This article was taken from the July 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
BE ZEN, BE ORGANIC
Don't fight the natural order -- embrace it. Nature often has the answers. The sunflower is the design inspiration for the iMac. If a product isn't beautiful, make it so. Put soul and humanity into what you make, its marketing and distribution.
OBSESS OVER DETAILS
Solve the problems other companies don't even know exist, or undertake challenges others consider impossible. Apple tackled the dilemma of people tripping over power cords by creating the MagSafe connector that disconnects when tugged. Find solutions that change the way consumers feel about and use your product.
ADD VALUE OR GET OFF THE TEAM
When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was on life support -- its stock was at a 12-year low in Q2 of that year. The first step in his rescue plan was to remove all of the unnecessary overheads. If you ever bump into Steve Jobs in the corridor, you'd better have a good answer to the question: "What is it you do around here?"
RELENTLESSLY IMPROVE EVERYTHING
How many companies do you know that would take a perfectly good operating system and then make lots of changes -- most of them not noticeable, but which make computing faster, safer and more powerful? Apple did all of this with Snow Leopard.
ESCAPE THE EXECUTIVE IVORY TOWER
It's good for the CEO to reply to customer emails, as Jobs does.
It shows -- internally and externally -- that the person at the top of the company cares about the consumer experience. Jobs doesn't let focus groups rule over Apple, but he knows customer feedback is vital to improvements.
DON'T BOTHER TO CREATE MANIFESTOS, MANTRAS OR GUIDELINES -- LIVE THEM
Big-statement documents are almost always pointless and dull.
Put your thinking directly into action, so that all of your behaviour within your organisation becomes intuitive.
BENEFIT FROM LATE-MOVER ADVANTAGE
Not the first to bring an MP3 player, phone or tablet to market?
Worry not -- so long as you design a version that's an order of magnitude better than anything on the shelves. A late product that's excellent will always beat an early one that's mediocre.
LESS IS MORE
From corporate structure to design, minimalism wins every time.
Take Apple's approach to packaging: less plastic and cardboard means reduced impact on the environment, lower shipping costs and not as much for the customer to carry. This all adds up to more margin -- and happier consumers.
BE HANDS-ON
Get involved in the details, even if it drives your team crazy.
And put your name on a few patents -- Jobs has many, including one for the glass staircases within Apple stores. Attention to every detail of Apple's business means that Jobs is connected to every aspect of what the company does.
BE GENEROUS TO YOUR CUSTOMERS...
In how many places can you pay on the shop floor rather than going to a till? Apple stores might open at 9am but, given that the queue for iPads can start at 5.30am, Apple staff members arrive early and give customers a voucher enabling them to buy later in the day. Who else cares this much?
...BUT BE RUTHLESS WHEN IT COMES TO THE COMPETITION
If your competitors are shamelessly copying your ideas, take them out. Jobs has never been scared to mix it up, either internally or externally.
REMOVE CLUTTER
Whether in the engineering, the product, design, packaging, stores or the organisation, clutter is bad. Remove all that's extraneous until all that remains is absolutely necessary -- and beautiful.
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
If you're not going to make your mark with a new product or idea, it's probably not worth launching. Apple is always and relentlessly about simply being the best at everything it does.
ACCESSIBILITY IS EVERYTHING
Making every product and aspect of the brand accessible doesn't mean that it isn't premium. Apple has mastered this by making its products so easy and intuitive to use that they don't need instruction manuals.
STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH
Steve Jobs quoted an issue of the Whole Earth Catalog in an address he gave to graduating Stanford students in June 2005. The quote says it all: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."
Ajaz Ahmed is the founder of digital agency AKQA and a former Apple employee
More from the Steve Jobs MBA [
Unit 101: Future thinking](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-101) [
Unit 102: People pay more if it's worth it](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-102) [
Unit 103: Connect your people](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-103) Unit 105: Build from the bottom up
Unit 106: Interpret, don't impersonate
Unit 107: It's all about design [
Unit 108: Dazzle your audience](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-108) [
Unit 109: Steve Jobs: in his own words](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-109)
Unit 110: Challenge the expectations of others [
Unit 111: Be your own competition](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-111)
Unit 112: Reboot, reboot, reboot [
Unit 113: The big reveal is the best advertising](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-113) [
Unit 114: Stay hungry, stay foolish](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-114)
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
