I worked at Apple for 10 years—here’s what Steve Jobs taught me about how to be successful ‘at anything’
By Justin Santa Maria
Illustrations by Ash Lamb
From 2003 to 2013 I was an engineer at Apple, where I led the teams that developed FaceTime, iMessage and CarPlay.
Working closely with Steve Jobs was an opportunity I will never forget. He was a visionary who taught me a lot about how to make products people love but also how to be successful at everything in life.
Here are the three simple but profound lessons I learned from Jobs that have helped me thrive in my tech entrepreneurial career today:
1. Mastery requires iteration.
Illustration: Ash Lamb for CNBC Make It
Getting something right takes patience and hard work. But it also means knowing when to stop making changes; You’ll know when you’ve found the best product when you’re more than excited to share it.
During my first week at Apple, Jobs prepared an iChat demo. “I’m going to make the crowd pee their pants,” he said.
Jobs knew he had accomplished something great.
2. Use your mistakes as stepping stones to success.
Illustration: Ash Lamb for CNBC Make It
When Apple was ready to launch the iPhone, the foundation was already in place to take new and different risks later.
With every product, Jobs expected something to go wrong. But he also understood that screwing up was often worth the reward. Perfection might not exist, but greatness could be achieved with a few software updates.
3. Remove the brick that is preventing you from stepping out of your comfort zone.
Illustration: Ash Lamb for CNBC Make It
The original iPhone changed the world forever in 2007 with its multi-touch screen and digital keyboard as highlights.
The decision to remove the mechanical keyboard was a clever industrial design solution. This left the iPhone with more screen real estate for other creative functions.
Justin Santamaria is a former Apple engineer. He is currently the co-founder of the fitness app future. Prior to Future, he led the guest experience product team at Airbnb. Keep following him Twitter.
ash lamb is an illustrator and designer from Barcelona, Spain. He spends his time deconstructing and illustrating ideas for creative entrepreneurs and teaching people how to create impactful visuals visualgrowth.com. Keep following him Twitter and Instagram.
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