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.
Interpretation
Great leaders empower their teams by removing obstacles and providing support.
In this quote, Steve Jobs emphasizes the crucial role of leadership in enabling a team's success. He suggests that it is the people who actively contribute to the work who drive progress, and it is the leader's responsibility to create a conducive environment by minimizing distractions and interference from the larger organization. Effective leadership is about supporting and facilitating the efforts of passionate individuals, allowing their creativity and productivity to flourish.
In practice
In a business meeting, to inspire your team about the importance of leadership and teamwork.
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.
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.
the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
Whether it is with friends or family, I expect them to set a great example for me, and hopefully I will do the same for them. And that is all part of being a leader.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
You cannot govern, you cannot administrate, with an ignoramus.
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs _x000D_ _x000D_ of those who would be affected by it
It's very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed.
My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders.
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