Apples CEO Steve Jobs Shares His 12 Rules Of Success

By Joel on May 12, 2011

Do what you love to do. Find your true passion. Do what you love to do and make a difference! The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Be different. Think different. “Better be a pirate than to join the navy.”
Do your best. Do your best at every job. No sleep! Success generates more success. So be hungry for it. Hire good people with passion for excellence.

Make SWOT analysis. As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper. Don’t hesitate in throwing bad apples out of the company.

Be entrepreneurial. Look for the next big thing. Find a set of ideas that need to be quickly and decisively acted upon and jump through that window. Sometimes the first step is the hardest one. Just take it! Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow, but the future. “I want to put a ding in the universe,” reveal Steve Jobs his dream.

Strive to become a market leader. Own and control the primary technology in everything you do. If there’s a better technology available, use it no matter if anyone else is not using it. Be the first, and make it an industry standard.

Focus on the outcome. People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. Advertise. If they don’t know it, they won’t buy your product. Pay attention to design. “We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.” “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Ask for feedback. Ask for feedback from people with diverse backgrounds. Each one will tell you one useful thing. If you’re at the top of the chain, sometimes people won’t give you honest feedback because they’re afraid. In this case, disguise yourself, or get feedback from other sources. Focus on those who will use your product – listen to your customers first.

Innovate. Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower. Delegate, let other top executives do 50% of your routine work to be able to spend 50% your time on the new stuff. Say no to 1,000 things to make sure you don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. Concentrate on really important creations and radical innovation. Hire people who want to make the best things in the world. You need a very product-oriented culture, even in a technology company. Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together.

Learn from failures. Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

Learn continually. There’s always “one more thing” to learn! Cross-pollinate ideas with others both within and outside your company. Learn from customers, competitors and partners. If you partner with someone whom you don’t like, learn to like them – praise them and benefit from them. Learn to criticize your enemies openly, but honestly.

Bonus Video Tip:

About The Author: Joel

Joel Brown is the CEO and Founder of Addicted2Success.com. With a long time passion for Entrepreneurship, Self development & Success, Joel started his website with the intention of educating and inspiring likeminded people all over the world to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. Joel’s passion for what he does shows through the continual growth of Addicted2Success.com's online community. Follow Joel Brown on Twitter

7 Comments

Roger R.

May 28, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Follow a star, you may fall on the moon.

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Wesley Wyman Kaluba

July 14, 2012 at 5:58 am

Great advisory!

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Conrad Mthunzi

January 23, 2013 at 2:30 am

This is truely valuable information. It’s meant to be kept and applied in business life daily.

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Conrad Mthunzi

January 23, 2013 at 4:13 am

Truely good stuff…

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Praveen

February 23, 2013 at 6:42 pm

Great leader .. Great innovator . APPLE is a great product )

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man

February 24, 2013 at 8:04 am

thanks for sharing..very informative article.

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Jon

May 12, 2013 at 4:15 pm

Excellent tips there, my favorite is to start small and think big, such good advice. It is so easy to get lost thinking big and starting big, or starting small without a big vision. Thanks.

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