axiomata
10-06-2011, 07:42 PM
While reading few of Steve Jobs' best quotes (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/08/24/steve-jobss-best-quotes/) I stumbled across this one:
“For something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
I find it a very apt summary of his philosophy at apple. I also found it to be a sound refutation of Keynesian rejection of Say's Law (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Say%27s_law) from a businessman respected by both the left and the right.
No matter the era, in the burgeoning industries responsible for the majority of economic growth, people don't know what they want until an entrepreneur gives it to them. A focus group is not going the create the GUI or the iPod, such a fundamental revolution, be it in tech or Ford assembly line takes a dreamer - a businessman.
Say's Law is often popularly expressed as "supply creates its own demand." What then can Steve jobs teach us about the effectiveness of stimulus? We can scratch government directed stimulus off the list immediately. This is the first sentence that has ever used the words bureaucrat and dreamer in the same sentence. But what about the stimulus that simply gives everyday Americans a few extra dollars in their pocket? Can demand create its own supply? No, not it any meaningful sense if the goal is the kickstart the economy. Keynesian is ass backwards. Every stimulus dollar comes out of either the value of existing dollars or out of the capital investment potential of creators like Steve Jobs.
Take it from Jobs, people don't know what they want until someone shows it to them and it's the creation of things people didn't even know they wanted that drives growth and escape from hardship.
“For something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
I find it a very apt summary of his philosophy at apple. I also found it to be a sound refutation of Keynesian rejection of Say's Law (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Say%27s_law) from a businessman respected by both the left and the right.
No matter the era, in the burgeoning industries responsible for the majority of economic growth, people don't know what they want until an entrepreneur gives it to them. A focus group is not going the create the GUI or the iPod, such a fundamental revolution, be it in tech or Ford assembly line takes a dreamer - a businessman.
Say's Law is often popularly expressed as "supply creates its own demand." What then can Steve jobs teach us about the effectiveness of stimulus? We can scratch government directed stimulus off the list immediately. This is the first sentence that has ever used the words bureaucrat and dreamer in the same sentence. But what about the stimulus that simply gives everyday Americans a few extra dollars in their pocket? Can demand create its own supply? No, not it any meaningful sense if the goal is the kickstart the economy. Keynesian is ass backwards. Every stimulus dollar comes out of either the value of existing dollars or out of the capital investment potential of creators like Steve Jobs.
Take it from Jobs, people don't know what they want until someone shows it to them and it's the creation of things people didn't even know they wanted that drives growth and escape from hardship.