Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

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Carmine Gallo, Author, 
7 Prin­ci­ples of Inno­va­tion based on the “Inno­va­tion Secrets of Steve Jobs.” 
Jobs and Woz­niak started Apple in the spare bed­room of Steve’s parent’s house, before get­ting too big and mov­ing the busi­ness down to the garage. What the world needs is more jobs … Steve Jobs. It’s fair to ask our­selves, “What would Steve do?”
Prin­ci­ple #1 is to do what you love. Bill Gross just said the same thing. Being the rich­est man in the cemetary doesn’t mat­ter … doing some­thing that mat­ters does. Build a com­pany that touches peo­ples’ lives every day. You can­not cre­ate some­thing great unless you are pas­sion­ately mov­ing the world forward.
Prin­ci­ple #2 is to put a dent in the uni­verse. There is a dif­fer­ence between vision and mis­sion. A vision is clear and con­cise and con­sis­tently com­mu­ni­cated. Vision inspires evan­ge­lists. A vision helps you see things that other peo­ple may have missed. Two peo­ple can see exactly the same thing and inter­pret things dif­fer­ently, based on their own vision. Starbuck’s founder Schultz’s vision was not to make a bet­ter cup of cof­fee, but to cre­ate a third space between the office and the home.
Prin­ci­ple #3 “Cre­ativ­ity is just con­nect­ing things” ~Steve Jobs. Suc­cess­ful inno­va­tors apply learn­ing from one field, to another. Accord­ing to Den­nis Crow­ley, foursquare is a more inter­est­ing tool because it was built in Green­which Vil­lage and not Sil­i­con Valley.
Prin­ci­ple #4 Keep it sim­ple. Say no to 1,00 things to make sure you’re not on the wrong track or try to do too much. When you can cre­ate a prod­uct that a two-year old can use intu­itively, you know you’re on to some­thing. “As phys­i­cal beings, we under­stand clar­ity” ~Jonathan Ives. Sim­plic­ity is crucial.
Prin­ci­ple #5 is about the expe­ri­ence with the prod­uct. Cre­ate insanely great expe­ri­ences. Inno­va­tion is not just about prod­uct inno­va­tion, it’s about the expe­ri­ence peo­ple have with the prod­uct. The Apple brand was inspired by the Four Sea­sons hotel, because the hotel chain deliv­ers such good cus­tomer experience.
Prin­ci­ple #6 is to mas­ter the mes­sage. Nobody was bet­ter than Steve Jobs, because he informed, illu­mi­nated, and inspired dur­ing his pre­sen­ta­tions. You can have the best idea in the world, but if you can’t get peo­ple excited about it, it’s not worth much. Learn the rule of three. The human mind can only process 3 or 4 points of infor­ma­tion in short term mem­ory, so don’t bom­bard peo­ple with dozens of ben­e­fits. That is why you find groups of three in every­thing Apple does. Also learn to think visu­ally. Use the Pic­ture Supe­ri­or­ity Effect to pre­sen­ta­tions, by adding great images to slides. Reten­tion goes up by 65%. With words only, reten­tion is about 10%.
Prin­ci­ple #7 is the most impor­tant: Sell Dreams, Not Prod­ucts. As human beings, we are self con­sumed. Help peo­ple accom­plish their dreams, and you will win them over. To turn Apple around, Steve Jobs focused and inno­vated around his cus­tomers and their needs. Steve Jobs’ advice was: “Dream Bigger”

Source: ALEXDC.ORG

USPS.. You'll never be the same anymore

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Topic: CNN - USPS wants to limit next-day guarantee

This article tells me 3 things.
1.  USPS is declining by the day.  Less service = less revenue
2.  Invest in companies such as UPS, FEDEX, or DHL for the long-term.
3.  Expect small to mid-size businesses to be affected the most.

That's all for today.