Steve Jobs understood the importance of teams.
A couple of days after Job's untimely death, Charlie Rose ran an interview he did with him in October of 1996. Jobs said everything he'd been involved in (at the time of the interview, it was Pixar) was "a team sport. You can't do it on your own."
Praised around the world as an iconic, unique genius in multiple fields of endeavour, Jobs understood his accomplishments depended on teamwork at every stage of the enterprise - generating and testing pioneering ideas, working out the practicalities of bringing them to realization, building business models that would create returns, and attracting customers who's lives would be transformed through their use of the products.
I've seen lots of head shots and individual photos of Steve Jobs in the last few days. I had to dig for this picture of the early Apple team. I think it captures more of the genius of Jobs than any of the images that feature him on his own.
The creativity that vibrated around Jobs flowed through conversations within and among teams. One conversation after another, these teams co-created a new future that changed the way we communicate with each other.
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This clip from Jobs commencement address at Stanford in 2005 (over 11 million views on YouTube in the last three years) has been played endlessly these last few days. These words especially are worth repeating and remembering:
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Steve Jobs composed his uniquely significant life surrounded by teams. He inspired them, he created space for their members to contribute their best, he supported them, and he appreciated them. They were essential to who he became and what he accomplished.
The same is true for you.