Brent Schlender Quotes & Sayings

The turnaround, however, did not come without expensive failures. Apple had done a good job embracing the Internet, by making the process of getting access to the Web as simple as any other function of an iMac. But Apple's eWorld, a proprietary online subscription service bundled with new iMacs, was a flop, despite a friendly interface that suggested that going online could be as easy as walking from one neighborhood to the next. All it really offered was email services and a way to download software, and in practice it wasn't any easier to use than bigger services like EarthLink and AOL, which came bundled on Wintel PCs. — Brent Schlender

Do you have the humility to continually grow, to learn from your failures and get back up? Are you utterly relentless for your cause, ferocious for your cause? Can you channel your intensity and intelligence and energy and talents and gifts and ideas outward into something that is bigger and more impactful than you are? That's what great leadership is about. — Brent Schlender

Having a grand, bold goal was useless if you didn't have the ability to tell a compelling story about how you'd get there. — Brent Schlender

And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. — Brent Schlender

What's the point in looking back," he told me in one email. "I'd rather — Brent Schlender

Then, in 1979, VisiCalc became the very first massive software hit. VisiCalc was a relatively simple financial modeling spreadsheet, and its existence suddenly gave nongeeks a concrete reason to own a computer, as they realized how much time they could save handling accounting chores, managing inventory lists, and trying out business scenarios. Suddenly Apple enjoyed an unprecedented, meteoric rise. — Brent Schlender

Above all, saying no became a crucial way of keeping everyone, including himself, focused on what really mattered. — Brent Schlender

got the Journal to buy me a Fat Mac." I had convinced the big guys in New York that if I was going to be writing about Apple, I'd better be familiar with their latest machines. — Brent Schlender

Steve wanted people to love Apple," says Cook, "not just work for Apple, but really love Apple, and really understand at a very deep level what Apple was about, about the values of the company. He didn't write them on the walls and make posters out of them anymore, but he wanted people to understand them. He wanted people to work for a greater cause. — Brent Schlender

at Pixar, Steve couldn't shape the culture. He wasn't the founder, and even as owner, he could not change the company to reflect his image and sensibilities. It already had a culture. It already had a leader. Its cohesive and collaborative team knew exactly what it wanted to do. — Brent Schlender

Develop for it?" he told InfoWorld. "I'll piss on it. — Brent Schlender

Steve embraced the marketing adage that every single moment a consumer encounters a brand - whether as a buyer, a user, a store visitor, a passerby seeing a billboard, or someone simply watching an ad on TV - is an experience that adds either credits or debits to the brand's "account" in his imagination. — Brent Schlender

Steve was innately comfortable trusting his gut; it's a characteristic of the best entrepreneurs, a necessity for anyone who wants to make a living developing things no one has ever quite imagined before. — Brent Schlender

One little thing led to another. One success, one particular challenge, could spur thoughts about another product, or a different iteration of an existing product, or a whole new channel of revenue. As Steve liked to say, "You can only connect the dots of how things really happened in hindsight. — Brent Schlender

displayed and sold represented the very worst of what could go wrong when things weren't done his way. The salespeople, always interested in quick turnover, seemed to make little effort to understand what was special about a Mac, and had less incentive to do so after — Brent Schlender

The main reason we were close and worked in the way we did was that it was a collaboration that was based on more than just the traditional view of design," Ive says. "We both perceived objects in our environment, and people, and organizational structures intuitively in the same way. Beauty can be conceptual, it can be symbolic, it can stand as testament to progress and what humankind has managed to achieve in the last fifteen years. In that sense, it could represent progress, or it could be something as trivial as the machined face on a screw. That's why we got on well, 'cause we both thought that way. If my contribution was simply to the shapes of things, we wouldn't have spent so much time together. It makes no sense that the CEO of a company this size would spend nearly every lunchtime and big chunks of the afternoon with somebody who just was preoccupied with form. — Brent Schlender

Pixar's Ed Catmull likes to say that since you can't control the luck itself, which is bound to come your way for better and for worse, what matters is your state of preparedness to deal with it. — Brent Schlender

If you look at true artists, if they get really good at something, it occurs to them that they can do this for the rest of their lives, and they can be really successful at it to the outside world, but not really successful to themselves. That's the moment that an artist really decides who he or she is. If they keep on risking failure they're still artists. Dylan and Picasso were always risking failure. — Brent Schlender

By the time the two got around to focusing on the iPhone, Steve had become closer to Jony than anyone he had ever worked with. "The bond became so strong between us," says Ive. "We could just be honest and straightforward and not have to articulate precisely why this is a good idea or why this is a valuable idea. And we also were honest enough to be able to say 'Nah, that's a terrible idea,' without worrying about each other's feelings so much. — Brent Schlender

Maybe they have to be crazy. — Brent Schlender

The sun will set and the sun will rise, and it will shine upon us tomorrow in our grief and our gratitude, and we will continue to live with purpose, memory, passion, and love. — Brent Schlender

Hard disk drives were finally cheap enough for consumers to afford: If you shopped around, you could find one that held 10 megabytes of digital storage for about $700. — Brent Schlender

