'Real Artists Ship,' Or: Enterprising Women and Innovative Brands

Following yet another successful product debut by Apple, in which CEO Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch, the rollout itself reaffirms the legacy of the late Steve Jobs; inspired, I hope, by the many female entrepreneurs who launch their own businesses – the Enterprising Women.

Jobs's statement that "Real artists ship," that the makers of "insanely great" products deliver their goods without delay, is one of his more memorable quotes.

So, the sight of Jobs's successor bestriding the company's new amphitheater, his eggplant-colored dress shirt undone and overlain with the top half of his dark navy jeans, the sleeves partially rolled up so he could point to the massive screen behind him with its Technicolor®-style display of cinematic beauty – that performance, the emergence of the former understudy into the lead role as the head of a beloved brand, proves Jobs's point.

Real artists do, indeed, ship . . . by the tens and hundreds of millions.

For enterprising women, myself included, I believe the essence of Jobs's comment is about simplicity.

That is, Apple will ship – and is, in fact, shipping at this very moment – products that, their technological complexity and inner sophistication notwithstanding, are elegant and easy to use. Simplicity reigns supreme.

As the Founder of Kiss My Itch Goodbye®, I second that idea because I have a product that is simple by design and singular in its purpose: To alleviate or eliminate the itching sensation induced by pests, pets, allergies and unexpected events.

The lesson I have for our shared sisterhood of enterprising women is as simple, to say and understand, as the ingredients in each tube of Kiss My Itch Goodbye®. This maxim is an homage to Messrs. Jobs and Cook, and a statement all my own, "Be artists of business, who embrace the art of simplicity and the artistry of getting things done."

In a word: Deliver!

But, and here is where we should pause before we press so many buttons and reflexively sign so many documents, as we scramble to fill orders, stuff boxes, and meet some self-imposed deadline or countdown from a UPS or FedEx driver idling (and looking at his watch) curbside; here is where we must remember that simplicity – with regard to what an individual business does, and does well – is the artistic root from which everything else follows.

Put another way, a real artist ships excellent products, not perfect ones, since the latter is impossible to achieve.

Women of Excellence: The Wisest Leaders Among Us
We can create excellent things that ship.

That is the theme of this discussion, with this added emphasis on simplicity, because perfection is the great handicap of any artist.

As imperfect beings, it is beyond our ability to produce – and thus, we must always remember the folly of trying to manufacture – perfect goods and services.

There is no perfect iPhone, for example, nor will there be a perfect i-Anything because, "planned obsolescence" to the contrary, it would be insane to believe Apple could replace "insanely great" products with "insanely perfect" ones.

The goal, instead, is to achieve excellence; to enjoy the artistic appeal of simplicity; to recognize the genius behind the complexity of the minimalism – of art and industrial design – we too often take for granted.

I have that minimalism (of ingredients) in my hand, literally.

By following the advice of a great man, who bit from the Apple well before any woman entered his world in Cupertino, California, we can all be enterprising women.

We can all be real artists who ship.