2. “Design is a funny word.
Some people think design means
how it looks. But of course, if you
dig deeper, it’s really how
it works.”
3. “As technology becomes
more complex, Apple’s core
strength of knowing how to make
very sophisticated technology
comprehensible to mere mortals is
in even greater demand.”
4. “I always considered part
of my job was to keep the quality
level of people in the organization
I work with very high ...”
5. “… That’s what I consider one
of the few things I actually can
contribute individually to—to really
try to instill in the organization the
goal of having ‘A’ players. In
everything I’ve done it really pays
to go after the best people
in the world.”
6. “Many times in an [job] interview
I will purposely upset someone: I’ll
criticize their prior work. I’ll do
my homework, find out what they
worked on, and say, ‘God, that
really turned out to be a bomb.
That really turned out to be a
bozo product. Why did you
work on that?’ ...”
7. “… I want to see what people
are like under pressure. I want to
see if they just fold or if they have
firm conviction, belief, and pride
in what they did.”
8. “Innovation has nothing to do
with how many R&D dollars you
have. When Apple came up with
the Mac, IBM was spending at least
100 times more on R&D. It’s not
about money. It’s about the people
you have, how you’re led, and
how much you get.”
9. “The [innovation] system is
that there is no system. That’s
doesn’t mean we don’t have
process. Apple is a very disciplined
company, and we have great
processes. But that’s not what
it’s about. Process makes you
more efficient.”
10. “Innovation comes from
people meeting up in the hallways
or calling each other at 10:30 at
night with a new idea, or because
they realized something that shoots
holes in how we’ve been thinking
about a problem ...”
11. “… It’s ad hoc meetings of six
people called by someone who
thinks he has figured out the
coolest new thing ever and
who wants to know what other
people think of his idea.”
12. “You need a product-oriented
culture, even in a technology
company. Lots of companies have
tons of great engineers and smart
people. But ultimately, there needs
to be some gravitational force that
pulls it all together.”
13. “The older I get, the more I’m
convinced that motives make so
much difference. HP’s primary goal
was to make great products. And
our primary goal here is to make
the world’s best PCs—not to be
the biggest or the richest.”
