As people lose jobs, Apple has lost the biggest one. As Steve Jobs announces a six month break from Apple to focus on his health, and everyone debates the significance of this on Apple, I'd like to reflect on Jobs' role as a Creator.
Creators that get to billion dollar status don't do so through their ability to create, but their ability to set the playground for others to create. Creation isn't the flourishing of options (everyone has ideas. That doesn't mean everyone is a Creator), but the elimination of options (a great Creator doesn't have to be an expert at coming up with ideas, but is an expert at attracting great creations and eliminating everything but the golden nugget, which then gets polished and multiplied).
As an analyst just commented, "Over the least ten years he has been the person who has filtered and synthesized the collective genius of all of Apple's engineers ... he has picked and chosen the best and ripest ideas and played a critical role in fitting those great concepts into great products."
Any concerns that Apple won't come up with great ideas without Steve are unfounded. All the best ones - from iTunes to iPod to iPhone were not Steve's. If anything, without Steve, Apple will come up with too many ideas - without the guiding hand and vision to zoom down to the ones that count. So if you're a Creator profile, don't congratulate yourself for the ideas you have, but measure yourself by your record at attracting, selecting and then bringing to market the one idea that counts.
In the meantime, get well soon, Steve.
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2 comments:
Well said Roger and yes, let's us all pray for Steve Jobs' health and its return to normalcy. We certainly would love to have the Creator continue his inspirations :)
Roger,
I read this post with awe and excitement. This is so well distinguished not just about Jobs but also about Innovation.
Creativity and innovation are two separate worlds - one is mental with potential (or not) while the other is practical and palpably valuable. In real life I do often mix them and definitely see others do the same.
So many creators create ideas and miss proving innovative concepts.
Steve Jobs is undoubtedly one of top of the creators list at high level of flow. Other creators would rank differently (supposedly covering the 7 levels of each game I have heard over and over ;-)
I suspect (and certainly eagerly wait) that more is to come on the different levels of each of the 8 games but I do appreciate the little peak :-) Nothing beats a striking real life example when will presented.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
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