LEARNING A LESSON FROM APPLE

At the risk of sounding like an advertisement for Apple and their new laptop, I'd like to share a few thoughts on what I learned from watching a simple "new product video."

One phrase that we hear in the coaching world all too often is that "we do that already" or "we do a pretty good job of that already".

 

This comes from coaches of all sports, at all levels ... and I'm sure it is not just coaches.

 

Author and speaker Matthew Kelly wrote that Fortune 500 companies have 2 things in common that they all do well:

 

1. Constant search for best practices

2. Continuous improvement

 

In other words Fortune 500 companies are that precisely because they DO NOT say "we do that already". They rather keep asking, "How can we do it better?"

 

As coaches maybe we need to adopt this perspective more aggressively - "How can we do this better?" - With regard to every aspect but especially virtue and building our players into great men and women.

 

Go to the link below and click on the watch video of the macbook pro ...

 

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

 

Listen to the words they use ... And this from the best tech company in the world.

 

 

Create something new

 

willing to change - open up a whole new world

 

improve

 

focus on features that matter most

 

 

rigorously questioned the ways in which we've designed portable products in the past

 

... completely changing our approach to the design of the display

 

 

The above 2 phrases are amazing because Apple already was unquestionably, undeniably the best computer company as far as design. If a $100 billion tech company that already makes the best designed laptops on the planet can rigorously question ... completely change the approach ...

 

Should we saying, "we do that already"?

 

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, computer software, and commercial servers. Apple's core product lines are the iPad, iPhone,iPod music player, and Macintosh computer line-up. 

 

Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California. For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s. 

 

With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics industry, dropping "Computer" from its name. 

 

As of 2011, Apple is the largest technology firm in the world, with annual revenues of more than $100 billion.