I, Steve - Steve Jobs In His Own Words

by George Beahm

I’m always keeping my eyes open for the next big opportunity, but the way the world is now, it will take enormous resources, both in money and in engineering talent, to make it happen. I don’t know what that next big thing might be, but I have a few ideas.

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1000 things.

And I said, ‘No, no, we’re doing this’. And they said, ‘Well, why?’ And I said, ‘Because I’m the CEO and I think it can be done’. And so they kind of begrudgingly did it. But then it was a big hit’.

Let’s go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

The people who go to see our movies are trusting us with something very important — their time and their imagination. So in order to respect that trust, we have to keep changing; we have to challenge ourselves and try to surprise our audiences with something new every time.

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.