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When Steve Wozniak was in high school and told his father he would own a computer, despite his father noting it cost as much as a house, Steve replied: "I'll live in an apartment." What an electrifying honor it was to host the legendary Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak on the main stage at Elevate by monday.com! Beyond the incredible stories from Apple's founding days, Woz shared a philosophy on creativity, business, and humanity's role in the age of AI that serves as a powerful reminder to all leaders. Here are 4 things from our chat that are still rattling around in my head: 𝟏. 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧. When I asked Woz about the moment Apple began, the answer was unexpected. The initial, motivation wasn't market share or profit; it was a desire for Steve Jobs and him to make "blind people equal to sighted people" through accessible technology. This is a powerful, humbling reminder: the greatest products start by solving a powerful, fundamental human need, not just by chasing revenue. 𝟐. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠" Wozniak, the engineering purist, declared that a company’s success relies on three things: Engineering, Product, and Marketing—and that 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 “𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠” because to create truly innovative products, you must "understand a lot about real humans, what they'll like and what they won't. Marketers are experts at this." 𝐈 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭. I shared what I often tell my teams, 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭. But my main take away, the best marketing and the best products, always keep the user and their needs at the core of all they do. 𝟑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰—𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭. Wozniak's life advice, distilled from his time as a fifth-grade teacher: "𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠." He built the first Apple computer because he had a core desire to own one. It didn't matter that the product didn’t exist, or that he didn't have the money to purchase one if it did. This unwavering "want" is the fuel that drives pioneers to find a way to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. 𝟒. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 "𝐎𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝." Wozniak gave a candid perspective on the first Macintosh launch. Though they delivered the "future," Apple did it "a little too early." They built a factory capable of producing 80,000 Mac's a month, the only sold 500 a month. If they waited a few more years, the software ecosystem and value proposition would have enabled the market to catch up, and they could have "owned the world." This is a painful truth: Perfect timing trumps perfect product.