In August 2011, Apple Inc became the highest valued company in the world with a Market Cap of $337.2 billion. Shortly after, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, retired. Having built the company for 30 years, he recently earned the title “CEO of the Decade” from Fortune Magazine. There is a lot we in the homebuilding industry can learn from his perspective. Here is a particular quote from Jobs worth considering:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something…they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people…don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.”
As professionals in the homebuilding industry, are we being creative? Do you have the experiences necessary, do you have “enough dots to connect?” Certainly, over the past decades, much land has been bought, lots have been developed, lumber purchased, homes constructed, and service items repaired. But what experience are you drawing on to ‘get creative’ about your business? What broader experiences are you using to “connect the dots?” This is more than simply industry experience; it’s everything… past jobs, education, studies, social interactions, etc. As you’re looking back over the past decade and trying to identify best practices to create your strategy for solving sales problems today, be aware that many of those experiences may or may not be very relevant. The game is different. You must think differently.
To “synthesize new things”, Jobs tells us that you have to be able to “see it” because of the relevant experiences you have had. He goes on to say that an advantage may also come to those who “have thought more about their experiences than other people.”