Book Review: Steve Jobs
Do the ends justify the means? Is your iPad worth the tears, bullying, and abuse Steve Jobs piled upon his friends and colleagues to get it done? If he hadn’t, would we ever have had anything that matches the iPhone?
I finished reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson today and I am torn. Anyone who’s been paying attention knows by now that Steve Jobs was a total prick, a tantrum-throwing cry baby and working with him could be a nightmare. But he was equally passionate and driven. As Isaacson points out, leaders who are kind and comforting and sympathetic do not exact change, and Jobs wanted to push the human race forward. He didn’t believe in market research because he didn’t believe customers knew what they wanted until they saw it. (And in fact, there’s a passage in the book where he screams at one of his admen because he hates a particular commercial. The adman retorts that Jobs has not given him any direction, he has no idea what he wants. Jobs screams back that he doesn’t know what he wants, the adman is supposed to show him the options and he’ll know it when he sees it).
Anyone who’s worked for an asshole boss will cringe at some of the passages in this book. But it is an undeniably inspiring book. Not just because of Jobs’ accomplishments, but because of all of his failures along the way. Had he let some of those failures humble him, he might have emerged a kinder human being, but he may not have continued on to his next technological success.
Steve Jobs said the world is a better place because of Apple. I say the world is a better place because Steve Jobs was motivated by a desire to create the perfect product, the simplest and most intuitive user experience. If he wasn’t, we may instead have been reading a true crime book about the latest psychopathic criminal.
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