A Job Description for the Business Owner - стр. 17

Apple products are always distinguished by their reliability and user-friendliness, thanks to the company’s purpose to develop both the hardware and software themselves. Nobody else in the world has an opportunity to create a similar computer product. Developers of other operating systems are forced to make them versatile so they will run on all types of computers. Hardware manufacturers have to consider the capabilities of these other operating systems. Only Apple can afford to create revolutionary technologies of such quality and with such speed, and this has turned out to be a huge advantage for Apple in the personal computer industry. While Apple still produces and markets desktops and laptops, which are available through resellers and its own many retail stores and the online Apple Store, its greatest volume (unit sales) is accounted for by the iPhone and the iPad.

Thus, a successful purpose must take into consideration the market conditions and potential customers’ viewpoint, existing technology and resources, and an idea that provides a competitive advantage. But there is one more important point. This purpose should reflect the fundamental idea and personality of its founder. In modern society, individuality is valued at a premium. Just consider those professionals who are the highest-paid and get the most publicity. These include certain actors and performers of popular music, writers, scientists, and sports figures. They are either people who have enough courage to show a personal point of view in what they create, or those who have transformed themselves into a product—a pop-culture idol like Miley Cyrus or Beyonce. In a 2010 rating of the most popular people, the first ten positions were taken by such performers and sports figures. These are people who promote their personality traits and talents to the whole world. In our society, things that are considered to be rare become expensive. Why do marketing gurus such as Jack Trout command tens of thousands of dollars per presentation? You don’t think it’s because of the great practical value of the information, do you? You can get significantly more information if you read Trout’s books on marketing and branding. People are eager to touch the revered and profound person who is courageous enough to express his or her opinion during a time when most of the people on this planet deny the very ability to have a point of view of their own. On the one hand, they deny it in themselves, and on the other, they admire it in others. It is not difficult to see that the magically alluring trait that everyone calls charisma is nothing more than the courage to express a personal point of view. Having charisma does not mean people will necessarily agree with you. It is the courage to have and express a personal opinion that attracts people.