A631.5.4.RB - Leading System Wide Change

"Think different" was an advertising slogan for Apple in 1997. "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." (Apple - Think Different, 1997) The one-minute commercial featured black-and-white footage of 17 legendary iconic 20th century personalities. In order of appearance they were: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The commercial ends with an image of a young girl opening her closed eyes, as if making a wish. The final clip is taken from the All Around The World version of the "Sweet Lullaby" music video, directed by Tarsem Singh; the young girl is Shaan Sahota, Singh's niece. (Apple - Think Different, 1997) Apple's CEO Steve Jobs ordered the creation of a campaign that reflected the philosophy he thought had to be reinforced within the company he once co-founded, but which was struggling at the time he came back: Steve Jobs said the following in an interview for PBS ' 'One Last Thing' documentary, 1994: "When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money." "That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is - everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use." "The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it." "I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again." (Think different, 2014) What is required for a leader to be successful? Steve Jobs was a leader determined to "change the world" starting with Apple. Based on the Apple "Think Different" campaign with (17) examples and some research, there are (12) ways to think differently to be successful: 1. Being a revolutionary - not accepting the status quo and challenging old and present ways to do stuff. 2. Being an innovator - developing and implementing creative, new and powerful ways to do stuff. 3. Being a creative - incubating new and powerful ideas. 4. Being a performer - expand boundaries and comfort zones in new ways for enhanced results. 5. Being a seeker - gaining a deeper and better understanding of people and the world. 6. Being a visionary - having an expanded vision of ideas, what is possible and worthwhile. 7. Being an independent - thinking creative and independently. 8. Being wise - gaining a different and expanded perspective. 9. Being a leader - being courageous to discover and present your individual uniqueness. 10. Being a change agent - leading people and teams through change. 11. Being committed - make a commitment to make a difference. 12. Being authentic - discovering who you are and being courageous to bring your true self to the world. (Mackinnon, 2011) References Apple - Think Different (1997) (YouTube). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwXdGm89Tk Brown, Donald R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Mackinnon, Dr. Lauchlan A. K. (April 21, 2011). Think Differently! Stand Out From The Crowd. What Can We Learn About Thinking Differently From Studying Apple’s 1997 ‘Think Different’ Advertising Campaign? Retrieved from http://www.think-differently.org/2011/04/what-can-we-learn-about-thinking/ Think different (2014). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_different