Originally published June 2020.

In 1995, Bob Cringely — a guy who was hired and fired 3 separate times by Steve Jobs — sat down to interview Jobs for a documentary...

The documentary, called The Triumph Of The Nerds, only used about 9 minutes of the 69 minute interview...

The rest was thought to be lost forever when all master tapes went missing during shipping...

That was... until the director dug up an extra copy in his garage.

This interview was filmed at a special moment in time...

Steve had been fired from Apple a decade before...

He had then created Pixar (Toy Story would release in '95)

And it was about a year before Apple would buy his company, NeXT, and reinstate him as the leader of the same company he had both founded and been kicked out of.

The interview reveals his world-changing philosophy and vision...

Here are 3 paraphrased lessons from Steve Jobs about doing great work:

1. Don't Care About Being Right... Care About Success

Steve always had a strong opinion, but he also had a history of changing his mind after hearing a better idea.

Great business ideas should win out over people's egos...

Because it's not about being right... but doing what is right.

2. Challenge People To Produce Better Work... But Make Sure They Know You're Still Confident In Them

When you're surrounded by a team of superstars, or "A Players," it would be strange if people didn't want to have their ideas and work critiqued...

Feedback ultimately leads to improvement & the best work in the long run...

But Steve knew that confidence is still a fragile thing for even the highest performers...

So, he would confront people directly about stepping their game up...

But he would make it a point to communicate his continued confidence in their ability to figure things out.

3. Discover The Best Things Humans Have To Offer... And Then Spread It Around

Steve believed there's much more going on "under the surface" of normal life...

That we experience "it" when there's a gap in our lives... when things don't fit exactly the way we want them to...

It's the same thing that causes people to become poets instead of bankers...

So, he knew that the future of computers was going to be about much more than simple computation — they'd be a way to transmit feelings like that with other people.

That's why, for Jobs, the product itself needed to inspire people and demonstrate good taste.

And if you want to develop good taste in your own business/life, it's about exposing yourself to the best of what humans have done...

Then, in Jobs' words:

"...spread it around so that everybody grows up with better things."