Parable of the Stones

The idea that Jobs is reacting against is essentially the "Great Man" theory of history as applied to business:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man_theory

This idea states that it is the "great men" who are responsible for making the world we see today, through their force of will, powerful ideas and charisma.

And as it happens, that's how the public sees Steve Jobs today. So it's good to hear him tell a story that reminds us that he had a very different perspective on this idea.

Can Apple survive without Jobs? Who is shaking up the can until the product is polished?

Large organizations often take very smart people and very good ideas and then produce crap. The most successful organizations usually have one very strong leader with visionary ideas yet an incredible attention to product detail. Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Salesforce, Facebook... take away that one leader and they struggle. Because large organizations thrive on teamwork and not taking any big risks (if you are right, everyone basks in your glory, if you are wrong, your ass is on the line.)

Apples latest maps application was far from polished. Then their CEO fired the one guy who seemed willing to shake things up. I am looking forward to their next big thing, to see how polished it is.

Some time ago I heard an 82-year-old lady talk about how her parents' marriage had been a happy one. She said that the whole time she was growing up, her mother kept a newspaper clipping on the family icebox that described marriage as a process by which "two stones are by friction made smooth". It was only later that she saw this as a sign that her parents did have their difficulties, and that her mother must have kept it there as a reminder.

The point is, these insights are proverbial.

This reminds me of a signature I once saw on a forum: "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.". As it turns out, that's actually proverbs 27:17.

A nice parable, but for anyone who has used a rock tumbler credibility is lost when you get polished stones in one day. It makes me wonder if the story is completely fabricated, or changed for brevity.

As much as I have a personal dislike for Jobs, I think this is advice that a lot of people fail to see value in. Having people who care standing up for their opinion and taking whatever comes out on top will often lead to the best product.

People need to stop avoiding friction between opinions and ideas and instead embrace it. That's how great things come about.

Weird to see all the comments criticizing the mention of Steve Jobs and the use of the word parable instead of people just concentrating on what this post is about, just an anecdote that may or not relate to your leadership style. Who cares of who made it and yes I understand the title was modified to sound more appealing but everything in life is modified to attract attention.

The part I liked best was:

"And as you evolve that great idea, it changes and grows. It never comes out like it starts because you learn a lot more as you get into the subtleties of it."

I think this really relates to the hacker community because it shows that you can start with SOMETHING (Just go try something), and then later you can change it and modify it. The idea you start with is never the idea that comes out on the other side.

I have a seemingly simple, offline business that we had to pivot more than once to get it just right. We used feedback from our customers (and more importantly, would-be customers) to evolve and succeed. Thanks for posting this!

Here's the video: http://abdophoto.tumblr.com/post/48782980706/steve-jobs-on-t...

I have seen that video and it is a treasure of management advice. Other things: 1) When asked how he learnt to manage such a large company and aspects like finance, etc, he said (paraphrased): "as you do it, you just learn it". Makes starting and running a company sound more natural. 2) The other thing I remember he said: When sales guys get promoted to the level of CEO, they don't understand that their company runs because of a product and that is how they provide value to their customers, instead they just think of more sales channels, wider markets, etc. In doing so, they kill the entire process that created the company's product in the first place.

This is excellent advice. This parallels with finding rocks once polished then putting them through the machine again during hiring.

Implying that the Job's quote can promise future innovation is a bit of a stretch. It is a good story, I agree. Without the occasional frictions and collisions, it is almost impossible to make a group of highly talented people produce great results.

Having said that, just having a highly talented team without good leadership is disastrous. The role of the leader is more important than the sum of talents of the team. He inspires the team to a common vision and ignites passion. The term 'passionate team' becomes meaningless without a shared vision.

These Jobs' hagiographies are becoming tiresome.

Maybe it's just me, but the Jobs worship on HN is getting pretty annoying.

Will no one rid us of these Steve Job's parables. Wisdom has no correlation to success.

I don't know about this author's history, but the connotations of "parable" in this case make it seem a bit over the top. Another Steve J.C. Jobs story; we've even given it a snicker-worthy nearly-Biblical name.

The interview snippet itself isn't bad; while I see the point he was making, it's not terribly strong or well-stated, and quite honestly it doesn't deserve its own proper name. It's worth reading, but if it had been Jobs' intention for this to be worthy of the title "parable," I'm quite sure he'd have been able to throw it back in the coffee can for another few cycles and turn it into something worth repeating.