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Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved.

You sell a company twice. First of all, you sell them the product, then you sell them the service.

You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new. It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we'd given customers what they said they wanted, we'd have built a computer they'd have been happy with a year after we spoke to them--not something they'd want now.

Written reports stifle creativity.

Would you take a new prospect into this customer's plant or offices to show off your partnership? If you can't get a good reference from this account--or if you aren't willing to ask for one--you need to re-examine the relationship.

We will never try to develop a strategy that wins on price. There is nothing unique about pricing.

There's an assumption by many partners that no matter what happens to their business, they'll be partners forever.

The moment you make a mistake in pricing, you're eating into your reputation or your profits.

The key word is flexibility, the ability to adapt constantly. Darwin said it clearly. People thought that he mainly talked about survival of the fittest. What he said was that the species that survive are usually not the smartest or the strongest, but the ones most responsive to change. So being attentive to customers and potential partners is my best advice--after, of course, perseverance and patience.

The aristocracy have always been entrepreneurs. 'Aristocracy' is a Greek word that means the rule of the best--those who are better qualified. Aristocrats had to defend the village against intruders when the Mongols were invading. In that sense, entrepreneurship is really the same thing. Business is about ruling and having responsibilities.

A hard thing about business is minding your own.