Invincible Apple: 10 lessons from the coolest company on earth

Apple’s “surge over the past few years has resembled a space-shuttle launch — a series of rapid, tightly choreographed explosions that leave everyone dumbfounded and smiling. The whole thing has happened so quickly, and seemed so natural, that there has been little opportunity to understand what we have been witnessing,” Farhad Manjoo writes for Fast Company.

“The company, its leader, and its products have become cultural lingua franca,” Manjoo writes. “Dell wants to be the Apple for business; Zipcar the Apple for car sharing. Industries such as health care and clean energy search for their own Steve Jobs, while comedian Bill Maher says the government would be better run if the Apple CEO were head of state. (The Justice Department and FTC, which are both investigating Apple’s tactics, might disagree.)”

Manjoo writes, “This shorthand is useful but tends to encourage a shallow notion of what it takes to emulate Apple. And Apple doesn’t delineate the key factors of its success. Those principles are more closely guarded than its product pipeline.How does one become the ‘Apple of [insert industry here]?’ After speaking with former employees, current partners, and others who have watched Apple for many years, it’s clear that the answers center around discipline, focus, long-term thinking, and a willingness to flout the rules that govern everybody else’s business. It’s an approach that’s difficult to discern and tougher to imitate. But everyone wants to give it a try. Here, then, is our report on the Apple playbook.”

10 lessons from the coolest company on earth:
• Go Into Your Cave
• It’s Okay to Be King
• Transcend Orthodoxy
• Just Say No
• Serve Your Customer. No, Really
• Everything Is Marketing
• Kill the Past
• Turn Feedback Into Inspiration
• Don’t Invent, Reinvent
• Play by Your Own Clock

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dale S.” for the heads up.]