Transcript of a short talk by Simon Sinek contrasting Microsoft and Apple education summits to illustrate 'infinite-minded' thinking. Sinek recounts that Microsoft-focused presentations centered on beating Apple, while Apple-focused presentations centered on helping teachers and students and self-improvement; he uses the Zune vs. iPod anecdote and Apple’s later iPhone launch as evidence that focusing on outdoing oneself fosters innovation.
Chapters
I spoke at an education summit for Microsoft. This is when Steve Ballmer was CEO. I spoke at an education summit for Microsoft. And most of the executives spent most of their presentations talking about how to beat Apple. A few months later, coincidence, I spoke in an education summit for Apple. And there all of the leaders spent all of their presentations talking about how to help teachers teach and how to help students learn. One was obsessed with their vision and where they were going. The other one was trying to beat their competition. At the end of my talk with Microsoft, they gave me a gift, the Zune. This was Microsoft's response to the ipod when it was a thing. And this little piece of technology was quite fantastic, I have to tell you. At the end of my Apple talk, I was sharing a taxi with a senior Apple executives and I couldn't help myself. I had to make some problems. I had to stir the pot. And I turned to him, I said, you know, Microsoft gave me their new Zune. It is so much better than my ipod touch. And he looked at me and he said, I have no doubt. And the conversation was over. Because he understood that sometimes you're ahead and sometimes you're behind. There's no such thing as winning. And where Microsoft was obsessed with beating Apple, Apple was obsessed with outdoing itself. And a few years later, they introduced the iPhone, rendering both the Zune and the ipod completely obsolete. That's a perfect example of infinite minded thinking where you actually are not trying to beat the competition, you actually spend every moment trying to outdo yourself. And it's the source of innovation, inspiration and so many other things.
