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Steve Jobs was my hero.

I was a fan of his as a little boy growing up. I followed his journey while he was at Pixar and when he came back to Apple. And so it’s only natural to serve up some inspiration today in the form of his Stanford Commencement Speech.

Enjoy.

What similarities do you notice above?

The top row everything begins with “iP” and the second row everything begins with “Mac.” Coincidence? Hardly.

The Apple brand is huge and its marketing is amazing. From cleverly crafted taglines to witty commercials, Apple pays extreme attention to detail. And thus its product line speaks loud and clear.

So how can this help your business or church? Easy.

1. Stay Consistent. Apple creates a clear message and repeats it over and over. This breeds consistency and trust.
2. Remain true to who you are. Apple was under tremendous pressure to change from it’s “iP” brand to “iS” when the iSlate become a frontrunner for its new product name. No doubt there were many who would have preferred that name over another. But ultimately they stayed true to who they were and now iPad is a noun.
3. Believe in yourself. The biggest key to Apple is their believability. When Steve Jobs takes the stage and talks about their products, you can tell he truly believes they are remarkable and magical. Oftentimes they are, but not at first. But no one cares because he sets the vision and he believes in it.

So from a business or church perspective, you need to stay consistent, remain true to who you are and ultimately believe in yourself and where you are going. This is an effective way to create a lasting impression on those around and develop not only followers, but passionate recruits that will help you further your cause.

When the iPad was introduced, Amazon’s Kindle faced immediate extinction in the eyes of many. Interest in the Kindle dropped nearly 40% and buyers began to hold off to see if the iPad would be the better investment.

Amazon had a problem.

Life presents many challenges. It’s how you, your church, or your business respond to those challenges that separate you apart from others. So let’s look at what Amazon did:

First they recognized the problem. It was hard to miss with sales declining and publishers demanding more control over their pricing.

Second they began to work towards a solution to the problem. Sure they were hurt by Apple’s move and frustrated. But they couldn’t stop it so they had to work towards a solution.

Third they created a solution that wowed many and I think rivals Apple’s own iBookstore on the iPad!

So what can this teach us? Amazon recognized the problem, began to work toward a solution and then created a solution that went above and beyond the problem, presenting it with new opportunities and renewed interest.

Don’t just settle for solving problems. Create solutions that present new opportunities that can create momentum in life and business. This is true success and that is the real way to problem solve.

I’ve been saying for a while that mobile is our future. And with the iPad releasing soon, this is just confirming what technology has known for several years.

So how can you prepare for mobile?

The Now.
Mobile is here. From cell phones to new iPad apps, how we use our phones and how we interact with various types of media is continuing to change. Currently we are seeing mobile break down traditional barriers to video, print and web. And we are seeing it provide innovative solutions to health & fitness, shopping and budgeting. So what remains? Where is the future going to take us?

The Future.
The future of mobile is increasingly global and precog. This may scare you some, but I believe we are headed toward a future where computer programs and search engines can analyze content/thoughts/ideas and provide us with scenarios of how things are projected to play out in life.

This may seem crazy, but I think it fits in many ways in our world today. We thirst for info. No longer are we wanting info on things that have happened, but things that are possibly going to happen.

From the perspective of so many in this world that want to control media and control how things are played out, this is the best scenario for invoking emotional reactions to sway people for voting, shopping trends and even sporting event outcomes. And everything would of course tie right into your phone, your mobile computer, and your television.

Don’t be scared now. The mobile future is what we’ve always wanted. Just be prepared that what might seem scary now, you will probably be addicted to in the future. Does something Apple did in 1984 start to come to mind now?