Book Review: The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
“Apple surpassed Microsoft in 2010 to become the most valuable technology company in the world.” – Carmine Gallo
“The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs” is a new 256 page book from author Carmine Gallo (The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs), published by McGraw-Hill Professional, and is all about, you guessed it, Apple and Pixar boss Steve Jobs and Gallo’s thoughts on the secrets behind his innovations. It should be made clear that the principles in the book aren’t necessarily Steve Jobs “secrets” but instead are ideas and concepts put together from observing and piecing together ideas from Steve Jobs at work.
When Jobs dropped out of Reed College in 1972, as Gallo explains in the book, his parents were disappointed but less than a decade later Jobs would be worth $100 million. That’s the sort of disappointment anyone can swallow.
Set across 15 Chapters, the book opens with an introductory section setting the scene for the key principles before launching into the seven principles that Gallo believes are important to the success of Steve Jobs innovations, these principles include “Doing What You Love” to “Say No To 1,000 Things” – each principle spanning several chapters. Some of the principles make you think – for example Gallo tells us that when Jobs rejoined Apple he radically reduced the number of products on offer in order to save the company and focus attention on innovation – however the book doesn’t explore the human side after all the knock on effect must have been an enormous reduction in people, with families to support, too.
The book challenges us to “think differently” about what we do and focus particular attention on a number of aspects including Career, Vision, Thoughts, Customers, Design, Experience, and Story – which all map onto each of the 7 principles Gallo expands upon. At the end of each chapter is a summary of “iLessons” – key tips, questions, and challenges to focus your mind, for example, “Try something new this year. Take a course, read a book,…”.
The writing style is easy to follow and engaging enough that you can get through a few chapters on each reading session. There are a couple of supporting images in the book but it would have been great to see more, and there is a source reference section at the end of the book for further reading.
All in all “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs” is a good read if you are interested in innovative ideas for business practices, and is available from Amazon and versions.
- £11.33
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