One of my favorite business quotes of all time comes from Steve Jobs: "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."
-- BusinessWeek, May 25 1998
Now I should probably be resentful of that quote because I do MARKET RESEARCH for a living, but you know what, the man was right (about so many things). That quote really shifted my thinking about what the role of market research is and is not.
As I type this on my 5-year-old-but-still-rockin' MacBook I am deeply saddened for the loss of one of America's greatest executives and creative thinkers of all time. It's such a strange feeling to be sad about someone you've never met, but he literally impacted the lives of SO many people... mine included.
My other favorite Jobs' quote: " My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each others negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum parts. And that's how I see business. Great things in business are never done by one person; they are done by a team of people."
Amen, Mr. Jobs.
All good quotes but my favorite was always "It's better to be a pirate than join the navy."
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