Steve Jobs Said Half of What Separates Successful Entrepreneurs From Everyone Else Comes Down to 1 Trait

Jobs said it more than 30 years ago. For leaders today, the hard part is understanding what perseverance really means.

EXPERT OPINION BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, EXECUTIVE COACH, SPEAKER, AND AUTHOR @MARCELSCHWANTES

Steve Jobs in San Francisco, California. Photo:

There’s a point in almost every worthwhile pursuit when motivation stops carrying you. The excitement wears off after a launch and results take longer than expected. Customers say no more often than you expected, and now your best employees are leaving.

That’s usually when success becomes less about talent, intelligence, or expertise and more about what you do next. Steve Jobs understood this unusually well.

In a 1995 interview, he was asked about

In a 1995 interview, he was asked about the factors that determine entrepreneurial success. He said:

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Jobs went on to explain that building something meaningful inevitably brings rough moments when most people consider giving up. Without enough passion for the problem you’re trying to solve, he argued, you probably won’t stick with it.

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More than 30 years later, that lesson deserves another look.

What Jobs meant by perseverance

There’s a version of perseverance that leaders should avoid. It sounds like, We’ve already invested too much to stop now. Or, we just need to keep grinding and work harder. That’s not Jobs’ version of the word.

Sometimes quitting is exactly what a smart leader should do. Markets change and some products or strategies outlive their usefulness.

Source: www.inc.com