but nobody wants to do what he did.
The average Indian – and I am increasingly coming to believe that there is no other kind – is all too happy to settle. Good enough for us means Good! Chalta hai is a way of life. And far from being a tolerant attitude – as it is often viewed - it is in reality downright dangerous: this is the attitude that forces us to live with sub-standard infrastructure, allows politicians to get away, literally, with murder, subverts our integrity; and perpetuates the conditions that permit mediocrity to thrive.
Jobs was notorious for sending scripts, products - even canteen menu designs- back repeatedly, until they satisfied his model of excellence. – the results are there for everyone to see.
Stories of his obsessions are the stuff of legends; especially amongst the geeks who worked for him, a number of whom, predictably, opted out: Since Silicon Valley is conspicuously full of Indians, one can only guess at the origins of the guys who fled Steve’s acerbic drive for excellence.
In truth, mediocrity through sheer weight of numbers will always overwhelm excellence and Steve Jobs story is no exception. His penchant for quality alienated the majority of the ‘tribe of average’, until they forced him out of the brand he himself had built.
Score one for the average gang?
Happily, or sadly - depending where you cast your allegiance - No. We all know what happened to a Jobless Apple. It got chewed up! By Microsoft, the undisputed king of the heap during the nineties.
And so they bought him back – because the only way they could get him to return was by acquiring the NEXT company he built.
This is not a call to arms in a battle for excellence; this is merely a wake-up call. Few of us can survive the unrelenting demand made by perfection; fewer are even keen to. You can’t be Jobs by merely doing your job. That’s for folks looking for a career, not the stuff of legends.
No comments:
Post a Comment