It is difficult to imagine, but once upon a time, an apple was just fruit.

Few would argue that Apple founder, Steve Jobs, was effective at changing the world through innovative products, but his success wasn’t merely founded in the products he so ingeniously presented to his customers.

Because we’re familiar with Apple products, most of us believe that Jobs was consumed with technology, but he wasn’t. He was driven to produce products that inspire creativity and inventiveness, not for technology’s sake, but for the sake of Apple’s customers.

“Technology is nothing.” Jobs said. “What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.”

For Jobs, creating great tools was an investment in humanity. He was inspired by the human experience, which perhaps was key to Apple’s success at becoming a household name.

“A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So, they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have. ” ---Steve Jobs