How an iPerson is like an iPhone

Apple Inc.’s stock is on a rocket ship.  An all-time high.  It’s no wonder.  Fortune Magazine found that Apple is the world’s most admired company by global CEOs.  That’s something.  Apple was on the verge of biodegrading in a pile of high tech mulch in 1997 when Steve Jobs was re-enthroned as CEO of the computer company he co founded in 1976.  He was once considered a kind of genius bad boy.  A one hit wonder.  Full of himself.  Isolated.  Angry.  His NeXT computer company was a commercial flop, but he found game changing success at Pixar who brought us the Toy Story movies as well as a steady series of yearly blockbuster films.  In the movie business he did the impossible.  Every movie Pixar has released has grossed over $100 million.  Every one.  Impossible according to Hollywood.  Inevitable according to Jobs.

Then Jobs resurrected Apple as a global icon by inventing software-based hardware that blew our minds about how computers ought to look and work, then how we buy and listen to music, communicate by phone, where we buy cool stuff in Apple stores, and now how we’ll learn and operate on something called an iPad.

Steve Jobs is now being canonized by many of his critics and competitors.  Sure rock-star Steve is not perfect.  Not even in business.  But as I was considering his Walt Disney-like success it occurred to me that there are three insightful things about his business decisions that translate to our own lives.  Three principles we need to consider as we choose our daily path and forge enduring priorities.  Three drivers of the “i” empire Emperor Steve has built.

Unbreakable system: Jobs has been very stubborn about building totally integrated hardware and software devices.  There is seamlessness between Apple’s electronics and their operating software.  So their immune systems are tintanically strong.  iMacs famously are virtually virus free because there are no “nasal” passages to infect.  PCs and Windows have never overcome their cobbled together genetics and open sores that leave them ripe for infection.

So, I wonder, how about me?  Am I a PC that is nothing more than a collection of other people’s software, their opinions and demands?  Or do I have my own operating system that guides my decisions, informs my values, sings my songs and recognized voices of truth?  I know that a robust personal operating system must be able to accept updates from credible sources or I’ll just become obsolete in my own thinking.  On the other hand, if I let any virus in that the popular media sneezes out into my hard drive I will become slower to adapt, angry and fearful.

What I have learned is that to even approach having a personal unbreakable system I must daily reflect on what matters most.  I must weigh my work life in the context of my relationships, my health and my sources of joy.  Every day.  If I skip reflection, I skip choosing.  Then other urgencies invade me like tiny thought-bots that make me sick with unimportant urgencies.  I need to be unbreakable.  Seamless.  Self-determined.  Soul-determined.

Revolution by evolution. Every one of Apple’s hot products is designed around Apple’s robust and elegant operating system.  From iMacs to iPads the deep DNA is their every improving and adapting operating system.  So even though it looks like an iPod is a radical departure from a computer or an iPhone is a game-changing device, the backbone of all Apple devices is the same.

For me it reminds me that even at 60 I must fearlessly re-invent my messages, my services, and my delivery channels even as I build on a lifetime of learning, interests and experiences.  As I re-purpose my purpose the way I work is constantly evolving.  Facebook, blogging, webcasts, online learning are all new tools that require new skills.  But the core of my work remains what it has been for 35 years: to help people make the biggest positive difference they can right now as a means to create more happiness and less suffering.  Or in a bumper sticker, “My purpose is to help other’s express theirs.”  That’s my operating system.  At least on my good days.

Over-invest in a few things that matter. Apple does almost everything different from their competitors.  They essentially have four products: iMac, iPod, iPhone, and now iPads.  Competitors like Dell, HP and Sony have gazillions of products.  But what Apple understands is that to be great you must make focused investments.  Bring enormous, overwhelming force to a few great ideas.  Jobs invested $200 million in advertising the iPod in its first 12 months.  No competitor has come close to that commitment.

So, I can’t do everything.  But I can be fully present for my wife and family.  That is a huge focus for me.  Enduring, healthy, enriching relationships are the most difficult achievements in life.  It takes constant attention and persistent enthusiasm.  For me it’s not work though.  It’s not work like surfing is not work.  Surfing takes great effort and concentration, but it’s joyful.  My few personal relationships of significance require “all-in” joyful commitment.  It’s simple.  A few great relationships require our over-investing in them.

I also invest in my clients’ individual success.  Everything is personal for me.  As Helen Keller said,

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

It’s true, I cannot do everything, but what I can do is pay extreme attention to how I am making a difference to someone today.  And finally I invest in learning.  Learning all that I can to be better at priorities one and two.  For me it’s come down to love, helping and learning.  That’s my daily focus.  What I try to over-invest in.

But in spite of Steve’s best intentions, Apple’s iPods break too often.  iPhones don’t have an interchangeable battery.  And likewise in too many cases, I act like a big fat jerk.  Cranky, impatient, selfish.  Yea, it’s a life long process to become an “iPerson” but why else live?

So, tell us about your journey toward your best life.  What do you over-invest in?

Most Admired Companies

Last week Fortune Magazine came out with its list of Most Admired Companies. And in my opinion, this is the list that counts.  The judging criteria are innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services, and global competitiveness. Right on.

