Specificity

I developed a habit that my girlfriend has grown to despise. Whenever I need to ask her to do something around our apartment—wash her dishes, put something back where it belongs, store something a particular way—I preface it with "I have a request." To her, these three words have become a signal that I think she's done something wrong.

Eventually, I asked her directly: "Am I difficult to live with?" Her response was illuminating. "You're not difficult," she said. "You're specific."

That word stuck with me, especially because of where I work. At Apple, we're surrounded by stories about Steve Jobs—tales that have taken on almost mythical proportions. Leadership shares anecdotes about their first encounters with him, the times he tore them down, the moments he praised their work, his flashes of brilliance. Jobs' demanding nature is legendary, and as I listen to these stories, I often wonder: Was his harsh personality too much? Was it simply a quirk of genius? Or was it somehow necessary for Apple's extraordinary innovation?

Over time, I've come to believe that Jobs' harsh demands weren't the source of Apple's greatness—they were a symptom of something deeper. He didn't need to tear people down to make his point. What made Jobs exceptional wasn't his ability to criticize; it was his specificity. He had clear, definitive opinions about every aspect of his products, and he communicated those opinions with absolute clarity to everyone he worked with.

You might call this attention to detail, but I think of specificity as something more intentional. It's the practice of forming an opinion about even the smallest aspects of your work. It's refusing to let anything be arbitrary. When you embrace specificity, you can't just say "whatever works"—you have to have a reason for every choice you make, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

To be truly specific, you must ask yourself "why" about everything. Why this color instead of that one? Why this placement rather than another? Why this word instead of a synonym? The things that seem unimportant to most people become opportunities for intentional decision-making.

This is what my girlfriend recognized in me, and what I now recognize as one of the most valuable professional traits anyone can develop. Specificity isn't about being difficult or demanding—it's about caring enough to have an opinion about the details that others might overlook.