Steve Jobs as head of Apple helped changed the world as we know it – the computer, music, movie, and telecommunications industries all have changed because of Apple and visionary founder Steve Jobs. In the book Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo,  McGraw Hill, NY,2011, the author points out what Mr. Jobs did and the 7 principles to follow. The seven principles are Do What You Love; Put a Dent in the Universe; Kick-Start Your Brain; Sell Dreams, not Products; Say No to 1,000 Things; Create Insanely Great Experiences; and Master the Message. The 7 principles will not bring you to the billionaire status, but it may bring you a better life. A better life for you, your company and your customers and in the end that is what we all try to do.

The first thing to know about innovation is it is extremely rare to get it correct the first time. In Innovation the key is failure and learning from it. If you are not failing you are not trying. One of the reasons there is failure is because you are trying to change something that may have been put in for what was a good reason. It may mean changing different partners; it may seem simple, but if you can see the positive changes that results from the change, you are on the right path.

The 7 principles are:

Do What You Love – follow your heart, your passions, connect the dots along the way and you should be okay.

Put a Dent in the Universe – attract like-minded people to share the vision and turn the ideas into reality.

Kick-Start Your Brain – innovation does not exist without creativity and creativity is connecting the dots.  Expose yourself to a broad set of experiences and that will help connect the dots.

Sell Dreams, not Products – think about what people can do with your product?

Say No to 1,000 Things – simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – eliminate the unnecessary for the necessary to speak.

Create Insanely Great Experiences – if you go into an Apple store what makes it better than the other stores?

Master the Message – tell your story so people can get excited about your innovation.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, the above is why it is incredible that some companies can continue to produce dividends year after year. Steve Jobs and Apple affected 4 industries which all the other companies had to adapt to Apple or radically change. Innovation often does that to dividend paying companies because they often want less innovation – they make money by not innovating. However the public will vote with their wallets one way or another which makes asking the President how they handle innovation and what innovations the company embraced important questions to be asked.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions