Eight weeks after returning to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs walked into a product review meeting.
Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy.
They had 15 product categories, dozens of Mac variants, a digital camera, a TV set, printers, speakers.
The company was trying to be everything to everyone and hemorrhaging a billion dollars a year doing it.
Jobs asked one question: "Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?"
Nobody had an answer.
He cut 70% of the product roadmap on the spot.
Then he said something that stuck: "I got out of the meeting with people who just had their projects cancelled, and they were three feet off the ground with excitement because they finally understood where the heck we were going."
That's the part nobody talks about. The people whose work got killed weren't demoralized. They were relieved. Clarity did that.
One year later Apple made $309 million in profit.
"I'm buzzing. It's a massive win. Six goals, a clean sheet, four wins in a row, in front of our fans. It feels really great. We want to keep going. I've been waiting for this since I arrived here. I desperately wanted to score in front of our fans at London Stadium."
β Solomon