The companies that made the top nine on the list are:
1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. Toyota Motor
4. Google
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Procter & Gamble
7. FedEx
8. Southwest Airlines
9. General Electric

In this day and age no one really cares about who is solely making the most money.  Yes, profits are important, after all a company must be sustaining, but profits are only part of the equation.  No matter how much profit a company can boast, what everyone is paying attention to is who is leading the world to a better future with qualities such as innovation and social responsibility.  And when companies focus on these qualities, profits are sure to follow.  I know.  These companies are not perfect.  But neither am I.  What most of them are doing is facing in the right direction.  These are the companies we want to buy from, work for, and see succeed.

Make Yourself Depression Proof in the Economic Crisis

This feels like an economic apocalypse.  Everyday we are being psychologically carpet-bombed with news of job layoffs, foreclosures and bailouts.  And whether we’ve taken a direct hit with a job loss or are only suffering the collateral damage of stress and worry, it’s time to move from the war zone.  There is a land of hope and opportunity just beyond this stormy sea and you will see it clearly when you quit looking out and begin to look in.

We must create our own opportunities.  Now more than ever.  It’s the nature of industrial capitalism to make all jobs generic.  That way labor is just a unit of cost.  Nobody’s special; everyone’s replaceable.  Humans are made cogs in a giant worldwide money machine.  This is the major issue of our career future.  A study from the University of California at Berkeley estimates that as many as 14 million current U.S. jobs could be lost in the next 10 years.  Such a job extinction could increase structural unemployment to nearly 12%.  That’s more than a recession; that’s a tragedy.  The biggest body count is likely to be among the young (ages 15-40).  They are coming into the workforce with little experience and often with inadequate education.  Not much to trade in the swap meet of hyper competitive world labor.

Many business leaders, economists, and the business press say such a job destruction is healthy, as if human lives are ripe for pruning like a fruit tree.  They tell us, grow up, face reality.  It’s the business cycle at work.  Well, it’s not inevitable.  It’s a choice.  It’s the result of economic, trade, education and tax policy.  It’s a choice today’s leadership class is making.  After all, their kids will have trust funds.  So, not to worry.  In the large sweep of history, change always creates casualties they tell us.  It even has a name…creative destruction.  It doesn’t sound so good if it’s your life that’s being creatively destroyed, however.

Such thinking is wrong.  The companies that are growing most profitably are those that conduct business differently than their competitors.  Fortune Magazine recently published its annual list of the 100 best companies to work for.

Mostly they have one thing in common, they put employees first and rely on those employees to come up with constant innovations to reduce costs and increase value.  Companies like Costco, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, WL Gore, Netflix, eBay, Google, SAS Institute are not just great places to work, they are great engines of human capitalism.

When we face the truth we understand that no matter who signs our paycheck, we are all self-employed.  All jobs are contingent.  If you are going to work for someone, only work for the industry leaders who are successful by not competing on price, but creating new, mind blowing value for customers.  These are companies that have few direct competitors.  They’re different.  They have leaders who embrace social responsibility and environmental sustainability.  They are both large and famous and small and unknown.  They exist in nearly every city and town in America.

But whether you work for a great enterprise or for yourself, the future of jobs is going to look like a war.  Huge explosions of new technology and new competitors that will obliterate companies, change industries and create un-thought of opportunities.  My message is don’t be a casualty.

But there is an answer.  As far as I can tell, the only answer.  It has three dimensions:

1.    Express your design. What makes you different is what makes you valuable, irreplaceable.  Self-knowledge is essential to your future.  Ultimately we are valued for who we are (traits and talents) more than what we know.  If we find ourselves in jobs where we cannot positively express our unique gifts; if we are only valued for our generic skills, the clock is ticking.  It’s only a matter of time before someone hungrier, smarter, and cheaper will take your place.  Only you, the unique you, can’t be duplicated.  Be you.

2.    Pursue your desire. Excellence at any endeavor requires strategic persistence.  This is consistent striving combined with readily embracing feedback, results and reality so that successful adjustments can be made.  If we are trying to achieve someone else’s goals that don’t give us a personal buzz, we will not excel over time.  We simply won’t do what it takes to be amazing.  Being amazing requires inner motivation.  Competing with someone else’s frantic ambition is not a serious problem if our motivation is intrinsic.  We will do well because we enjoy doing more than necessary.  If we are just racing to win a medal, we will lose to many who will simply out train us.

3.    Make love your prime motive. Daniel Goleman has shown that Emotional Intelligence is essential to career success.  Emotional Intelligence is a fancy term for understanding our design and being clear on our desires combined with emotional maturity, empathy and collaboration.  Emotional maturity frees us from acting on fear and fires us with love.   Empathy and collaboration are the pillars of social wisdom.  Empathy and collaboration are not primarily skills, although lots of company training programs try to teach you how to listen empathically and behave collaboratively.  But like words without music, the outer action without inner conviction is empty.  Love makes the quality of empathy and richness of collaboration work.  When love is your prime motive, everyone feels it.  They act better, think better and do better.

In today’s hyper collaborative world, people with high social wisdom are the first hired and the last fired.  They are the connective tissue of enterprise, the glue between company and customer, management and workforce.

Although the power of love can be expressed over fiber optic cable through voice (telephone) or data (email), there is nothing more powerful than personal presence. Thus, the most global proof jobs of the future are those that require us to be in a specific place with specific people to express our design.  Often, these careers combine personal service, high skill and individualized creativity.  If you want to be indispensable, make your personal presence a central part of the value you bring others.  Engage people with love.

The answer in a nutshell:  Don’t compete, be unique.  You already are.  Just turn up the volume.