Angelus' Quote: What Separates a Leader from a Follower?

What separates a leader from a follower? Steve Jobs, a visionary and creative leader himself answers this question this way: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” In order to get ahead in today’s fast-paced world, a leader must be creative and innovative at the same time.

Creative thinking and constant innovation are what make you and your team stand out from the crowd. Plus, boring and sameness is a bad culture. Think out of the box to come up with unique ideas and turn those ideas and goals into reality... even a small adjustment is good 😉🤞#ServeToLead #CreativeLeader

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Angelus' Quote: Your Time Is Limited

When faced with a choice or decision in life, ask yourself these questions: What bring joy to me? Am I living my potential? How can I serve others better?

While there will always be more you can do or achieve, being joyful and fulfilled with who you are is important. "Your time is limited" so... live your life! ☕

_______________________

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BOOK REVIEW The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation (2011) by Jay Elliot

The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation (2011)
by Jay Elliot with William L. Simon

I’ve read half a dozen books about Steve Jobs, the man who revolutionized the way we use technology. Among the most detail books on Jobs is by Walter Isaacson. One of the best! But what makes this book unique among many, even in comparison with Isaacson’s, is that Jay Elliot brings a deep, personal and insider perspective of Steve Jobs’ unique leadership style. Jay was the senior vice president of Apple Computer and responsible for many projects and management works. He reported directly to Steve Jobs when Jobs was a chairman of the board.  He wrote in the author’s note: “I’ve known and worked with the leaders of IBM and Intel; I’ve met great leaders and thinkers, including Jack Welch, Buckminster Fuller, and Joseph Campbell, and discussed the next paradigm change in organizational structure with John Drucker. Steve is in the class by himself.”

I find that Jobs can be a difficult leader to work with and not all of his leadership skills can be emulated because it is unique to him. There will never be another Steve Jobs is as true as there can’t be another you. He is unique (and broken) as much as anyone of us. But nevertheless, I’ve learned Three (3) Great Lessons on Leadership from the genius of Steve Jobs:

#1 Aim for Excellent. Jobs always strived for one thing - the best user experience and feedback. That vision drove him in every creation that he and Wozniak made during their cooperation time. Jay writes, “Steve Jobs understood something that a lot of companies try to do, but are rarely successful at. The more he advanced, the simpler his products became. In some instances, it’s less about the product and more about the user. Every user wants to be successful. When you know how to operate something masterfully, how does it make you feel? More people will buy if customers feel good using the product.” Jobs sometimes delay the launching of the products because he doesn’t want to display a ‘lousy’ product. Excellent and perfection can be similar but as a leader, perfection is ideal but unachievable. The way I see it, Jobs aims for excellent!

#2 Be a Team Player. Sometimes people portrait Jobs as a narcissist (well, there is some truth in it) but as you read this book further you’ll find that he believes in the power of synergy, mutual trust and sense of belonging in a team. For example, during the development process in the company, Jobs referred to his Mac engineers as his most trusted associates. Each employee was provided with a T-shirt with Jobs’ single-quote: “Pirates! Not the Navy.” Jay recalls, “When I joined Apple, Steve had already come to a keen understanding that people become motivated when their manager or leader makes a direct, active, personal connection to the people and the product. He found that's the best way to inspire others.” When people think of Apple, people always equate it with Jobs, the founder, and mastermind. But Jobs understands and admits that all of these - the company and the products - are nothing without his teams.

#3 Ignite Passion. Passion is contagious. Steve Jobs displayed passion so strong that the people who work with him can simply be energized when they near him. “I believe that business is a reflection of its leader, its champion,” reasons Jay. “Like children who sense when someone isn’t sincere, you can’t fake it. You need to be passionate about the products you are creating, promoting, marketing, or selling, and that means you need to be in a company and an industry you truly care about. Steve Jobs could not have achieved what he has without passion, a commitment to excellence, great branding, and the openness to learn from his mistake.”

