Steve Jobs

 “Steve Jobs” is a biography of Steven Paul Jobs, the late co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple. The author, Walter Isaacson is well known for writing biographies of famous people like Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. The book starts with Apple’s “Think Different” commercial of 1997, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

Introduction

Steve Jobs was battling cancer when he asked Isaacson to work on his biography. He wanted Isaacson to write everything about him honestly. Steve said, he would not have any control over the book. He won’t even read it. While working on Steve Job’s biography, Isaacson ended up interviewing more than 100 friends, relatives, rivals, and colleagues. He had more than forty interviews with Steve including formal ones and casual conversations during long walks, drives, or by telephones. Isaacson mentions that this book is about the roller-coaster life of Steve jobs. He was a creative entrepreneur who brought a revolution in six industries, PCs, animated movies, phones, tablets, music, and digital publishing. The book covers everything right from his birth to his death. Walter Isaacson has written about Steve’s adoption, his upbringing, his college days, professional life, and married life in a detailed manner.

Lessons from the book

Leadership:

Steve Jobs was a very inspirational charismatic leader for his team. He was not a programmer but he had deep knowledge about what was going inside the products. Isaacson mentions that Steve Jobs was very tough as a boss but those who understood him and stayed close, got inspired by him. He had a very tight-knit team at Apple, unlike many companies where people join and leave rapidly. Steve admitted that sometimes he got to tell his team members about their faults and sometimes they got to tell him about his faults. They frequently had knock down, drag-out fights but they were at a place where the best products were made. Steve hated presentations in a meeting. He would say that people use slides when they are not able to dominate the topic to be presented.

Perfection:
Isaacson writes in his book that Steve was always fascinated by the need for perfection. Much of the credit goes to his father Paul Jobs who was a mechanic by profession. He would often take Steve along with him in his garage and would give him tools and a separate space to explore tools. Once while building a cabinet and fence his father implanted a lesson deeply in Steve’s mind. His father asked him to craft the back of the cabinets and fences in a proper way though they were hidden. His father would love to do things in the right manner. His father’s care about the look of the hidden parts was imbibed by Steve too. While making products, Steve always preferred superior quality screws for the components placed inside the computer. He would always insist on beautiful finishes inside even though these parts were visible only to repairmen.

Innovation:

 “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”-Steve Jobs.

Working obsessively until you get a solution was Steve’s insanely great philosophy. There are ample good ideas everywhere but translating good ideas into great finished products was his forte. Along with his friend Steve Wozniak, Steve started making personal computers in his garage. In the era of mainframe computers, their vision was to make small computers so that people could use them in their homes and at workplaces. The journey of Apple started in 1976 and since then Steve never looked back. He would know what people wanted even before they knew it. Steve quoted, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful…that’s what matters to me.” Even when he was sick with cancer he would send emails and keep checking with his team. His face would be lit up while talking about Apple products. 

Love what you do:

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. – Steve Jobs

It was Steve Job’s belief that unless you love what you are doing you cannot give your 100 % in making that product. You cannot face the difficulties that would come in the process and eventually you give up. But if you are truly in love with your work then it becomes easy to face the hardships and be consistent in it.

Steve had over 100 million dollars when he was 25 and it was not at all important for him. Though he believed money enables us to invest in new ideas, he never aspired to be rich or famous in his life. His only obsession was to focus on the creative process and building something that is beautiful. He always thought that what separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest was their perseverance. His advice to young people is to follow your guts and do not settle down until you find out your goal. 

Have Faith

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” –Steve Jobs.

Getting fired from the company formed by Steve himself was very shocking. But he said that was the best thing that could ever happen to him. He got success at a very early age. That heaviness of success was gone and it was a new beginning for him. He was free to enter the most creative zone of his life. He made a lot of mistakes in his life but most importantly he did not give up. He learned from his previous mistakes and moved on. In 1985 after leaving Apple, he went ahead to start NeXT, a new computer company, and invested his own $12 million in it. He bought Pixar which was a huge success in animation movies giving the best movies such as “Toy Story”, “A bug’s life”, “Finding Nemo.3” and many more. 12 years later he rejoined Apple  and eventually made Apple a successful company. 

Why you should read this book

The book is a voluminous biography with 526 pages and 42 chapters, but it is worth reading. It will inspire you in a lot of ways. It is about the journey of a visionary. In this book, Isaacson has written about Steve Jobs’ best entrepreneurial qualities and at the same time about his weird nature and obsessions with certain things. Excellent book. Recommended for all.