Erase the Tape and Start Over

I have been reading many articles about Steve Jobs and his departure from Apple. What seems to transcend all of the articles is praise for Steve Jobs behavior, which during his career at Apple, was considered unorthodox and at times, considered absolutely mad. I guess Apple might be the definition of unorthodox in some circles. With mainstream competitors like Microsoft, IBM and HP, Apple’s competitors would create a product. Through a perpetual state of upgrades and improvements Apple would evolve their products to their final state. While this is proven business process for tech production, Apple always had a better way.

Steve Jobs, as described in all of the articles I have been reading lately, was never afraid to take an eraser to a project and wipe it out completely. At face value, it sounds like madness. Why not work on what you have and make it better. You can work on many things in this world, especially in the field of technology and improve them. In fact it is encouraged in our field to keep engineering a solution until it’s right. I am not here to dispute the wisdom of working through a project and improving it till we are happy with its results. To the contrary, refinement is what has to be done to get to the completion of a project. Steve Jobs genius is in his ability not to be in love with anything while it is in process or even after its completion. More importantly, Jobs courage to take something and throw it out and start over, whether it was finished or not, was his true genius.

As many of you know, I am a part time musician. While I only have a minor in music, there is always a part of me that functions like a musician. Musician’s and others involved in the fine arts know the wisdom of throwing out something bad and starting over. Most of you know the biggest selling album of all time is currently, “Thriller”, by Michael Jackson. Did you know the second biggest selling album is The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits” (1971-1975). The Eagles’ attention to detail in their recordings is staggering. All of their arrangements, vocals, playing and lyrics seem to just flow when you hear them. I have heard multiple interviews with the group’s members, engineers and managers. Don Henley and Glenn Frye would spend a week meticulously working on a track till it was completely finished, they would listen to the song they recorded and if there was anything they didn’t like about the final version of the song, they would hit the erase button. This ultimately led to huge turmoil within the band and eventually lead to its breakup. However, it served the Eagles’ music well. Their songs are insanely great. If you don’t believe me, download a copy of “Lying Eyes” and tell me that the attention to detail isn't spectacular. The only way to achieve this kind of greatness is a willingness to hit the erase button. If it isn’t insanely great, why bother!

Remember as you are downloading “Lying Eyes” to your iPhone, iPad or iMac how brilliant these marvels of technology work and how brilliantly intuitive they are. While a computer company and a 70s rock band may seem totally unrelated, their creative process was identical. Have the courage to hit the erase button, be brilliant!!!