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6 Books on How-to-Think-Like

In the 1670’s Sir Isaac Newton wrote in a letter to his friend Robert Hooke, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” That is exactly what reading How-to-Think-Like biographies can do for you – allow you to see further because of what these people have achieved. These 5 people are what I think are - geniuses - and reading about them makes me feel like one:

#1 Think Like Da Vinci

#2 How to Think Like Da Vinci

#3 How to Think Like Einstein

#4 How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

#5 How to Think Like Bill Gates

#6 How to Think Like Steve Jobs

If you want to think like one of these geniuses (even a fictional character like Sherlock!) a.k.a. buy a copy or two or more, CLICK any of links below and ask about the books:

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Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent (2013), Book Review

Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent (2013)
by Nolan Bushnell with Gene Stone

At first I was disappointed with this book because I thought I’ll find more anecdotes about Steve Jobs as the title was suggesting. But after about 5 chapters, I realized that this is not just about Steve Jobs (actually the best biography about Jobs is written by Walter Isaacson, check it out) but about how to find creatives such as Steve Jobs – and considering myself as working in a creative ministry – I was hooked by this insightful and brilliant book! The ideas presented by Bushnell, the founder of Atari and the man who launched Steve Jobs’ career, are based on his way of nurturing creatives in his own gaming company and two other dozen other companies. The ideas are direct and easy to execute.

“As the world changes, you need to make sure your entire company shapes your product to suit the shape of the new society – and that new society is coming, whether you want it to or not. The key to survival in this new world is creativity,” said Bushnell. He continues, “So every company needs to make sure it is constantly pushing the envelope, because it takes time to move a new process or project into the marketplace efficiently. Few companies can innovate on a dime. The ability to move quickly must always be present. That ability exists only where creativity thrives.” He said that creativity must be present at all levels of any company. Creativity doesn’t reside in one person (true!) or even a few chosen-people, it must be found, kept and nurture in every level or it won’t bloom anywhere. Bushnell explains, “The person who identifies a problem is part of the creativity chain. The person who thinks of a solution is also part of the chain. The person who executes the solution is yet another part of the chain, as is the person who then moves that solution into the mainstream, through marketing and production.” 

This book is divided into 2 sections – Part 1: Finding and Hiring the Next Steve Jobs; and Part 2: Keeping and Nurturing the Next Steve Jobs – and each Pong (or idea. ‘Pong’ is one of the earliest arcade video games invented by Nolan Bushnell at Atari, one of Steve Jobs’ favourites) are interrelated with one another. “If you are able to abide by many of the pongs in this book,” claims Bushnell, “you, too, will be on your way to success. However, there’s one last pong to keep in mind. It’s a simple one: Act!” Isn’t that a crucial pong for every book that we read? We must take action! It isn’t enough to understand that we must find, hire and nurture creative people, we must actually go out and do it. Here are some of my favourite pongs: Hire the Crazy, Ask about Books, Ask Odd Questions, Celebrate Failure, Promote Pranksterism, Champions the Bad Ideas, Require Risk, Mentor, Treat Employees as Adults, Encourage ADHD, Think Toys, Taka a Random Walk through Wikipedia, and Go to Sleep. Seth Godin, entrepreneur, marketer and author say this about the book, “Nolan is a genius, and a generous one, too. Like most geniuses who share their secrets, his secrets are simple, and available to anyone with the guts to listen.” I hope more young people know about this man - Nolan Bushnell.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Self-Leadership #10 Balance Ego and Humility

For a leader, part of humility is the recognition that you get meaningful results only through the effort of others. It is one way of embodying truth and reinforcing character. An effective leader understands that even the most powerful person is only a bit player on the larger stage of life. Chrysostom once said, "Humility is the mother, root, nurse, foundation, and center of all other virtues." A leader needs to be humble and in humility is how he should lead.

Though humility is essential for a leader, this is not enough. "Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself," explained Charles H. Spurgeon. But "it is no humility for a man to think less of himself than he ought." A leader needs a little dose of ego. He shouldn't think less of himself. The progress of the human race has been built upon the egos of great coaches, soldiers, entrepreneurs, teachers, scientists, and educators. All good leaders have healthy egos (though few might not want to admit it). Ego is a self-pusher that pushes you to accept nothing less than your personal best because your name and reputation are on the line. The more we believe in ourselves, the higher our self-esteem as leaders, and the more tension and anxiety we can endure on the road to achieving our goals. Ego, therefore, is closely tied to performance.

