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During The Lost Interview, Steve Jobs talks about his metaphor for team work. I couldn’t agree with him more. Below, I’ve attached the video along with the transcript that I got from Rex Hammock.

When I was a young kid there was a widowed man that lived up the street. He was in his eighties. He was a little scary looking. And I got to know him a little bit. I think he may have paid me to mow his lawn or something.

And one day he said to me, “come on into my garage I want to show you something.” And he pulled out this dusty old rock tumbler. It was a motor and a coffee can and a little band between them. And he said, “come on with me.” We went out into the back and we got just some rocks. Some regular old ugly rocks. And we put them in the can with a little bit of liquid and little bit of grit powder, and we closed the can up and he turned this motor on and he said, “come back tomorrow.”

And this can was making a racket as the stones went around.

And I came back the next day, and we opened the can. And we took out these amazingly beautiful polished rocks. The same common stones that had gone in, through rubbing against each other like this (clapping his hands), creating a little bit of friction, creating a little bit of noise, had come out these beautiful polished rocks.

That’s always been in my mind my metaphor for a team working really hard on something they’re passionate about. It’s that through the team, through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other, having arguments, having fights sometimes, making some noise, and working together they polish each other and they polish the ideas, and what comes out are these really beautiful stones.

Still one of my favorite commercials, ever.

Maybe its my fault.

Maybe I led you to believe it was easy, when it wasn’t.

Maybe I made you think my highlight started at the free throwline, and not in the gym.

Maybe I made you think every shot I took, was a game winner.

That my game was based on flash, and not fire.

Maybe its my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength, that my pain was my motivation.

Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for… every single day of my life.

Maybe I destroyed the game… or maybe, you just making excuses.

When building a company if there’s one thing I believe it’s risking it all. Risking it all doesn’t mean doing it on the side. Why? Because doing it on the side doesn’t instill the fear of failure in the same doing it full-time does. When you’re building something with the mindset that this has to work, you’re able to push and reach levels you never thought possible. That’s not all, though. When you’re in that state of fear, you also tend to be a lot more focused. You’re not concerned with building the absolute best product out of the gate. Instead, you’re more likely to stay focused on just building a strong foundation that you can get out quickly to the masses.

There’s a great scene in The Dark Knight rises when Bruce Wayne is talking to an old man who advises that he climbs and jumps the prison walls without a rope after have fallen twice with the rope. “Why?” Bruce asks. “Because fear of death will find you again” the old man says. Taking that advice he makes the climb without the rope and successfully reaches the top.

Now, I know it’s a movie and risking it all may not work for everyone, but for me, it’s the one belief I feel strongly about. You have to be willing to risk it all if you want to succeed.