Steve Jobs: 10 innovation lessons

1-      Don’t worry about the cost

If there is anything that steve jobs proved over the years it’s that when it comes to innovation getting it right doesn’t come with a cost. Jobs invested millions of dollars in products with the eventual hope of seeing a return on that investment. And just about every time he did. We realize you may have trouble convincing your CFO that this is the right approach but remember that Apple was all the more successful because of it

2-      Give Customers what they don’t know they want

Steven Jobs believed that consumers didn’t know what they really needed. Instead it was his job he believed to show them what they needed. Try shaping your own IT innovation strategy with this philosophy. Sure user involment is important, but you may find that your users don’t know what they need until you put it under their noses. And then they won’t be able to live without it.

3-      Don’t be afraid to create new markets

Jobs understood when it was time to innovate in such a way that it created a new market. For example, with the ipod the transformed the music industry business model. Think about what “new markets” you can create by using technology within your enterprise

      4-      Design Matters Most

Jobs understood the importance of elegant industrial design and graphical user interfaces. Today’s technology user expects all interfaces to work like Apple’s. As you develop or procure devices and applications for your users remember to put design and user interface at the top of your priority list

      5-      It’s a Marathon not a sprint

Nowhere is this philosophy more evident than with the ongoing improvements to the Mac OS. Instead of accepting that windows would dominate indefinitely, Apple continued to innovate on software until Mac OS X became a viable Widows contender. Persistence is the lesson here- and faith in a good project worthy of your time and investment.

6-      Roll it out slowly

Jobs is a master of planned obsolescence ( one of the qualities tha drove most CIOs crazy). With each product iteration, Apple gives people enough to make them want to buy that product now, but not enough to make them not want to buy the next device. The lesson here is that it’s good business sense to give your users just enough to get them excited about new features each time you upgrade. Engaged users equal happy users.

7-      Strive to do more than seems possible

Jobs always wanted to deliver more tha what his customers thought was possible. And he was right almost every time. Learning to think in terms of limitless possibilities is the hallmark of a tue innovator in any industry.

8-      Every last detail counts

Jobs examined all the minute details of Apple’s products to ensure that they were on target. In the process, he delivered some of the most innovative ( and sough-after) products in the world. The lesson here is that minding the details is just as important as dreaming up the lofty ideas.

9-      The Value of surprise

Part of Jobs’ innovation strategy was to change the way in which people learn about products. At Apple, the longer it takes for details to emerge, the better. In an era in which the business side is demanading more and more transparency from IT this may be a challenge. But there’s value in holding back some elements of your projects that you know will delight ad engage your users.

10-   Think you’re better, prove you’re better

Some observers criticize the corporate culture at Apple, saying that jobs created an environment in which employees are encouraged to believe that they are better than average. But Jobs proved that a leader who can make employees believe they’re better than the rest is one who can drive true innovation.


http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/IT-Management/The-Legacy-of-Steve-Jobs-10-Innovation-Lessons-438632/

The importance of leadership

Leadership in context of innovation 

Leaders are very important in terms of thinking and creating innovative ideas as leaders would often challenge old particular ways and look for new approaches for improvements. A good leader consists of many attributes i.e. influential, motivating and enables others to work in a manner where it is acceptable in the working environment of the organisation. By having strong communication skills with their subordinates, a strong team can be developed to a point where clear goals are set consequently leading to  the future success of the organisation..    

Cognitive Factors that affecting innovation thought up by Guildford (1983), Carrol (1985)

·         Associative fluency

·         Fluency of expression

·         Practical ideation fluency

·         Word fluency

·         Originality

·         Figural fluency

·         Ideational fluency

·         Speech Fluency

·         Flexibility

·         Fluency

·         Elaboration  

Innovation in Practice

Organisational culture is refer to the organisations general cultures in terms of the company own values, traditions, beliefs and norms. Although management styles are different in different organisational such as the non profit organisation or charity; however culture with good decision making would in turn influences employee motivation and engagement

The Organisational culture of the company Google is very different with other organisation, it had  created an innovative working  environment for its employees so evidence suggest it motivates the employees further  so therefore an  increase in productivity for individuals and benefits the organisation as a whole 

Innovation Strategy

Organisations have different strategies in order to achieve innovation, these include:

n       Product-market focused strategies

n       Re-positioning

n       Diversification

n       Supply Chain

n      Cost Reduction

n       Differentiation

n       Niche Markets

The above determine when and where innovation is required to meet the aims of the organisation.

By creating an innovation strategy that details, clear targets and tactics. The clear targets will help the innovator know what their aim and objectives are, this leads to the improvement in the innovative process.

Figure 3.2  Questions driving innovation strategy

Source: Adapted from Liedtka and Rosenblum, 1996

The above diagram shows the different types of strategy questions which an organisation might encounter upon operation, it comprised with new innovative thoughts in order for the organisation’s to achieve long term success:

-Industry threats and opportunities

-Organisational competencies

-Values of key corporate members?

-Social responsibilities?

Each innovation strategy requires innovation for these strategies to work successfully, a combination of strategies must be thought upon;  however the innovation will occur in different areas and each innovation strategy can be risky in reality. Even if the firm perceives it as being low risk but overall accepting that failure is part of success when developing strategies

Creativity and Innovation

In innovation, creativity is a very important issue in producing the better and more efficient products, processes or services. Creativity is the ability to produce lots of new ideas, which includes looking at issues such as resolving long term complaints and cost reduction in the production process in relation with the quality of the product. However other contributing processes include the  examining and the ability to rethink an old idea, this is very important towards thinking up a new application for an existing technology. 

Figure 2.3  The three domains for creative action

Source: Gundry et al., 1994

The Formation of a creative organisation is consisted of a mixture of Education, environment and application. In education, through creative thinking, members of the organisation should come up with a new process in solving problems. Through environment, by understanding the logic and principle of the current climate this could lead to the creation of a more innovative processes and ideas. The main key factor for this model to work is it needs all the three key sectors to  instigate with the organisation. 


Due to the recent global recession, organisations are less keen in risk taking. This results in a fall of  creative thinking and creation of new ideas, as the potential financial benefits may not outweigh the initial risk involved.