15 of the Top Steve Jobs Quotes About Innovation
Steve Jobs was a mastermind. From the iPod to the iPhone to retail stores Jobs and Apple have successfully launched an unprecedented number of disruptive consumer products. But exactly what is Apple doing that sets it apart from the competition? Many clues lie in Jobs’ approach to innovation and in the words he spoke life to. If you are curious about Jobs’ thoughts on innovation take a look at these quotes to get insight into the brilliant thought process of the man who co-founded Apple, one of the most innovative and successful companies in history.
Top quotes from Steve Jobs about innovation:
1. “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.”
2. “Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, 'if I'd ask customers what they wanted, they would've told me a faster horse.' People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”
3. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."
4. “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.”
5. “Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 pm at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It's ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.”
6. “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat.” “That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.”
7. "People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things."
8. “We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."
9. “If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.”
10. "Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it."
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11. "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. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."
12. “When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through."
13. "That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."
14. “We had a fundamental belief that doing it right the first time was going to be easier than having to go back and fix it. And I cannot say strongly enough that the repercussions of that attitude are staggering.”
15. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
Sources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/steve-jobs-quotes
https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-quote-misunderstood-katie-dill-2019-4
https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/tech/innovation/steve-jobs-quotes/index.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/steve-jobs-heres-what-most-people-get-wrong-about-focus.html
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/15-steve-jobs-quotes-inspire-your-life.html
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/steve-jobs-quotes
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/15-steve-jobs-quotes-inspire-your-life.html
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/06/25-best-steve-jobs-quotes.aspx
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/steve-jobs-quotes-on-innovation-2892486
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/10/steve-jobs-quotes/