I’ve been completely captivated by this series of interviews in which Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are brought on a set together to talk about the history of our times as it concerns technology, and their particular contribution to it. These are two amazing techno-entrepreneurs. They are speaking of incredible technological advances, and their winsome talk of the old days is often hilarious. But never far from their techno-speak are two other critical factors: economic conditions and marketing. They roll from one concern to the next to the next and back again, presenting a beautiful picture of what makes for the growth of an economic sector: not economic conditions alone, not technology alone, not marketing alone, but all three working in combination. It is impressive to see how natural and normal it is for these two giants to think in terms of all three, and all three they find exciting and thrilling. Somehow, these interviews strike me as important archives of our time, and an excellent corrective to people who fallacious believe that one or two of these forces alone are what accounts for business success.
Technology plus economics plus marketing = business success
