Could you walk with Steve Jobs Singapore?

One of my favourite anecdotes about Steve Jobs is the pitch one. When people wanted to pitch Steve Jobs whether they be from internal functions or from external companies he said one thing to them. Walk with me.

Now Steve Jobs was fit and walked fast. He only wanted people to work with people who could walk and pitch at the same time and not be out of breath. It’s a great way of sorting out the wheat from the chaff.  

If you can’t pitch your idea on the move you don’t deserve your idea to be progressed. That philosophy inspired a healthy, energetic company and thinking process.

His positive attitude to life encapsulated his view of business.

One of my favourite Jobs’ quotes is this one “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” 

Richard Branson is the same. Never a conventional thinker or doer, Branson pitches and takes pitches in the most unconventional places and gets results for doing so. He is never ashamed to ask the question “would you like to do a deal” and is conversely happy for other people to do the same with him.

Branson is Mr Energetic, never sits still for 5 minutes, always onto the next project. His great strength and some would say a great weakness too. However being on the go all the time fills people around him with energy and he himself is one of the fittest business leaders in the world. 

One of my favourite quotes sums up his energy. “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.”

In Norway, they have taken the marathon/iron man runs to the next level. Introduced them into the work place. They used to be about the fittest CEO, mind and body triumphing over tired and fat competitors. Now they are about the company as a true "team".

The races are now run with teams from the top Norwegian companies all entering and the team with the fastest team time wins the respect of the business community. More importantly the winning company shows the true strength of a CEO. Leadership. 

If a CEO can persuade a group of fellow workers to give up their time and focus on getting fitter than they have ever been and train to levels that have previously been beyond them he is seen as the ultimate inspirational leader.