PIXAR - a metaphor for the Middle Way

Just finished the book: "To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History"  by Lawrence Levy

I heard about this book on Knowledge@Wharton Podcast with the author. Felt connected immediately. 

- It was about Pixar, one & only...

- Naturally, it was also about Steve Jobs & author's own 'unlikely journey with Steve'

- The author was a lawyer by education (Harvard). He was recruited to the role of the CFO at Pixar. He was now an author. 

- He has a beautiful (Pixar) story to tell. 

- A CFO's perspective of everything would be an interesting one. 

Some of these really touched me, Lawrence:

• For a CFO, the author is a master story-teller. Not that CFO's can not be story tellers. We all are story-tellers. Some just does it better!

• Author's relationship with Steve was so professional & deep, minus all drama that is generally associated with the Genius. I am a fan of Steve Jobs. The fact he was very sensitive, temperamental, actually makes him special. 

• It was great to hear how the author moved into Pixar (reminded me of how Steve reached out to John Scully...Pepsi to Apple)

• It touched how the author went about professionally handling diverse challenges within & outside. 

• Handling DIsney part was great stuff, as it was about the creative thrust.

• The decision as to how to handle the creative element at Pixar & how to retain the unique DNA of Pixar even at Disney, most inspiring.

• Author's effort to get credit for the supporting staff showed the emotional quotient of himself, and all others who found a way of doing it. 

• I always maintain a supporting spouse is critical to professional success. Hillary was a beautiful example (It is valentine's day today!) 

•  A lot of lessons for corporate leaders. Also a lot of inspiration about building a unique brand. 

While Steve is associated with brand-apple, Pixar is as much a part of his brilliant legacy. 

• The changing geography is brought out very well. We have moved away so much from Nature. 

• The experience of going through two accidents, second almost fatal. 

• It was a beautiful journey. And somewhere it made sense to let go. No better way than to move to spirituality? Isn't that is the ultimate goal, purpose of life?

Pixar is indeed a metaphor for the Buddhist concept..The  Middle Way

BIG Thanks, Lawrence for this beautiful book. 

Link to the Audible book:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoirs/To-Pixar-and-Beyond-Audiobook/B01M3VFVX0?ref_=pe_1542220_127106600 

Pricing dilemma | Apple's Pricing Strategy : Business Standard

 The article rightly points out much of the stupendous success of Apple in the recent years, courtesy Steve Jobs's innovation backed with leadership. He was spot on what kind of product innovation was required to tap the hidden needs (wants?) of the customer. By opting for a model at the bottom of pyramid of smart-phone category, will Apple not deviate from Jobs' vision for the company ?
More importantly, do they want to go down the segments, from a premium to mass ? Will the passionately loyal customers of Apple appreciate that shift ?

Is the need to tap lower segments so urgent now ? Have they hit a saturation level at the premium segment ? I don't think so. For example, in India, I see so many still holding on to their Black Berry and upgrading to Samsung phones. By merely focusing on affluent/not-so-affluent Indians, Apple can scale up numbers for next few years, without diluting exclusivity of the phone.

Additionally, Apple has not done justice to the main weapon in their armor ('brahma-astra'), in the Indian context. They have still not leveraged on iTunes. Though they were very late to introduce Indian version of iTunes, the scope to cover the entire range of music, movies, et al, remains waiting to be incorporated. More importantly, Apple should launch iTunes aggressively in Indian market to reach out to a large number of music/movie-crazy Indian population. Make it affordable also, for the price-sensitive potential users, across demographics.

Apple was late to introduce iPhones in India, in the past. Indians would like to see global parity in terms of product launches.
Of course, they would love some 'freedom', as provided by Android platform! That may not be able to provide. I would personally go with the existing model of iPhones, with 'limited freedom' !

Pricing dilemma | Business Standard

Steve Jobs' biography

I had picked up an e-copy (Kindle) of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson as soon as it was released.

Though experts advise to read autobiographies/biographies, I have not read many. ( Bapu's My Experiments with Truth remains one of my all time favourites from that category. Plan to read again soon!)

I picked up Isaacson's book because of my admiration for what Steve had achieved & the legacy he has left behind. Apple products & iTunes remain most inspiring innovation of our times.

I read the book for sometime, at my own (snail's!) pace, then kept aside to pick up some other books. Often I tend to delay reading my own books....!! Having moved back to India recently and joined www.justbooks.com (a library, franchisee-model), I was trying to pick up different types of books. If books were cheap in India compared to other markets, such libraries made reading cheaper! 

Then I found the book (hard copy, not a paper-back) at a friend's place, in Mumbai. Though I wanted to check if he has read the book, somehow did not get a chance to enquire. I remembered I had still not read the book myself. Decided to pick up the Kindle yet again.

Read his interaction with Disney (Eisner), creation of Pixar, return to Apple and his relationship with family/others. Quite an interesting guy. I am sure, some of the earlier creative-geniuses were 'different', like Steve. A case study based on the book would be a great idea too. 

All my friends, esp those in professional career, this book is strongly recommended. MUST READ, for various reasons....

Happy Reading !