Steve Jobs- Bringing Information to Life

So, Steve Jobs passed away a few weeks ago and many in the world of technology still are mourning the loss of a person that has been referred to as an icon, genius, pioneer and legend. I have decided to hold off my criticism or admiration for him until now, so as to not let emotions get in the way.

While many will be talking for years and even decades to come about a man that ran Apple with an iron fist or a man that changed 6 different industries in a matter of 15 years or a man that was as much artist as he was business man, I will remember Steve Jobs for doing something much more personal, Bringing Information to Life.

Let me explain. I think the beauty of what Steve Jobs has lead Apple to do over the last 15 years wasn't so much that they created incredible devices to consume information/media on. What I think is the genius behind what they have done is that they have made that information or media come to life in a way that I personally have never seen before. Whether it be the GUI with the Mac or iTunes or iPods or iPhones or the wonderful iPad, each device reimagined how people would consume information and allowed it to come to life.

Where this has really hit home with me is in my personal life. One of my little girls has both Down Syndrome and severe Autism. She can not really communicate with the outside world or should I say has not been able to communicate with the outside world. About a year ago we start working with her on an iPad and trying to get her to understand how to use it and communicate with it to let us know what she needs or wants. It has been a slow process, but we are starting to see hope where we once saw dispair. We are starting to see smiles where we once saw tears. And we are starting to see life where we once saw cold blank stares. The iPad has started to bring the information and words and knowledge that lives in my little girls brain to life in ways that we never imagined possible.

We may never know in our lifetime why the brains of children with severe forms of Autism lock up and trap them in a prison of their own mind. But my wife and I will always remember Steve Jobs as a visionary leader of a company of people that helped bring information to life in very personal and important ways.

Second Class Customer Experience

So I was ready through my twitter stream the other night and found an interesting article. Parenthetically, that is what I love most about twitter, you can find out what other people you share things in common with are reading.

Anyway, I clicked on the link and was dazzled by the Slideshare presentation that I saw from a major multi billion dollar company and their Social Media lead. It showed all of this info about how they use social media, how they respond to people, how it makes the company that much better, how they have integrated social into the fabric of the company. It was pretty compelling and impressive to see from such a large company. A real strategy for how they are using social media to create digital relationships.

Then something came to my head, I thought I would click over from there to their website to see if they are following the same principles and ideas on their website. I would think that a consistent experience would be a no brainer for this company, based on the message in the slides.

Sadly, the experience was much different than what they talked about in their social channels. All of the ideas about customer loyalty and customer experience and wowing the customer in social media didn't extend to the website, specifically the support pages of the website.

It got me thinking, why is this the case? Why do companies put so much effort and time into creating a unique and compelling experience in the social media channel, but neglect the place where people still, more often than not, go to get answers to the questions they have?

Maybe it is because different groups own the different channels internally at the company. Maybe it is because some executive is in love with social and is just demanding a different experience in that channel. Or maybe it is because the perception is that your brand can be damaged much faster on the social channel than on the website.

Regardless of the reason, I think it is only damaging the company with their customers when they choose to focus dollars, time and resources on the channel of the day and relegate the other channels to second class experiences.

What I Learned From My Cab Driver

I travel a couple of times a month for work. A day or two at a time. Nothing too crazy like those technology or management consultants!

When I travel, I take a cab from my home to the airport for three reasons. One, my family only has and only needs one car for our typical daily life. Two, it is much faster for me to get to and from the airport which cuts down on the overall travel time I am away from my family. And three, it is just cheaper usually for me to do it this way, which only benefits my company.

When I was in the cab the other day, I was talking to the driver, a guy that I have been using consistently for about 3 years now. And he shared with me the success that he is having as a small business man. He shared with me how business is going well and this time of the year is usually even more busy because of vacationers and last minute business deals.

But the best part of the ride was when he was sharing with me about how he is being careful to not grow too fast and add the wrong drivers to his team. He told me that he could very easily triple his business tomorrow if he wanted to, but said that he is going to take it slow. He then gave me two reasons that made me smile and nod my head up and down.

First, he said that he liked the pace of life that he had right now and enjoyed having the flexibility in his schedule to see his family quite a bit and not work 16 hour days to make a living. Smart man in my book. He gets the work life balance he needs to be good at what he does.

But the second thing he talked about was what made me want to post about it here. He said that if he were to grow too quickly, he would actually likely lose business. He said that if he grew too fast, he would have to add drivers to his team that were new and didn't know if he could trust them to do the job, be on time and be respectful to his clients. He said, in his own way, that he wanted to put the customer experience before growth at this point. He wanted to put in place a good team of people that valued the relationship with the clients as much as he does, so that he can grow slowly over time. Genius....

I love the unexpected learnings that we can see everyday in front of us if we just keep our eyes open and our ears tuned.