Steve Jobs, considered as a great visionary leader, had ego and it was a vital contributor to his worldwide success. In fact, it's hard to think or imagine likewise when you read the way he leads in his biographies (try reading one by Walter Isaacson). Every time he embarked on new projects with his Apple team, you saw it. The design departments experienced it often. So much so that Young Steve Jobs was knowns as an ‘egomaniac' leader. The same ego that helps him achieved greatness also caused him almost permanent downfall (he was fired from Apple but years later returned as a more matured-thinking man). Ryan Holiday, the author of Ego is the Enemy, says that "Ego almost destroyed Steve Jobs' career." Nothing will sink a leader faster than an over-ego attitude.

To emphasize the paradox of leadership between ego and humility, Saeed Al Muntafiq illustrates that "If ego is the engine and horsepower in the car, then humility is the traction control that keeps it on the road." This fine analogy illustrating clearly the balance between the two qualities to be found in any great leader. The balanced proportion of (healthy) ego and humility defines the capability of each individual to take on leadership roles.

How to balance ego and humility? Here are several things to think about:

Ego Is Necessary: Ego is a determination to never do less than your best. As such, it is critical to a healthy performance.

Beware of Over-Ego Attitude: Never lost sight of the dark side of ego – the ego that is self-serving and therefore interferes with leadership that supposed to be serving others.

Give Credit Where It's Due: Humility is about giving credit where credit is due. If you did it, take the credit. If you had help, recognize those who helped you. If it’s a work of a team – praise them!

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Book Review: Steve Jobs (2013) by Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs (2013) by Walter Isaacson

Listened to almost all of Walter Isaacson’s Interviews on YouTube. Before he wrote the biography on Steve Jobs, he already wrote few international best-seller biographies such as Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, Albert Einstein, and his most recent book on Leonardo da Vinci (will get this one at Kinokuniya KLCC bookstore this month!). I hope he will write about Isaac Newton and Nikola Tesla too in the future.

This book is VERY thick, 650+ pages. It took me an interval of 3 months, to finish it. First, if it’s not obvious yet, I admire Steven Paul Jobs a.k.a. Steve Jobs very much. First thing first, this book will shatter all your prejudices about the man—the legend—Steve Jobs. Walter Isaacson does a phenomenal job chronicling the life of Steve Jobs as told by Jobs and those that knew him best (“My mentor always told me, write biography chronologically,” said Isaacson repeatedly throughout his interviews). Throughout this book, I learned more about Steve's days at Reed College, his fascination with diet and spirituality, and his "distortion reality" that infected anyone that allowed themselves to get caught up in it. Many credit Steve as being the great innovator, but after I read this book, I think he was a genius no doubt and super creative but innovative-parts were mostly done by other people, not him. Jony Ive, I found out, was really the innovator for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, etc. Yet, Steve's infectious distorted reality allowed Apple to become one of the world's greatest companies. Even after he’s gone, his legacy still rings inside Apple.

I read at least 3-4 books about Steve already, but it was a surprise to me when I learned how often he cried when he didn't get his way. I laughed, I pondered, and I often amazed by Steve’s personalities when I read this book (some of his characters I can easily identify with. A bit rude, straight to the point, jerk… maybe I like him because he’s like me… minus the success). Beautifully written. A bit longwinded, but worth the read. Like I said, I speed read… and honestly skipped some of the boring parts. This book is brutally honest. I bet, if you read this book, you’ll gain a deeper respect and understanding of the man that helped change the world… technologically. I’m not an Apple product fan, but I’m a fan of Steve Jobs. One wonder: What would Steve Jobs be doing if he were still alive today? I don’t know. No one knows. For sure, he will have combined arts and technology even more effectively (its rhyme). Just see the book cover, it was Steve who suggested it… simple, elegant, rich.

