Steve Jobs

Brilliant people aren’t always the nicest or most “normal” people out there, are they?  The reader of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson gets a first-hand in-depth look at the genius behind the Apple Corporation.  Isaacson was asked a decade or so ago to do the biography for Jobs but resisted based on his age and other book projects he had underway.  It wasn’t until he heard of Jobs’ illness (cancer) that he was persuaded to begin the process, a process that Jobs promised he would be “hands-off” as it related to the content.  The book chronicles the personal life (and demons) of Jobs from infancy through his third and last battle with cancer.  The intro to the book includes a list of “characters” that are integral to the life of Jobs.  Jobs was born to an unmarried woman who placed him up for adoption.  Jobs’ adopted parents promised to raise him with a focus on obtaining the best education to assist him with the advantages that education can normally provide to a young adult.  Jobs was a gifted learner, often outperforming his classmates.  He was able to skip a grade which hurt his social abilities, but helped him in getting into gifted classes.  He was an entrepreneur from an early age, holding down jobs and always having an interest in making things, being creative.  He gained a good amount of early learning from his adopted father who was a mechanic, learning to take things apart and putting them back together again.  Jobs experimented with drugs at an early age, marijuana, acid, you name it.  This “creative side” of him drew him to drugs and also to being very free to express himself.  Jobs was drawn to Reed College – the quintessential “free love and expressive school” in the country.  This didn’t last, but what did was his drive to outperform others.  The book offers significant examples of Jobs’ drive to the top of the company he created with fellow friend Steve Wozniak, Apple Corp.  Jobs was the marketing and operations guy and Wozniak was the computer guru who invented to operating system.  They raised monies, lost monies, and in the end grew the company to its current billion dollar enterprise, though Wozniak had given up his role years earlier.  Jobs was fired from Apple and then pushed/shoved (you name it) back to the top.  Jobs was characterized throughout as a perfectionist who had little toleration of anyone who would stand in his way, whether it be Microsoft and Bill Gates, Adobe Corp., Disney, or Dell.  The book illustrates how Jobs would always speak his mind, and run over anyone in his way, not the most endearing quality of a leader.  While I agree Jobs has revolutionized the computer industry with sleek, easy to use technology gadgets, I wonder how much was solely him, and how much did he take from others.  He clearly wasn’t a guy who gave many kudos.  In fact, I would actually find his management style as one that was somewhat “de-humanizing of others”….  His wacky diets and zen philosophy kept him away from the common mentality of others, but I guess that’s what made him so unique.  The book was well written, albeit long, but worth the read, especially for the Apple aficionados.  I, for one, have been a PC guy too long, though my conversation with a dear friend whom I greatly admire this weekend may convince me to give a longer look the next time I purchase a computer.  Nice job, Mr. Isaacson.  We clearly have lost a great mind, maybe not the nicest guy, in Steve Jobs.