your own situations and for your customers will give you a chance to prepare for circumstances that may arise. If you’re prepared, you’ll be ready when things happen to help meet the needs or lead your team forward.
  5. Say “thank you” – When someone does something nice for you, even if it’s a person in a drive-thru window, take time to say a sincere “thank you”. It might just make the other person smile, or it could make their day. Hand-written thank you notes are a powerful way to go the extra mile in a business or personal exchange. (I have written more here on the power of “thank you” and other meaningful phrases for leaders.)
All of these things are basic ways to show care in your relationships, personal and professional. They work when you do them sincerely because they have unfortunately become uncommon. 

Drowning? Make a list!

Once in a while, I get in a place where there is a lot going on and I almost feel like I’m drowning.

I almost feel like I’m drowning.

There’s too much going on for me to even think about my priorities the way I would prefer to and I spend most of my time putting out fires. When I get in a place like this and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed, I have to stop and take time to make a list.

Making a list of what’s in my mind, almost like a brain dump

 

  • What is overwhelming me?
  • What is in the way?
  • What needs to be done?
  • What are the fires?

to do listWrite it all down even if it takes a whole sheet of paper.

Then take the list and pray over it.

Ask God what is most important. What needs doing now? What can use a band-aid (see my post re: band-aids here)? And what should I just plain ignore to move forward in other areas?

Making the list reduces the internal pressure

Even the act of making the list relieves stress because now it’s not swimming in my head, it’s on paper in front of me and I already feel like I’m making progress.

PS. If you try this and you’re still overwhelmed, sleep on it. And pray more the next morning.