Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Interpretation
Innovation is the key trait that separates true leaders from those who simply follow.
This quote by Steve Jobs emphasizes the importance of innovation as a pivotal quality that defines a leader. It suggests that true leaders are those who create and innovate, rather than merely conforming to existing ideas and practices, thus inspiring others to follow their vision and example.
In practice
During a leadership seminar on the importance of innovation in business.
Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together.
It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.
The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
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 it.
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.
The double bind lowers its boom on women in positions of authority, so those who haven't yet risen to such positions have not yet felt its full weight.
The leader has a clear idea of what he wants to do professionally and personally, _x000D_ _x000D_ and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures
There must appear a spiritual and moral leadership rising above economic and political situations. Governments in both their domestic and foreign policies appeal for popular support by promises of material gain. We cannot make peace by mere appeal to greed. We must give the peoples of the world something to live for as well as something to live on.
Moving into an unoccupied village when there's no opposition, I don't call that a military victory.
Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.
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