There are 42 not-so-small-chapters in all:

Ch. 1. Childhood: abandoned and chosen

Ch. 2. Odd couple: the two Steves

Ch. 3. The dropout: turn on, tune in

Ch. 4. Atari and India: Zen and the art of game design

Ch. 5. The Apple I: turn on, boot up, jack in

Ch. 6. The Apple II: dawn of a new age

Ch. 7. Chrisann and Lisa: he who is abandoned

Ch. 8. Xerox and Lisa: graphical user interfaces

Ch. 9. Going public: a man of wealth and fame

Ch. 10. The Mac is born: you say you want a revolution

Ch. 11. The reality distortion field: playing by his own set of rules

Ch. 12. The design: real artists simplify

Ch. 13. Building the Mac: the journey is the reward

Ch. 14. Enter Sculley: the Pepsi challenge

Ch. 15. The launch: a dent in the universe

Ch. 16. Gates and Jobs: when orbits intersect

Ch. 17. Icarus: what goes up

Ch. 18. NeXT: Prometheus unbound

Ch. 19. Pixar: technology meets art

Ch. 20. A regular guy: love is just a four-letter word

Ch. 21. Family man: at home with the Jobs clan

Ch. 22. ToyStoryy: Buzz and Woody to the rescue

Ch. 23. The second coming: what rough beast, its hour come around at last

Ch. 24. The restoration: the loser now Will be later to win

Ch. 25. Think different: Jobs as CEO

Ch. 26. Design principles: the studio of Jobs andI'vee

Ch. 27. The iMac: hello (again)

Ch. 28. CEO: still crazy after all these years

Ch. 29. Apple stores: genius bars and Siena sandstone

Ch. 30. The digital hub: from iTunes to the iPod

Ch. 31. The iTunes Store: I'm the Pied Piper

Ch. 32. Music man: the soundtrack of his life

Ch. 33. Pixar's friends and foes

Ch. 34. Twenty-first-century Macs: setting Apple apart

Ch. 35. Round one: Memento mori

Ch. 36. The iPhone: three revolutionary products in one

Ch. 37. Round two: cancer recurs

Ch. 38. The iPad: into the post-PC era

Ch. 39. New battles: and echoes of old ones

Ch. 40. To infinity: the cloud, the spaceship, and beyond

Ch. 41. Round three: the twilight struggle

Ch. 42. Legacy: the brightest heaven of invention...

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Book Review: Steve Jobs’ Life by Design (2014) by George Beahm

Steve Jobs’ Life by Design: Lessons to Be Learned from His Last Lecture (2014) 

by George Beahm

I have half a dozen of books about Steve Jobs. I simply like him due to his personality and resilient. No one outside Biblical story have an inspiring come-back power like Steve Jobs. This man just don’t give up. And in this book, the author George Beahm, portrait the life of Jobs with simplicity and narrated his successes and failures – and absolutely Jobs’ genius – based on his 2005 Stanford University’s 114th Commencement Ceremony address. You must watch this 22 minutes address which is available on YouTube. Here Jobs summarised everything he had learned from life – framed in three simple themes: Connecting the Dots, Love and Loss, and Death. 

“Your time is limited,” he preached, “so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Speaking directly from the heart (written on papers, of course) Jobs’ elegantly simple talk was then became his Last Lecture. You must watch it. In essence, “he challenges us to make a dent in the universe by discovering our own passions and having the fearlessness to pursue them.” Iconoclast. Visionary. Adopted. Drop Out. Fired. Genius. 

My favourite quote making-famous by Steve Jobs is: “Stay Foolish, Stay Hungry.” I’ve printed it and framed it on the wall of my working table. “Stay Hungry” mean an expression of a desire for knowledge, for enlightenment, for continuous learning, not so much a hunger for success in an increasingly materialistic world. “Stay Foolish” on the other hand mean a state of mind as free as possible, without constraints, an unburdened mind, capable of thinking clearly and creatively; in short, a free thinker. Or, in Apple’s terms, someone who would “think different,” the theme of an Apple ad highlighting artists like Picasso, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Einstein, and others. Steve Jobs said during his speeches, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

I love this book because the author divided the commencement address speech into 22 smaller and enjoy-reading chapters. I bought this book for only RM19.90, hardcover at BookXcess bookstore. Oh yeah!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Simple Book Review: "How to Think Like Steve Jobs" (2013) by Daniel Smith

How to Think Like Steve Jobs (2013) by Daniel Smith

A short but concise book about the amazing life of a genius: Steve Jobs. A visionary world class. Never compromising and always striving for excellence. Settling with nothing except the best and insanely great. Jobs, a man of excellent taste in technology, art, music and probably life… maybe. For sure he love keeping things simple as possible but remarkable. Held more than 300 patents under his name and in group.

