Steve Jobs was known for his great skills in public speaking and communicating with the public. Not surprisingly, the most famous keynotes in the world of technology are from Manzana.
He was a charismatic character, sometimes funny and at other times even irascible. As Jobs sold the products in the keynotes years ago has set the standard for current presentations.
In a interview Jobs was criticized after his return from NEXT to Apple. They asked him about things specific to Java and Opendoc, which Jobs announced that he would withdraw from the market.
The interviewer commented “Mr. Jobs, you are a brilliant and influential man (…) It is sad and clear that on many of the issues you have discussed, you do not know what you are talking about“.
In response, Jobs did not enter the rag to defend his intelligence or success. He accepted the claim and the errors. “Some mistakes will be made along the way (…) that’s good, because at least some decisions are made“.
Mistakes are an inevitable part of the journey
Jobs clarified that they would find those bugs and fix them. The environment where a CEO is answering developer questions at WWDC is something we probably won’t see today with Tim Cook.
It is clear that with these responses, Jobs made it clear that success is not seeking not to make mistakes. But accept that mistakes come as an inevitable part of the process and how you deal with them will define that success.
Jobs made a personal case for that: “You can’t start in technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try to sell it. I’ve made this mistake, probably more than anyone in this room, and I have the scar to prove it.“.
Obviously your job is try to make as few mistakes as possible and that they are small. You learn from those kinds of mistakes.
In fact, mistakes also teach you something important. If you are able to detect them, solve them, that makes your product and your business stronger.
