There are dreams that you Search for.
There are dreams that Search for you.
Some adore Steve Jobs. Some despise him publicly. But what most companies try and fail – is to emulate the core DNA of people & innovation that represent Apple. I had written an earlier blog post on how to ‘Fight Off the Bozo Explosion; Hire for Attitude‘ . Had mentioned the rules of the game for companies that scale fast, and establish themselves as thought-leaders in their field of specialization or expertise.
Time magazine’s ‘Time 100‘ list of interesting people for 2013 has Jony Ive – Apple head of Human Interface. As mentioned in http://thenextweb.com post:
Ive’s blurb is written by musician and activist Bono, who has had a long relationship with Apple in concert with various endeavors like a U2-branded iPod.
As someone who was brought into the Apple fold by Steve Jobs, Bono has likely had more of a chance than most people to see the way that Ive and his team of designers work. That’s why I think that the statement is interesting to read. I’ve highlighted the most interesting line (to me) below:
Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software honed to simplicity. His genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot but also how he applies it. To watch him with his workmates in the holy of holies, Apple’s design lab, or on a night out is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss, and he loves them. What the competitors don’t seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money. Jony is Obi-Wan. His team are Jedi whose nobility depends on the pursuit of greatness over profit, believing the latter will always follow the former, stubbornly passing up near-term good opportunities to pursue great ones in the distance. Jony’s values happen to add value — emotional and financial. It takes a unique alchemy of form and function for millions of people to feel so passionately about the robot in their pocket.
This is the most apt reason why Apple is able to hire and retain the best of the best talent in the world – probably one of the best blurbs I have come across in recent years explaining the core DNA of Apple.
Most companies have this wish – but as I have rightly seen and observed, fail – not only in hiring top talent, but most importantly, on retaining them. One’s work needs to add up to something – something great. For people to stay back. But most don’t owing to lack of management direction or more critically, the vision.
To finish with, here’s the #motivational employee welcome letter @ Apple that you receive on your first day at Apple. If you’re running a company, and some day desire to be as great and innovative as Apple, maybe, you should print this and give it to your employees. Do they believe in the core ideas that your company stands for?
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