Steve Jobs and Coveys 7 Habits - Book Report/Review Example

Steve Jobs and Covey’s 7 Habits Steve Jobs is a very famous personality and there is hardly anyone who does not know about him. He was an American entrepreneur and founded the company, Apple Inc. The company progressed rapidly under him and became the most valuable company in 2011. One thing to note here is that Jobs did not belong to a rich family who would have funded his education or backed him up with financial support when he started his career. In fact, Jobs had had to fund his education himself by working extra hours. He studied like this till high school after which he got admitted to Reed College. This was an expensive institution and his parents could not afford it although they were already doing their best. Eventually Jobs dropped out of college but kept working there for income. He did, though, keep taking creative classes like one on calligraphy. Jobs career started as a technician at Atari Inc. During this time he had chanced to meet Wozniak who himself was a geek. He had made Apple I computer and, on Jobs suggestion, they started their company Apple with one more partner, Ronald Wayne. Later, however, Jobs was fired from his own company and he went on to launch NeXT Computer. He worked hard on this new company and its profits rose. Eventually, it had managed to gain such a name that Apple Inc. bought the company and Jobs was returned to his old place. He also later bought Pixar. During his time Jobs had done great work and brought to the world many new inventions which would probably have been missed out on had Jobs not had a chance to pursue his dream. However, Jobs was a determined and headstrong person who, with minimum capital, had launched his company and made it into such a big name. His life has been very worthwhile and teaches us a lot of things, one of which is that perseverance is very necessary and failure does not mean that you give up, but learn from it and try to reverse it. Habit 1: Be proactive This means to take up responsibility for your actions, and maybe that of others as well, rather than going around blaming people for things that went wrong. Steve Jobs was definitely proactive. He affronted the problems and when there was any issue he told the world openly that he has indeed recognized it and will be working on it to find a solution as soon as possible. He also made sure that that mistake was not repeated. For instance, there was a time when there were signal issues in the Apple phones. it was later said by media that Apple’s product designers were actually aware of the problem a long time back but did not raise the issue since they were afraid of Jobs. However, as the news reached the internet and caught fire on social media, Jobs confronted the situation in a most proactive manner. He said that such a problem is to be commonly found in smartphones. He did not hold responsible the designers of his company. When there was a conference he went there himself rather than assigning his COO, who himself was very talented. Jobs decided that in such a situation he should show his leadership rather than throwing off responsibility on others and blaming them for consequences. He had promised to solve this issue since they “cared about every user”; in fact, he even shared with them a temporary solution which was wrapping a rubberized band around the antenna. Proactivity means involving the perception of transparency. It means showing executive leadership. And this is what the habit of Steve Jobs was. As he said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste in living someone else’s life. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle”. Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind This means to have a proper and stated goal that one needs to follow in order reach his destination. Each day one should think what he wants to achieve by the end of the day and then work in that direction. That is, the end should be in mind and the person should be trying to achieve that. For that purpose it is important for a person to have a personal mission statement that would help direct him to his goal. We need to keep doing something or the other since we have no idea where it might lead. Steve Jobs had exactly this kind of a mindset. He always had his mission in front of his eyes and was never content with just enough. He wanted more and more. This is the reason that he led his company to such a monumental success and became a renowned personality throughout the world. He never settled. He always tried to improve further, even though what he had already achieved was good enough. Jobs was always out on his own and he did want he wanted and thought right. He had a very different way of thinking and together with his talent he invested in such a culture which would support likeminded people. He had a vision in his mind although he could not at that time see it with his eyes. He carried that vision and took it forward, and was able to achieve what he wanted to. He actually made a very conscious effort to visualize himself and what he could do and wanted in his life after which he empowered others and the circumstances. Through this he was able to direct his life in the direction he wished to. Quoting Jobs: “A wise person always lives with the end in mind”. Habit 3: Put first things first This habit is about being able to recognize the priority of urgent and important tasks at hand. One should create his vision and act accordingly. He needs to be set his