I particularly love the dedicated section of this book in which the author has mentioned about specific details like Steve's mentors, books, his past works and so on. This book is divided into 2 parts: #1 Get to the top, and #2 Stay at the top. A peek at Steve bookshelf is confirming that he was a highly spiritual and diet conscious. He can be an ‘asshole’ sometimes, but compare to his great achievements… I say, his assholeness can be discounted. An excellent Entrepreneur. One of our greatest modern innovators. He called himself a discoverer. Steve Jobs is one of my favourite persons.

Some of his great quotes in this book:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. 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 can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. 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.”

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Simple, good book

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Simple Book Review: Steve Jobs [Thinking Differently]

Steve Jobs: thinking differently (2011) by Patricia Lakin

Entrepreneur. Inventor. Pioneer. Creative. College dropout. Visionary. Revolutionary. Rebellious. Nonconformist. Sometime asshole. I think, anyone who know him will agree that Steve Paul Jobs, the cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., could answer to all of these descriptions (oh maybe except an asshole). Jobs created one world-famous company, Apple Inc. and nurtured both NeXT and Pixar Studios. In short, he and his team – with his visions and passions for perfection – revolutionized home computers, the music and smartphone industries. I told my colleague, pointing at a poster on the wall, “Do you know that Steve Jobs involved in the creation of computer-animated films like Toy Story here?” Wall-E too, but maybe most people doesn’t realize that. But for sure, people can remember Jobs as ‘father’ for the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad.

This book is excited because it shows from the beginning how Steve Jobs, the brain met Steve Wozniak, the genius to found Apple Computer. “I remember Steve,” said Wozniak, “…mostly about pranks we’d pulled, and also what kind of electronic designs we’d done. It felt like we had so much in common. Typically, it was really hard for me to explain to people the kind of design stuff I worked on, but Steve got it right away.” Jobs agreed, “Woz was the first person I met who knew more electronics than I did.” They started their ‘company’ in the garage “creating an inexpensive computer for the average person.” With many challenges and failures, both Steves, Mike Markkula, their first investor, and his friends (partners and workers) were able to produced the first generation Apple Computer [I always wonder, why called it ‘Apple’? #1 Steve once worked on a farm tending to apple orchard; #2 Steve was a vegetarian, consumed an all-fruit diet; and #3 Newton’s apple as symbol of revolution].

I chuckled as I read the seriousness of Steve Jobs in the teachings of Zen Buddhism that one time when he went to India he said to a guru he wanted to be a monk. I chucked some more when I read about his unseriousness in college causes him to dropped out but take a great interest in calligraphy. I amazed at his simplicity in life, his ability to think ahead of others, his don’t-give-up spirit, his drive for perfection, and his determination even in the midst of failures. I think of him as asshole sometime when I read about how he handled conflict with others (especially with Woz), how he treated his ex-girlfriend (he have a daughter, Lisa with her), and how self-centred he become when it comes to making decisions (but then again, I can interpret it as selflessness, for he think about the company and the products as a whole).

Honestly, minus the all-star popularity, the perfectionism and creative level, I see myself in Steve Jobs’. That’s why I love-hate Jobs. I don’t want to be like Jobs, and at the same time I want to be like him in the area of imagination, perseverance, passion and daring. After I read this book, I understand a great deal of the person of Steve Jobs. I used to doubt, “Apple Inc. is not only Steve Jobs but also Wozniak, the Lisa team, the Macintosh team and the Apple team. What so great about Steve?” Now my perspective is different: Yes I cannot think of Steve as the sole creator and designer of the Apple products. But Steve is worthy of our amazement because he was “like an ingenious conductor who assembled an orchestra of brilliant musicians and led them in playing his tunes, always to perfection.” Jobs was not the soloist hero, but the leader who lead a great team. In his life time and after his death in 2011 he had fulfilled his dream, namely, “to put a dent in the universe.”

On my office table, there are two quotes I printed and framed as my reminders. One is from Albert Einstein and the other is from Steve Jobs, quote that he recorded for the multi-awards Think Different advertisement: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

With this, Patricia Lakin also end her book.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.