Often it is rather simple to advise people with our wisdom, or at least many like to think it is. Yet, except for those who have earned their battle medals in the field and driven successful enterprises, most are limited to waffling.
While the advice of inspiring CEOs, and their books, won't lead your business to success and to the stock exchange, often it is interesting to hear their inspiring stories, their battle stories... and even the better soundbites. Maybe you're like me and devour business books, all while failing to maintain an up to date Goodreads.
In this post, we have a look at business quotes from 8 successful modern tech entrepreneurs and leaders.
Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and CEO Twitter & CEO Square
The interesting products out on the Internet today are not building new technologies. They're combining technologies. Instagram, for instance: Photos plus geolocation plus filters. Foursquare: restaurant reviews plus check-ins plus geo.
The co-founder of Twitter, and CEO of payment platform Square, returned to the platform he co-created last decade and took on the mantle of CEO again. Laden with lots of smarts, massive experience Jack set out again trying to monetise Twitter properly, all without offending its rabid user base.
Richard Branson, Founder Virgin Group
A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren't proud of what you're doing, why should anybody else be?
When trying to think of describing the founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, in few words only one of the words which comes to mind, even before charismatic and enigmatic, is frivolous.
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
Oscar Wilde
Obviously, no empire could ever be built because of such nature but Branson - he of the Neckar Island - has this charismatic, adrenaline seeking thrill persona which inevitably leads to such labelling.
Don't agree? Check out what happened to him while out. Difficult not to love the man. ;)
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO Facebook
The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
While many several some here on Steemit may like to think of Zuckerberg as a beleaguered CEO or one of the leading culprits of the #SurveillanceCapitalism coming from the Valley, his status that of a worldwide idol and many have even said he will enter politics. A future he has denied, for now.
Facebook is notoriously famous for launching many experiments and testing on smaller user bases whether they stick. Or in Facebook parlance: break things (fast).
Elon Musk, Co-founder and CEO Tesla & CEO SpaceX
If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.
Current tech idol, elevated to almost mythological status in recent years, Elon Musk is less brutal in his advice. With the successes of both Tesla and SpaceX under his belt, as well as the strategical master stroke of Solar City, few can say Musk didn't have all the right ingredients lined up.
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Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO
If your customer base is aging with you, then eventually you are going to become obsolete or irrelevant. You need to be constantly figuring out who are your new customers and what are you doing to stay forever young.
Undoubtedly one of the most inspirational entrepreneurs currently driving tech is Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon - also the owner of The Washington Post. One of the things which makes Bezos so inspirational a character is that for many years he has operated, to great success, a loss-making business.
Or rather a business not making any profit because almost all profits were constantly, and still are, invested in research, innovation, and expansion.
This for the longest time unprofitable company now trades at $961 at time of writing.
Jack Ma, Founder Alibaba
Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.
Much can be said about Jack Ma, but this Asian is one of THE most successful online entrepreneurs and just like his retail competitor over at the Amazon, this e-commerce entrepreneur fully deserves the title of guru. To learn more about Jack Ma, check out the documentary Crocodile in the Yangtze - of which we found a Youtube upload which we embedded at the end of this post.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook
Women don't take enough risks. Men are just 'foot on the gas pedal.' We're not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap.
Without a doubt the most powerful woman in tech, and thus in Silicon Valley, this business professional has etched one of the most remarkable career paths via Google to being the second most important of Facebook. The social network where later she would discover even blogging, and personal sharing, beyond the form of books.
Sandberg is a strong and outspoken leader, always fighting the good for gender equality and parity. Not taking any prisoners while doing so, also constantly reminding that women need to step up the plate when required and not just expect that the fight for equality will throw them everything in their lap.
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Tim Cook, CEO Apple
Price is rarely the most important thing. A cheap product might sell some units. Somebody gets it home and they feel great when they pay the money, but then they get it home and use it and the joy is gone.
Tim Cook is an enigma of a CEO. While the Apple CEO undoubtedly gifted an executive is, for rabid fans and analysts of a brand like Apple it is becoming every day more obvious that Apple has lost its ways.
Lost its ways in the same sense as Microsoft did under Steve Balmer. The vision, the DNA is not there anymore and while the top team seems to work hard at maintaining it, always more inconsistencies and issues are creeping in.
Yet, from a personal angle, it is hard to dismiss that also Tim Cook will leave a legacy, not just at Apple. His future legacy that "bestselling wrist device", the Apple Watch.
Your future health prevention device, a watch.
Brought to you thanks to Tim Cook, the production line optimisation specialist and now also CEO.