priorities which are in relation with the values, purpose and principles that he has set up for himself, as this is the main fuel of his life. It is not necessary to be able to do just everything; of course, that is not even humanly possible. The more important thing is to sort out what needs to be done first and give due attention to it. This exactly was Steve Jobs’ engine. Jobs fully believed in what he was doing and was content with it. He did not view his work as work, but rather as an exciting adventurous trip he was on. He had such a passion that it burned fire inside his advanced mind. His enthusiasm was contagious and he was never short of new ideas. He was one of those rare people who lived their life fully and with complete authenticity. He knew what he wanted; he wanted to launch a company and he did so. He wanted that company to reach heights of success and he worked for it and achieved it too. He wanted that technology is reinvented and transformed and he directed his employees in that lane. He made sure that the most important and necessary tasks were done with first. As he himself said: “There is no reason not to follow your heart”. Habit 4: Think win-win By this Dr Covey meant that there is plenty for everyone. If one person succeeds it does not mean that the others will fail. By win-win it means that cooperation is necessary in this life as it is not a competitive arena. When people cooperate and put in all their efforts in something there are more possibilities of it being successful. Most people, however, do not think that way. They feel that they will win only if someone else loses. This kind of a negative mindset is what does not let them succeed. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose” – Steve Jobs Steve Jobs practiced this faithfully and his saying proves so, too, what he actually thought about this habit. Jobs was an integral person. He had his values and commitments and listened to them. He knew what he wanted to do and he did that. He was mature as well; he was not afraid of speaking out his mind and put everything in the open about what he was going to do. He was confident of his scheme and did everything to put it into practice and make it successful. Habit 5: Seek first to understand, than to be understood One of the most important things in life is to communicate. You cannot be successful unless you know how to communicate properly with different kinds of people. What is normally seen is that though people know how to talk and read, they do not listen to the other person when in a conversation. They are more worried about what they themselves have to say and what response they must give to them, thus they are not able to properly attend to the other person. Yes, it is indeed important to get your own point forward but it is also important that you listen to others and understand them. Unless you will understand them they won’t understand you and your point will be left hanging. Steve Jobs has a very high status today. He has been the leader of one of the world’s most famous companies and has led it to phenomenal success. All this was not an accident. It was Jobs hard work and innovation that led him to such a position. Besides, he also took very brave decisions and did not always listen to others advice. He firmly believed in what he was doing and had things planned in case the consequences were not what he wanted and expected. Habit 6: Synergize Synergize simply means creative cooperation. It is when more than one person get together to work on an idea. Team work is involved and the ideas of all the people in the group are mixed and matched to come up with the best possible solution. It is very much possible that one person comes up with a very valuable solution or idea that the rest cannot even imagine. Or that he finds a bug in the idea which everyone else has overlooked. Steve Jobs was always in the habit of synergizing. He used to work in close contact with Wozniak and together they came up with phenomenal ideas and inventions. Even when he started Apple Inc. he did so with two others. The advantage of working as a team is that each person contributes his ideas to the group and their skills complement each other’s, making it a win-win situation. Habit 7: Sharpening the saw This last habit relates to a person working on himself to improve his person. That is, he should be having a balanced life and dedicate time to all aspects of his life: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. When a person does that he views a positive change in his life and growth is evident.it makes him feel good. If such a habit is not there in a person he is bound to become weak, selfish and insensitive even. According to Steve Jobs, time management means saying “no”. That is, he does not feel that it is important for one person to do everything out of politeness. One should remember that the most important thing that he can give to a business is his time, and he should not just give it away to someone out of politeness and inability to say “no”, just like one does not give away his product for no reason. Jobs always had time for his family, especially after the birth of his first child. He made sure to be an affectionate father. Although he was not much into having a social life, he hardly ever went out in evenings, but he did not neglect his family. References Covey, S.R. (2000). Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Running Press. Hunter, N. (2012). Steve Jobs (Titans of Business). Raintree. Read More