I don’t use Apple products. More notably I’m known in my office as the guy who is extremely annoyed by “Mac people.” I have an Android Phone. My newest toy is the Samsung Series 9 which is a PC knockoff of the Macbook Air. I admit, I did receive an iPad as a gift but it sits idly on my nightstand collecting dust. For our company’s outside sales team I purchased the Motorola Xoom tablet.
So why did I decide to come out of blogging hibernation today to discuss the man who spearheaded the culture that irked me so? Because as a businessman I loved Steve Jobs. I spent the last few years back in school earning my MBA. I wrote countless pages on the topic of the recession, growth, people, and innovation. Let me rephrase that… I spent endless hours confirming the theory that people need to innovate in order to spur the growth necessary to climb out of this recession. It all starts with people. People like Steve Jobs. People like you and me who can carry on his spirit of innovation.
Never, in my lifetime, has someone been able to blend art & science with such vigor. Mr. Jobs was able to make geeks cool. He made the cool want the geeky. Never has anyone been able to merge form and function so beautifully. His products were truly superior. And this is an admission coming from someone who is turned off by “Mac people.” In order for our nation to grow we need to innovate.
I know what you’re thinking… “I don’t make electronics!” You don’t have to. I don’t. I’m in the business of online advertising. A culture of innovation is the state of mind. It’s about seeing things differently. It’s about questioning the status quo. Instead of just thinking outside the box, tear down the box and throw it in the recycling bin. It’s about taking the argumentative “yeah but…” out of your vocabulary and replacing that with questions of what “could be.” It’s about doing good… correction… it’s about being at your best instead of simply trying to hit numbers. It’s about selling differently no matter what you sell. It’s about working with passion and bringing fun back into whatever you do. It’s about saying “I can” when people say you can’t. It’s a belief. It’s contagious. It’s about people. Not products or job roles. It’s about making geeky cool and cool geeky.
I’ll end this rant with this final thought. Last night my wife walked in the house and the first words out of my mouth were “I’m sad. Steve Jobs just died.” I continued on to say, “there are only a few people our country really needs right now. There are only a handful of people I want my kids to grow up and meet someday. Steve Jobs was one of them.” Well, all that’s left for us to do is to be that person. Strive to be a businessman, parent, or friend that people will want their kids to meet someday.
-Michael
Nett Solutions is a SEM agency working with Yahoo! and Google. We are a SoCal based company built of an eclectic cornucopia of: marketers, mothers & fathers, husbands & wives, college grads & MBA’s, surfers, church-goers, athletes, comedians (and those who think they are comedians). Our common bond is that we like to help people succeed.