Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2010 in the present tense. Steve Jobs died in October 2011 and was succeeded by Tim Cook; Scott Forstall left Apple in 2012 and Jony Ive in 2019. The Apple-Microsoft stock market comparison refers to May 2010.
A business owner’s success starts with the calibre of the people they surround themselves with. A successful entrepreneur hires leaders. A successful entrepreneur would rather hire a leader than a worker who comes cheap.
There are many secrets to business success, although rather than secrets, they are qualities and preparation. Later on we will cover each and every one of the points you need to strengthen to become a successful entrepreneur, but today I want to focus on something we often overlook: a successful entrepreneur is never alone.
A successful entrepreneur doesn’t have to know how to do everything, or how it’s done. The secret of their success lies in hiring, and surrounding themselves with, people who are well trained in their specialty.
A successful entrepreneur devotes time to training their staff and their leaders, and learns everything they can from them.
An entrepreneur can never achieve outsized success on their own.
Let’s talk about the success of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple.
In Steve’s own words, his success is entirely tied to his four vice presidents:
- Jonathan Ive: Steve brought him on board in 1997, and he has been the designer of the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. His greatest strengths are creativity and market vision, which is why he is rumoured to be a possible successor to Steve Jobs.
- Scott Forstall: The creator of the operating systems of several products. He is a genius at building systems.
- Phil Schiller: Apple’s head of marketing. He has always been behind every one of Steve Jobs’s presentations. His greatest strength is keeping advertising spending to a minimum even while running big marketing campaigns.
- Eddy Cue: Hired in 1990, he has given Steve major new business avenues so that, beyond computers, the company could move into other markets such as apps, e-books and music for iTunes.
In salaries alone, these four vice presidents add up to around 5 million dollars, plus shares in the company. Steve doesn’t see it as an expense; he sees it as a profitable investment, and one of the smartest he has made.
Some people think Apple’s success is down to its four vice presidents, but that misses the point. The reality is that Apple’s success has always been Steve Jobs, who never finished university but managed to bring four great minds together in one company. They have worked so well together that, for the first time in history, Apple is worth more on the stock market than Microsoft.
Remember: to be a successful entrepreneur, surround yourself with people smarter than you. Surround yourself with the best in your industry. Hire leaders.
Further reading
- How to become a successful entrepreneur (part 2)
- Steve Jobs’s early days: a story of motivation
- Hiring a leader for your business
- The mindset of an entrepreneur
- Differences between a Hispanic and an American business owner
Featured image: Ben Stanfield, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
