What Steve Jobs Taught Us About Business

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Arguably one of the most revolutionary innovators of our time, the legendary Steve Jobs,

the founder and CEO of Apple, passed away yesterday evening. Jobs lost a long and difficult battle with pancreatic cancer, which had forced him to resign from his position as CEO in April. However, in his 56 years, Steve Jobs left us with endless inspiration, ideas, and lessons we can learn about business and life in general.

For one thing, Jobs taught us that success is not always built upon other successes. One of the richest men in the entire world, Jobs had humble beginnings and gained his status only after learning from his own mistakes and failures. Allison Linn, in her article “What Steve Jobs Taught Us: It’s Ok to Fail,” points out that many of Jobs’ achievements took place after a corresponding failure of some sort. For example, Jobs dropped out of college, and was even fired from his position as executive of his own company. He showed us that it is always possible to pick yourself back up from low points and come back stronger.

Jobs was also renowned for his ability to anticipate what the consumer would want in the future – and to make it happen. Instead of building upon other business’ ideas, Jobs innovated and always took things to the next step. Starting with the computer and continuing onto newer products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, Jobs always thought about how he could “better” the products that were already on the market. Now, these inventions form a part of the daily lives of millions of individuals, whose daily lives revolve around the use of their Apple products.

Most importantly, Jobs taught us to value every moment of our lives, which is an important lesson that can be easily forgotten by the busy small business owner. Upon being diagnosed with cancer, in his commencement speech to Stanford students in 2005, Jobs reminded us that “death is very likely the single best invention of life” because it inspires us to live every moment of life to its fullest. Jobs encouraged small business owners to focus their energy on doing something they truly love, because it will reflect in the success of their business.