Li Shanyou: Why Steve Jobs?

You must have been asked and also asked yourself a question:

What on earth is the unique value created by our company?

This question is so difficult that many people never figure it out even until their entrepreneurial ventures fail.

Actually, this question is a matter of life and death. It determines whether you can avoid the giants and survive in the niche.

Moreover, that's not enough. To navigate through economic cycles, you also need to possess another ability - dimensional upgrading.

Professor Li Shanyou, the founder of Hundun University, believes that entrepreneurs must identify the implicit assumptions that hold you back. By finding the elements and the dimensions behind them, and relying on the X - axis of the previously successful enterprises, you can establish a new Y - axis to achieve boundary - breaking innovation.

Only by finding this genetic code can your enterprise turn the tables against the odds and achieve a magnificent transformation.

Steve Jobs is a typical representative with this kind of thinking. Everyone who wants to learn how to create innovative products can't avoid studying Jobs. Two guests in a recent interview with Luo Yonghao, Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng, have both regarded Jobs as their idol.

Last Saturday, Professor Shanyou brought the course "Value Dimensional Upgrading" to everyone, focusing on Jobs' innovation methods. The following is compiled based on part of the course content, and the editor of Hundun University shares it with you.

Are you living in the dimensions established by others?

What is the unique value we create?

This is the first difficult problem that entrepreneurs need to solve. Only after solving this problem is your enterprise worth long - term operation. If you can't answer this question, even if you can make money in the short term, it will be just a flash in the pan.

How to solve this difficult problem? The answer is to build a model.

How to build a model?

It depends on two things: one is the element, and the other is the dimension. An element is the basic component that any thing can be divided into; a dimension is what is referred to as the X - axis, Y - axis in mathematics and physics...

What's the relationship between elements and dimensions? An element is like a particle moving on a dimension. A dimension is the a priori determinacy behind the movement of an element.

If a person's thinking stays at the level of experience, they can only see the elements, not the dimensions. When our thinking rises to the level of logic, we can see the dimensions. Dimensions are logic. The invisible dimensions determine the visible elements. Most people believe in seeing is believing, while those with a higher level of cognition believe in logic.

There is an invisible determinacy behind any business we do. When you mention "higher, faster, stronger", that dimension is set.

Many people are struggling in the dimensions defined by others. What's the point? A genius can re - define this dimension and re - define what is good. Therefore, you must build a model for your own world. If you don't, you can only live in the world modeled by others.

In other words, you must find the dimension for what you do. If you can't find this dimension, you will live in the dimension established by others. You have no freedom and no room for choice.

What's the difference between elements and dimensions?

What's the difference between elements and dimensions?

Elements can only be added together, while dimensions can be multiplied. When the X - axis and the Y - axis are multiplied, it forms a two - dimensional structure. Previously, we talked about combinatorial innovation. Joseph Schumpeter called it "new combinations of old elements", which is actually minor innovation. Minor innovation is the addition of elements. What we are talking about today is major innovation, which is the multiplication of dimensions.

Any element exists on a dimension. Adding one element to another is still one - dimensional. As Schumpeter said, no matter how many carriages you add together, you can't get a train.

How to achieve dimensional upgrading? The multiplication of dimensions is dimensional upgrading. Multiplying the X - axis by the Y - axis results in a two - dimensional structure. The concept of dimensional upgrading we are talking about today is definitely not the addition of elements, but finding the dimensions behind the elements through the elements.

There is a dimension behind element A, and there is also a dimension behind element B. If the dimensions of element A and element B are different, after multiplying the dimensions, a two - dimensional model will emerge. When you find a two - dimensional model emerging, the two originally independent, and sometimes even opposing elements, become two sides of the same coin of a model.

For a pair of binary - opposing contradictions, you used to have to make a choice. But after dimensional upgrading, they can transform into each other, and there is no need to make a choice at all.

Many people seem to understand when they listen, but they make a mess when they do things because they can't even distinguish between elements and dimensions. In fact, we don't need to distinguish clearly what is an element and what is a dimension. They are just fingers pointing at the moon. What is a dimension in a subsystem becomes an element in a larger system. So there's no need to be too meticulous. Just know that elements and dimensions are important, and this "arrow" is important.

This is an extremely simple, extremely profound, extremely easy yet extremely difficult diagram:

How to achieve dimensional upgrading?

Let's get back to the topic that everyone is most concerned about. How to achieve dimensional upgrading in business operations?

Frankly speaking, hardly anyone creates brand - new value from scratch. We almost always add a new value dimension to an existing value dimension established by our predecessors, that is, value dimensional upgrading. This is already a world - class contribution.

Adding a Y - axis on top of the clearly defined value X - axis established by our predecessors and combining it with the existing value to form a two - dimensional structure is dimensional upgrading. It's not a complete negation and abandonment of the past, but finding another Y - axis for upgrading.