To Steve, these stores were pulling off something he had never been able to manage: they sold a lifestyle product at an absurdly high margin by presenting it in a beautiful and yet informative way. — Brent Schlender

I don't really care, this is what I want to do. And if I try my best and fail, well, I tried my best. — Brent Schlender

restlessness is far more important and powerful than simple ambition or raw intelligence. It is the foundation of resilience, and self-motivation. It is fueled by curiosity, the ache to build something meaningful, and a sense of purpose to make the most of one's entire life. — Brent Schlender

Through its "Bondi blue" (named for the evocative tropical waters of Bondi Beach, near Sydney, Australia) translucent plastic exterior, a buyer could see the inner workings of the computer, its rigorously arranged wires and circuit boards loaded with chips that looked like 3-D maps of cities. — Brent Schlender

By the late 1990s, it was almost as if the Orwellian scenario of the Mac's "1984" commercial had come true. Big Business, with a pair of capital B's, ruled computing. The drones used what they were told. — Brent Schlender

He, better than anyone, understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished. — Brent Schlender

There was definitely pride, in that the numbers reflected that we were doing good work. But also I think Steve felt a vindication. This is important. It wasn't a vindication of 'I'm right' or 'I told you so.' It was a vindication that restored his sense of faith in humanity. Given the choice, people do discern and value quality more than we give them credit for. That was a really big deal for all of us because it actually made you feel very connected to the whole world and all of humanity, and not like you're marginalized and just making a niche product. — Brent Schlender

Software development requires very little capital investment, since it is basically intellectual capital, pure thoughtstuff, expressed in a set of detailed instructions written in a language that machines can understand. — Brent Schlender

Challenges, confrontations: in his limited experience, this was how you got things done; this was how the great stuff broke through. — Brent Schlender

Steve was the best delegator I ever met," Johnson said at Stanford. "He was so clear about what he wanted that it gave you great freedom. — Brent Schlender

The key was the customer experience, — Brent Schlender

You know," Steve told him, "you reminded me of something I learned at Pixar. On almost every film they make, something turns out to be not quite right. And they have an amazing willingness to turn around and do it again, till they do get it right. They have always had a willingness to not be governed by the release date. It's not about how fast you do something, it's about doing your level best. — Brent Schlender

One of the things I've always felt," Steve told me, "is that if you're going to be creative, it's like jumping up in the air; you want to make damn sure the ground is going to be there when you get back. — Brent Schlender

Lucas was courting a range of other potential buyers at the same time, including Siemens, Hallmark, General Motors' EDS division, and Philips. But as one deal after another fell through, the balance of power tilted toward Steve, who didn't need the group as much as Lucas needed the money. So he was perfectly willing to play tough himself. "At one point," says Barnes, who helped with the negotiations, "the delays went on forever and he just went and told one of their executives to 'fuck off.' One of the Lucas team said, 'You can't say that to one of our EVPs.' 'Yes I can,' he replied. 'And fuck you, too.' — Brent Schlender

If Steve ever was starstruck, it was by Lasseter, whose artistry seemed to be irrefutable evidence of what Steve believed to be the most important attribute of computers: that they were tools that could unleash and enhance human creativity. — Brent Schlender

We can learn as much, if not more, from failure, from promising paths that turn into dead ends. The vision, understanding, patience, and wisdom that informed Steve's last decade were forged in the trials of these intervening years. The failures, stinging reversals, miscommunications, bad judgment calls, emphases on wrong values-the whole Pandora's box of immaturity-were necessary prerequisites to the clarity, moderation, reflection, and steadiness he would display in the later years. — Brent Schlender

To overlook those years (muddled, complicated times) is to fall into the trap of only celebrating success. We can learn as much, if not more, from failure, from promising paths that turn into dead ends. The vision, understanding, patience, and wisdom that informed Steve's last decade were forged in the trials of these intervening years. The failures, stinging reversals, miscommunications, bad judgment calls, emphases on wrong values-the whole Pandora's box of immaturity- were necessary prerequisites to the clarity, moderation, reflection, and steadiness he would display in later years. — Brent Schlender

it didn't bother me to say, 'Hey, Steve, shut up. — Brent Schlender

STEVEN PAUL JOBS felt deeply entitled almost from the start, thanks to parents who raised him to think that he was every bit as special as they believed he could be. — Brent Schlender

Near-death experiences can help one see more clearly sometimes. — Brent Schlender

The last person who wrote about me for the Wall Street Journal didn't even know the difference between machine memory and a floppy! — Brent Schlender

What I loved about working for Steve," says Cue, "is that you learned that you could accomplish the impossible. Again and again. — Brent Schlender

The world was opening up to Apple bit by bit, and vice versa. The iPod was Apple's first mass-market consumer device, but it had come about because Steve and his team had taken one logical step after another: first iMovie, then a correction leading to iTunes, then the iPod. Steve's patience, discipline, and vision had set Apple on a new course, one that was more complicated than its old path, which had simply involved the regular improvement of personal computers. — Brent Schlender

