

Apple director says Steve Jobs told team not to ask "What would Steve do?" - fuzzythinker
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/20/apple_board_member_says_steve_jobs_told_team_not_to_ask_what_would_steve_do.html

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staunch
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be
trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's
thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition.” -- Steve Jobs

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jayfuerstenberg
Absolutely, including Steve's life!

Apple must plot a new "post-Steve" path and there is no reason it can't
succeed.

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jayfuerstenberg
Asking that question would lead to in-fighting since everybody would have a
different take on Steve's opinion.

"What would _____ do?" is a great movie line but it hardly ever works in real
life.

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pyre
Best example is: "What Would Jesus Do?"

I'm sure there are wildly differing opinions on that.

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kstenerud
Actually, that's very apt.

It's a way of justifying your preconceived notions without actually testing
and (in)validating them.

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jsmcgd
Given that asking "what would Steve Jobs do?" is probably what Steve Jobs
wouldn't do if he was in their situation, would asking that question now be
okay?

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ZeroGravitas
Are you sure? I've read that Margaret Thatcher would ask herself "What would
Margaret Thatcher do?" because her public persona had outgrown her own
actions. I think Steve Jobs may have been in that same situation where he
sometimes felt he had to live up to his own legend.

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danilocampos
That strikes me as extremely unlikely. Steve's superpower was never being
intimidated by anyone, even in the early days when he had so much more to
prove. It's hard to imagine his own image being something that could cast a
shadow on him, especially as his successes multiplied.

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Steko
It's a bit unavoidable for people to think of how Steve would approach
products and that's not a bad thing.

I think what Jobs is doing here though is pointing out that anyone saying
"What Would Steve Do" is really just admitting they don't know what the fuck
to do. Or saying "Steve wouldn't like X" is a cheap copout when you can't give
more concrete reasons why X is bad.

Interestingly, in the recent big Scott Forstall profile it was said he often
used the "Steve wouldn't like that" refrain.

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jeremymcanally
I think Steve would say the better question is "What should Apple do?" He
tried his best to infuse his vision into the DNA of the company, and I think
that will live on with the whole Apple U thing they're starting.

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Poyeyo
"Some industry watchers suggested Apple should appoint an independent chairman
from outside the company to take charge."

That's a sure way to Dell-ify the company.

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brain5ide
I believe the largest thing that Steve did in Apple was maintain an
exceptionally high standard for himself and I think they should keep doing
that.

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pyre
There's a very real danger to people (employees) seeing Apple as Steve Jobs'
legacy. What they need to realize is that, even if Apple crashes and burns in
the next 6 months, Steve's legacy is what he did during his time there.

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swombat
John Siracusa mentioned this was the major risk for Apple post-Steve-Jobs.
Unsurprisingly, Jobs himself was well aware of that and has probably done what
he could to inoculate Apple against this disease.

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seclorum
What Steve would do is ask not what Steve would do, but what the person
thinking about what Steve would do, would do.

Got it.

Its such a pity he couldn't stick around another 5 years, after the Siri
[r]evolution, which will probably result in the ability to digitize
personality pretty soon ..

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thefool
Doesn't seem to be in line with this:
<http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog/?p=11634> ...

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danilocampos
Everything I've read about that suggests its focus is on case studies of Apple
business decisions. The how and the why of Apple's successes — and failures,
as well, perhaps. Not an indoctrination in Jobsian thinking.

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appleflaxen
Steve wouldn't ask what Steve would do.

