Inspirational and motivational interview with Walt Mossberg, Dr. Ed Catmull, President of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp on Steve Jobs – PART 2

Ed and Larry were extremely close with the inspirational Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers.

Below is part 2 of some of the motivational and inspirational life quotes from a 40 minute All Things Digital conference interview that made an impact on me. You can access part 1 here.

I asked him at the grand opening of the first Apple store: “You’re only going to open like a dozen of these right? I mean they are showcase things”. And he looked at me like I just landed from Mars and he said, “Oh we are building a lot, a lot, a lot of these. We are going to make this work right”.

On Steve’s arguments with people

Larry:

Steve wanted to debate things. He didn’t care whether it was his idea or someone else’s idea, as long as the best idea won. The best idea had to win. He wanted to build the best possible product. What he wants is the best idea.

If he thinks someone is better than he is at a certain area, he’ll listen. If he thinks you’re full of it, he’ll tell you.

He didn’t respect somebody if they didn’t have a point of view and push it hard. And if they were right, he would switch his way of thinking. Just like that.

Steve inspired people to do great things. He would make inspirational speeches, that what you were doing was extremely important. People wanted to be on his team, because his team was doing important things.

Steve was brutal because he desperately wanted things to be great, wanted Apple to be great, and wanted you to be great.

Steve’s view was that if you were making products and thinking of the benefits of being rich, you were missing the point. The best products have to win.

On his choice of clothing (or lack of)

Steve jobs wore the same thing everyday because he didn’t have to think about it. Steve did not care about the way he dressed. He had more important things to think about.

On the opening of Apple stores

In a time when people thought brick and mortar businesses were dead…

Walt:

I asked him at the grand opening of one of the Apple stores: “You’re only going to open like a dozen of these right? I mean they are showcase things”. And he looked at me like I just landed from Mars and he said, “Oh we are building a lot, a lot, a lot of these. We are going to make this work right”.

Click on part 1 for the embedded interview video.