One day I asked him if he had come to enjoy the process of building companies, now that he was trying to do so for a third time. "Uh, no," he started, as if I were a fool. But if he didn't enjoy building companies, he sure had a thoughtful and convincing way of describing why he kept doing it. "The only purpose, for me, in building a company is so that that company can make products. One is a means to the other. Over a period of time you realize that building a very strong company and a very strong foundation of talent and culture in a company is essential to keep making great products. — Brent Schlender

when people acted as minions, he let them be minions. — Brent Schlender

Autobiography of a Yogi, a book that he would return to several — Brent Schlender

By some analysts' estimates, the Cupertino company now pockets as much as 80 percent of the profits of the entire cellphone handset business. — Brent Schlender

most breakthrough products result from a long cycle of hit-and-miss prototypes, the steady accumulation of features, and a timely synthesis of existing technologies. — Brent Schlender

When Lasseter got his next paycheck, it contained a small bonus. "You have to use this to buy a new car," Steve told him. "It has to be safe, and I have to approve it." John and Nancy picked out a Volvo, and Steve approved. — Brent Schlender

Ed Catmull has thought a lot about the role luck plays at a great company, and how businesspeople manage that luck. It's all in the preparedness, he says, and in creating a culture that can adapt to the unexpected. "These things are always going to happen. What separates you is your response, — Brent Schlender

Sun Microsystems, a Silicon Valley workstation maker, got its start in 1982 making such machines for use on the Stanford University Network (hence its name). Sun set a record that still stands in the annals of American business for being the company that from a dead start reached the $1 billion sales mark faster than any other manufacturer - it took all of four years. — Brent Schlender

Despite his evasiveness and his determination to hew to a single message, Jobs was a vivid presence. The intensity of his self-confidence made me hang on his every word. He spoke in carefully constructed sentences, even when trying to answer an unexpected question. — Brent Schlender

When he decided that Woz would be "Employee #1," Steve went to him and whined; it didn't take long till Scotty relented and gave Steve a new, customized tag: "Employee #0. — Brent Schlender

Steve had grown comfortable with only seeing the connections between the dots after the fact. Maturity, and the extraordinary talents of the team he had built, made that possible. — Brent Schlender

after an old girlfriend failed to solder a few chips correctly, he made her the team's bookkeeper. — Brent Schlender

Once, while talking to a group at a dinner party that included Larry Ellison, Amelio tried to put his company's problems in perspective for the other guests. "Apple is a boat," he said. "There's a hole in the boat, and it's taking on water. But there's also a treasure on board. And the problem is, everyone on board is rowing in different directions, so the boat is just standing still. My job is to get everyone rowing in the same direction." After Amelio walked away, Ellison turned to the person standing next to him and asked, "But what about the hole?" That was one story Steve never got tired of telling. — Brent Schlender

Steve's life wasn't a movie. It was inspiring, confounding, and unabashedly human, to the very end. — Brent Schlender

So many of the people who want to be like Steve have the asshole side down. What they're missing is the genius part. — Brent Schlender

the Apple III, whose footprint had to be small enough to leave lots of open room on an office desk, would be absolutely silent, which meant no internal cooling fan. — Brent Schlender

What wasn't made clear, and what Bill didn't even come close to revealing, was how his deep understanding of the computing needs of businesses would transform the computer business itself over the next several years, further sidelining anyone who, like Steve, chose to focus on the aesthetics and thrills of personal computers. Even though nobody recognized it at the time, Bill was about to take the personal right out of personal computing. Ironically, in so doing, he would leave an opening for Steve to fill - eventually. — Brent Schlender

While Steve's gadgets and computers drew the most attention, the software that made them go was every bit as important. Steve always said that Apple's primary competitive advantage was that it created the whole widget: the finely tuned symbiosis between the hardware and the software together defined a superior user experience. In the PC world, hardware and software technologies came from different companies that didn't always even get along, including IBM and the PC-clone manufacturers, Microsoft, and Intel. — Brent Schlender

He visited me in the Stanford hospital twice during the weeks when I was recovering — Brent Schlender

Collins, echoing Ed Catmull, "What separates people is the return on luck, what you do with it when you get it. What matters is how you play the hand you're dealt." He continues, "You don't leave the game, until it's not your choice. Steve Jobs had great luck at arriving at the birth of an industry. Then he had bad luck in getting booted out. But Steve played whatever hand he was dealt to the best of his ability. Sometimes you create the hand, by giving yourself challenges that will make you stronger, where you don't even know what's next. That's the beauty of the story. Steve's almost like the Tom Hanks character in Castaway - just keep breathing because you don't know what the tide will bring in tomorrow. — Brent Schlender

There are thousands of people across the country taking photography courses. They'll never be professional photographers. They just want to understand what the photographic process is all about. — Brent Schlender

It was quite a collection of people: Hindus and Buddhists, rockers and doctors, all accomplished, all gathered in the United Church of Christ's Garden of Allah. — Brent Schlender

should go see Steve," he whispered in his ear. "He's out in the parking lot crying. — Brent Schlender