"I want to put a ding in the universe" Steve Jobs
When Steve first looked at a computer, he found the noise of the fan disturbing. He asked the question "Do you really need a fan in a computer", "Why is it needed", "Can we make alternate changes and get it all quiet" and then you had Apple II series, the first silent computers around. Asking questions is the first step to success.
You, sir, have asked a great question and I find some of the answers really harsh. Everyone has role models, and congratulations on making a better choice than a lot of people would.
As you suggested, you want to be like another Steve Jobs. I will extend that list to people like Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Pierre Omidyar and few more. I think you want to be an innovator who can create breakthrough products, who can bring a disruption.
The first and foremost thing which distinguishes Jobs and others in his league is their strive to change the world. It is not money, not success, not just about being your own boss or even being a role model. The one thing that should drive your fire is changing the world.
To achieve that, the major criterion is the ability to challenge prevailing notions and question the unquestionable.
Some of the qualities, which top notch innovators have, and which are not genetic (meaning you can acquire it with time if you work hard on it) are
1) Associate—Innovators connect problems, fields or ideas that others cannot relate to. The breakthrough will happen at intersecting disciplines and fields. Larry Page connected academic research to page-search views. He wanted to use same logic of ranking research papers in ranking search results for Google and we all know how successful it was. So, force yourself to connect varied things in your experience and figure out a smarter way.
Steve Jobs claimed that the "beautiful typography available on the Macintosh would never have been introduced if he hadn’t dropped in on a calligraphy class at Reed College in Oregon". You see how association makes you an innovator.
2) Question—"If I only had the right question" Albert Einstein.
The important and difficult job is never to find the right answer but the right question.
Research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi confirmed that Nobel laureates were far better at achieving breakthroughs once they found the right question to reframe their problem. Innovators need to ask "why" and "why not" to leverage their leanings. Jason Fried of 37 Signals suggests asking 5 whys for every problem your run into, for every opportunity you find.
So, if you start with making cool apps and amazing products keep asking the right questions before you start looking for answers.
3) Observe—"Observation is the big game changer in our company" Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit.
Scott Cook hit on the idea for Quicken by watching his wife work on their finances and hearing her complain about how frustrating and time consuming it was. So it was that observation combined with an understanding of what personal computers could do well and not do well that started Intuit
Observe how things work and what doesn't work.
Chuck Templeton, founder of OpenTable, witnessed these workarounds firsthand in 1998 when his wife spent 3.5 hours trying—without any luck—to get reservations at a desirable restaurant when his in-laws visited them in Chicago. So Templeton launched an online app that is essentially your own restaurant concierge service
These types of observations, connect common threads and provoke uncommon business ideas.
4) Network—Mike Lazaridis, founder of a small technology company called Research In Motion (RIM), attended a 1987 trade show in search of new ideas. A speaker from a company called DoCoMo described a wireless data system that it had designed for Coca-Cola. It allowed vending machines to wirelessly signal when they needed refilling. Lazardis thought of creating an interactive
pager, a product allowing people to wirelessly send data and information
to each other- this was the precursor to Blackberry smartphones.
So, for thinking outside the box, you need to link your ideas and knowledge with people who play in other boxes.You get a different perspective when you network with diverse individuals to find and test ideas. Network with experts and non-experts, people in different backgrounds and similar, and bounce your ideas in progress. You might have your very own "Eureka moment".
Be a conference commando, connect with connectors, listen and speak, expand your circle. "Can't join a club? Organize your own." Benjamin Franklin
5) Experiment—“I haven’t failed . . . I’ve just found 10,000 ways
that do not work.” Thomas Edison
Good experimenters understand that although questioning, observing, and networking provide data about the past (what was) and the present (what is),
experimenting is best suited for generating data on what might work in future.
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss looked at the Netflix business model and wanted apply it to high-end fashion, they set up some experiments to test their
idea. They bought a hundred dresses from designers; they rented dresses to Harvard undergrads, letting young women try on the dresses first. The pilot was a success. Then they took photos of dresses and ran a test in New York City where women rented a dress only from PDF photos and descriptions of how they fit, and soon Rent The Runway was born.
These are some of the key areas an aspiring innovator should focus on to be the next innovator. Even if you manage to be the best in all of them, there is a high probability you will not be the next Steve Jobs but you will be on a path of becoming a successful entrepreneur for sure.
PS: Do not get disheartened by that quote from Mozart. There is ample evidence that Mozart was morally corrupt, untruthful, lazy, unreliable, irresponsible, arrogant, and a generally unsavory person.
"I listened more than I studied... therefore little by little my knowledge and ability were developed." Joesph Haydn.
Joseph Haydn wanted to be another Nicola Porpora and I consider him a better musician than Mozart.
Sources:
Books by Clayton Christensen
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrarzi
Rework by Jason Fried
EDIT: Susan Boyle wanted to be like Elaine Paige and today she has more youtube hits than all Elaine page songs combined. She shared the same stage with her. In some ways, she not only matched to but surpassed her role model. And no wonder, she too was dismissed by cynics at first as a loser.
Updated 31 Aug, 2013.
