When Jobs prepared to launch the first iMac, he was confronted by underlings who told him he was crazy.
What's interesting about this particular situation, was the research connected to an all-in-one computer at the time confirmed what his people were telling Jobs. His response was, “I know what I want, and I know what they want.”
Something to keep in mind about Jobs, is other times he has said people don't know what they want, and you have to show them. That's probably an underlying, but unspoken thought behind Jobs strategy at the time.
So when he said "I know what they want," in essence he was saying I will show them what they want. The reality was that he did.
Another way of looking at it is Jobs knew what they wanted before they did, and got in front of them and revealed it. They of course responded.
The question that comes to my mind is why did Jobs know this and not his people? One reason may be that Jobs wasn't always right. It can't be helped when someone is as passionate as Jobs when he grabs hold of something to get a little skeptical when they come up with their "next new thing."
The strength Jobs has as a leader, even if there's the possibility that he's wrong, is if he thinks he's right, he'll give something a strong try. That has worked for him far more than it's worked against him. The key is to make sure you're right more times than you're wrong. You can build a successful company if you are.
Lastly, it proves you can't always trust market research; that's the other secret of Jobs here. It's not that you don't look at it, but you must go beyond that to reach success. Everybody now pretty much has the same data available, now it's a matter of being able to properly interpret that data as it relates to developing products and services.
Surveys, polls and focus groups are helpful, but in the end, many times people will say what they think you want them to say, and really don't know what they want. Business leaders able to read between the lines have an advantage over those that assume data represent exactly what people want or need.
Only trying something out will determine the answer to that question; nothing else!
Other Steve Jobs Resources:
You've got to find what you love
Steve Jobs, Business Personality
Steve Jobs' Greatest Presentation
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