5Giving up Some Fights
5.1. The chasm
Duality is our legacy. Battles always have two camps. One must win and the other loses. One will negotiate and the others adapt. It is written so in our genes’ legacy. We say “survival of the fittest” and accept the penalty for lack of contest, supremacy and luck.
5.1.1. Business school
We can try to escape from an inferior business situation by acquiring a competitor, or increasing budgets.
Engaging in head-on combat or giving up the fight forever are the only two alternatives.
5.1.2. Apple
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, his very first decisions were focused on one single objective: concentrate all company resources on a limited number of projects and products, and abolish all the others. This included even the Newton, or the QuickTake camera, etc.
The condition of Apple by then admittedly left him with no other option. However, even with the virtually unlimited resources it now can mobilize, Apple can adopt an unusually modest approach in some business categories.
5.2. Amplifying the gap and progressing
“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
Sun Tzu, The Art Of War
Even if Apple did not remain totally inactive, with its own offering (iWorks), the iWorks suite has clearly never been a priority, and remained largely unchanged ...
Get Sequencing Apple's DNA now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
