Image via Wikipedia
The eulogies and stories about Steve Jobs have been plentiful. The calibre of people writing about Jobs is perhaps unequaled in history, in part thanks to the Internet and the collaboration it has spawned. An aspiring entrepreneur could probably learn 90% of the key lessons from a careful reading of these articles. Someone should publish a collection of the best articles.
One of the best lessons, not surprisingly, is a quote from Jobs himself. In writing about Edwin H. Land, the founder of Polaroid, who Jobs described as his hero, he said:
“Not only was he one of the great inventors of our time but, more important, he saw the intersection of art and science and business and built an organization to reflect that.”
The recognition of the role of art, or perhaps more precisely design, in combination with science or technology, is the key to understanding the great contribution of both Land and Jobs. The ability to create an organization that reflected this approach was perhaps Jobs real gift.
I found the quote in this NYT story. A Bloomberg TV story on Jobs through Business Insider is here, which features Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen.
Posts on design will continue.
