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A Discussion of the Steve Jobs Biography

Author: Posted: Jan. 30th, 2012 Category: Misc. Tags:
10 Comments

Like many people in marketing and technology, we have been greatly influenced by the vision and philosophy of Steve Jobs.

We have therefore been predictably addicted to his recent biography by Walter Isaacson. A book that may very well prove as influential as its subject – despite only being available for the last three months of 2011, it was that year’s highest selling book on Amazon. Pretty incredible for a historical piece of non-fiction written by someone other than Stephen King or James Patterson.

We’ve had numerous discussions around Arc about what in the book surprised, disappointed, and inspired us. Some of my thoughts are below, and I’d love to hear yours as well.

What Surprised Me Most
Jobs never did market research. He said consumers didn’t know what they wanted or needed and would be of no value to him. In most cases, his unbelievable vision for revolutionary products proved him right.

What Disappointed Me Most
I knew he was difficult but he really was an SOB to his staff, family, vendors, and ultimately just about anyone who came in contact with him. Tough guy to like. Do great products justify this behavior?

Fun Fact
For the first MacIntosh, Jobs hired Susan Kare, a designer who grew up in Lower Merion, PA, to develop custom fonts. She named the new fonts after stops along the Paoli, Pennsylvania, commuter rail line: Overbrook, Merion, Ardmore, and Rosemont. Jobs liked the idea of using cities as names, but directed that they be changed to “world-class” cities like Chicago, New York, Geneva, Venice, Athens, etc.

What were you struck by about the life and work of Steve Jobs? Let us know in the comments.

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  • Matthew Ulmer

    What surprised me most:
    The details of Jobs’s ousting from Apple in 1985 – I had always thought he was double-crossed by the man he hired, but it turns out it was almost entirely his own doing.

    What disappointed me most:
    People like Jobs’s partner and confidant Jony Ive admitting Jobs stole ideas and portrayed them as his own.

    Oddity: 
    Jobs threw a lavish 30th birthday party for himself and then intentionally left behind all his gifts.

  • Joan Mintz

    Such a fascinating individual. As a marketing person, I’m so intrigued by the anti-market research stance.  I guess it works when you’re the smartest person on the planet.
     

  • L. Reedy

    It was amazing that he was such a visionary and could create such intense passion for Apple products, but could be such a jerk, too. Could he have been one without the other?

  • Cathy Sweeney

    I was amazed and impressed that Jobs possessed such self-confidence and creativity enabling him to make bold choices and take risks from such a young age; whether it was in grade school, high school, Reed College, traveling through India, or taking on IBM and the nascent computer industry. How many individuals could and would convince their parents to move into a new school district or at the age of 12 would call up the head of a major company (Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard) for parts (and get them)? From an early age he took chances and worked without a net, trusting in his ability to learn, grow, and do well, without following the traditional path towards success (in public education, college, life, or business).

  • Patrick Daily

    What surprised me most was that Bono called Apple to ask if U2 could be in one of their commercials.  What!

  • Ron

    I enjoyed the book very much but was also surprised to hear how he treated people. Fear is a sad way to motivate. It worked well while I was in the Army, but would not motivate me as an employee. His own arrogance was his downfall in that he was killed by a disease that was treatable at first. He was truly a ‘candle in the wind’.

    • Joanulmer

      I agree with the first half of your comment, but the part about his death is a little scary.  Perhaps it was his strength of will that gave him a longer period of survival than most with the same disease.

    • Jennifer

      Actually, having just read this part of the book, Ron is right. Beign so stubborn and obsessed with control, he would’t allow doctors to perform surgery that would have in all likelihood saved his life or at least extending it.  Finally 9 months later than he should have, he had that surgery.  But by then the cancer had spread. So sad. 

  • Craig T.

    Here’s my fun fact: Apple products are supposed to be proper nouns.  It’s not a macintosh or the iphone, it’s Macintosh and iPhone. 

  • Art Dimitri

    For those who got the book as a gift and have yet to read it, be aware that both Steve Jobs supporters and Steve Jobs detractors have voiced their concerns that he was not portrayed fairly by the author, Walter Isaacson.

    Since both groups are unhappy, it is a good indicator that the author did a better job expressing the truth as he understood it without a hidden agenda than some give him credit.  The book is well worth you time to discover the driving factors behind the business and personal life of Apple’s leader.

    People are complex and full of inconsistencies.  The many layers of Steve Jobs are exposed for you to ponder and measure against the decisions of your life.