So, how to find your own value? You only need to find two key points: First, find the value clearly defined by predecessors in the past or the entire industry. Second, add a new value on its basis. Note that don't upgrade too many dimensions at once, because it's already very remarkable if you can successfully upgrade one dimension.

Jobs' Dimensional Upgrading Thinking

Steve Jobs was a natural thinker in terms of value dimensional upgrading.

The first example is software and hardware. In the 1970s, the keyword for IBM was hardware, and the keyword for Microsoft was software. IBM provided hardware, and Microsoft provided software for IBM, and the two companies cooperated. Apple had a dimension in hardware and also a dimension in software (Apple was the first to commercialize the graphical user interface system). Together, it formed Apple's end - to - end solution integrating software and hardware, a two - dimensional model structure.

Today, NVIDIA also has both software and hardware. So it's very difficult for AMD to compete with NVIDIA. AMD also operates within NVIDIA's CUDA system.

In 1997, on the first page of the first - ever PowerPoint presentation at the press conference after Jobs returned to Apple, it read, "All of Apple's strategies can be summarized as our mission: to provide customers with significant, convincing, and (end - to - end) solutions that only Apple can offer."

The second example is about the PC. Previously, there was only the "computer" without the "person". But Jobs proposed, "Our entire company, our entire philosophical foundation, is built on one principle. When a computer meets a person, something very special and historically distinct will emerge."

There are two elements here: one is the person, and the other is the computer. When a person and a computer are combined, it not only belongs to you, but it is you - the unity of the person and the thing.

Jobs was a two - dimensional thinker. He added the "person" to the "computer" that everyone had, and thus innovated the "personal computer". In fact, both he and Bill Gates contributed to the PC, but Gates thought the "P" was just an adjective that could be removed. Only Jobs firmly believed that the "person" was an independent dimension.

Jobs believed that people are the end, and technology is the means. However, as people go along, they can be alienated, regarding our tools as the end and people as tools. As a result, we lose sight of people and only focus on improving productivity. Jobs awakened the human nature again.

The third example is about the combination of technology and humanities. Jobs invested in a company called Pixar for a full ten years. He hoped that Pixar would sell high - quality software and computers, but few were interested. However, when these technologies were used to create a wonderful story, it was quickly recognized. In this way, Jobs thought more deeply about the combination of technology and humanities. In 1999, Jobs officially expressed for the first time the "intersection of technology and humanities", and he mentioned it repeatedly in subsequent interviews in Japan in 2001 and at many press conferences. Technology alone can't change the world. We need to see people.

Jobs proposed, "Many people are innovating, but innovation is not the most distinctive feature of my career. Apple can resonate with people because there is a humanistic spirit deeply embedded in our innovation." People generally think that emotional value is just stimulating people's dopamine, but Jobs believed that the real value is the resonance between hearts, and the product in the middle is just a carrier.

In the past, China's greatest advantage was the manufacturing supply chain. Most of our products were white - label products. The next major trend is to add a Y - axis to turn them into brands. A brand must touch people's hearts and see people. This is the foundation of building a brand. Jobs emphasized that the key word for building a brand is to have a "touch" after delivery. What's important is not the product's performance, but to touch real users, that is, to meet the real needs of users.

To sum up, when people build models in a two - dimensional space, first of all, it's about building a model for value. We must go beyond experience to logic and see what's beneath. Model - building is at the logical level, not the experiential level.

How to Continuously Think Beyond Boundaries and Achieve Business Dimensional Upgrading?

Everyone can build models, and people can't see logic. How to judge whether a model is correct? In fact, no model is always the truth. It's only correct for the time being. One of the criteria for judgment is called the three - consistency of logic.

The first is self - consistency, that is, the model is self - consistent, and the model is consistent with the information.

The second is other - consistency. Between the model and other models, you can't prove it wrong, and other models should maintain a certain consistency with it.

The third is continuation - consistency. If there is some new information, the model can continue to verify it.

Practice is indeed a criterion for testing truth, but it's not the only one, just one of them. A theory can also be tested against other non - falsifiable theories. So, the three - consistency of the model is a criterion for us to judge whether our model is useful.

Let's continue to ask an interesting question. How does the human logical model progress?

The transformation of the human logical model is an inevitable path for the progress of human civilization and generally goes through three steps:

Step 1: Logical Consistency or Self - Consistency.

Build a logical model and organize all the information you can grasp within it.

Step 2: Logical Inconsistency.

Due to the increase in entropy, the amount of information increases. When the old model can't organize the newly emerging information, the original logical model becomes inconsistent.

Step 3: Logical Transformation.

Build a new logical model to organize the new information and achieve logical consistency. At this time, the original logical model collapses.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Hundun University” (ID: hundun - university), written by Hundun Academy, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.