from Trung Phan | by Trung Phan

1/ Steve Jobs famously said innovation is "saying no to 1000 things" before you say yes. For more than a decade, Apple has used Pablo Picasso's Bull to drive home the lesson. Here's a breakdown 🧵 pic.twitter.com/rynPMojvp7

2/ In Dec. 1945, Picasso created "The Bull", a series of 11 lithographs (stone prints). With each successive print, a bull is simplified and abstracted. Picasso's goal was to find "spirit of the beast". At Apple, employees are taught this philosophy. pic.twitter.com/nIRLL6QcYQ

3/ Below is the 1st, 4th and last stone print. Picasso's bull progresses from: ◻️ a realistic drawing ◻️ to a deconstructed image with his famous "abstract" style ◻️ to a series of lines outlining the bull's shape pic.twitter.com/bb8Yjp8wRj

4/ Through 11 iterations, Picasso simplified and abstracted the bull until it captured the "essence" of what he was looking for. pic.twitter.com/nW7N6XQsld

5/ Apple uses the evolution of its mouse as an example of Picasso's Way (e.g., the buttons were "abstracted" away). pic.twitter.com/UVHkG9n1Q7

6/ For new employees, Apple also teaches the lessons by contrasting its Apple TV remote with existing smart controllers (significantly fewer buttons). pic.twitter.com/2My0nSaFkU

7/ The Picasso way of saying "no" and capturing "the essence" extends to business strategy. When Steve Jobs returned as CEO in 1997, Apple was near bankruptcy and on a streak of failed products including a gaming machine (Pippin) and a personal digital assistant (Newton). pic.twitter.com/DUT0Y6qGmo

8/ During one product meeting with his team, Jobs shouted "stop...this is crazy" and got up to draw something on the whiteboard. It was a 2x2 matrix laying out his product line: • Desktop / Portable • Consumer / Pro pic.twitter.com/LogVRbm2cs

9/ By saying "no" to a ton of fluff and simplifying the product offerings, Apple would start its legendary resurgence. Its market cap was <$5B upon Jobs' return... pic.twitter.com/8zVXRGEClb

10/ ...and reached~$350B by the time he passed in 2011. The evolution of the iPod/iPhone followed the Picasso Way, especially with the removal of the trackpad (and introduction of touchscreen) pic.twitter.com/a7Cpqwd116

11/ Per Jobs: “The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.” Speaking of advertising, Picasso's Bull gets a direct hat tip in Apple's famous "Think Different" ad:pic.twitter.com/S2z9NV9STw

12/ If you enjoyed this, follow @TrungTPhan for other business insights and, also, very dumb memes: twitter.com/TrungTPhan/sta…

13/ Sources Artsy artsy.net/article/artsy-… NYT nytimes.com/2014/08/11/tec… BI businessinsider.com/chart-that-sav…

14/ Here's a related thread of how Apple added $1.5T+ in market cap under Tim Cook twitter.com/TrungTPhan/sta…

15/ Last thing: Jony Ive has a great interview explaining Jobs' "say no" philosophy twitter.com/TrungTPhan/sta…