From the writings of John Myrna
My wife Mary had a new iPhone. Watching her use and embrace this product reminded me of the time I spent a morning with Steve Jobs.
In the late seventies, my group was creating a major software system for Apple’s next-generation computer. I was in Cupertino with my Project Manager for an early morning meeting to finalize the contract with Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs. We were ushered into his office late in the morning and Steve gave us 100% of his attention.
Business-to-business salesmen in the good old days used to arrive by train in a new community and climb up the highest hill in town. They would look out and identify where the smokestacks were. Each smokestack identified a manufacturing prospect for their product.
My Director of Technology was venting over lunch. “Why did you agree to purchase that company, John? Their backup product is a pile of crap and now we have to sell and support it. To tell you the truth, I never supported the decision to buy it.” Sigh. I was so wrapped up in the challenge of making the deal, I must have signaled the review team that all I wanted to hear was reinforcement of a buy decision.