What I learned from Steve Jobs

The announcement of his death was less than 24 hours ago, and Apple haters are already bemoaning the recognition and praise being heaped on the man. They say he was not really a creative genius because he didn't invent anything. They say he just copied other people's ideas and made them better. They say their lives are just fine with Android instead of Apple products.

They stumble when asked to explain how design improvements are not inventions or how bringing products to the mass market is not creative. They don't have an answer when asked if they really think their Android products would be as useful today without Jobs over at Apple. Well, they have an answer but it is defensive and short-sighted.

While Jobs is being heralded as a creative genius today, I pondered the main thing I learned from his career--ups and downs. The main thing I takeaway is that being first to market is not always best. Being #2 is good. Jobs improved on what was available already. He didn't invent the mp3 player, he made it more useful to consumers. The same is true for computers and tablets.

In today's highly competitive marketplace, it is common to scrap an idea if someone beats you to it. Thinking like Jobs, however, one might decide to do it anyway, just do it better.  Don't fear being #2. Make #1 better and you just might overtake the position (a la Apple v. Sony in the portable music market). That's what I'm going to reflect on as an important takeaway from Steve Jobs.

Well, that and his whole thing about one's time being limited on this earth so have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. That's a good lesson too--one he began teaching in the 1980s.