Reading Reflection No. 1

       For my first reading reflection, I read Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson. I chose this biography because I had always been awed by the behemoth that Apple had become and I wanted to know more about the genius behind one of the most successful companies in the world. I also found out that this was the only biography on Jobs that was consented by him and Issacson was actually able to conduct over 40 interviews with Jobs for the book so I figured this would be the closest to a primary source that I could get.
      What surprised me the most when I read the book was learning how Steve Jobs truly became a millionaire. Spoiler alert: Jobs' wealth was not earned from Apple but Pixar actually. He had become the majority owner of Pixar in 1986 and continued to invest millions of dollars in the company until it finally landed a contract with Disney and made Toy Story in 1995. The movie made $350 million and was the most successful movie of the year, leading Pixar's value to increase dramatically by the time Jobs decided to make the company public and have its initial public offering, making him the billionaire he became. I felt like what I admired most about Jobs was his ability to sell his vision to people. There were times when no one believed in Jobs's thoughts that Apple would become the most successful company in the world. He had countless encounters with his engineers who felt overworked and wanted to leave but he had to convince them that their work and effort was on verge of creating something monumental. Dealing with rejection is a huge part of life and business but Jobs became someone who simply would not. He would convince someone to believe in his vision of his company and do such a phenomenal job of it that that person couldn't believe they ever doubted in the first place.
      What I felt like I least admired about Steve Jobs after reading this biography was that the man comes across very cold and uncaring at times. I know that being as successful as he was and being the genius that he was, forming meaningful connections with other people may not be worth the effort but I did feel like he could have been a more compassionate person. The book details incidents of Jobs telling his employees to keep working 10 hours after working already 12 hours on the programming of Macintosh computers. Jobs did not care about the complaints because he was driven by results. I would say that I admired his ability to overcome adversity. Most notably, Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985. This was probably the biggest challenge Jobs faced at the time and his response was what became Pixar. It is truly unbelievable that the man who gets fired from one emerging business giant turns around and simply develops a new one in a completely different industry. That is the kind of will power and cold determination that made Steve Jobs the titan of industry he became.
      Steve Jobs had so many core competencies that made him who he was. He was a visionary who never saw limitations in the world around him, only ways to overcome it. He was someone who understood that the biggest ability a successful businessman needed was to be determined to succeed. Jobs had an intense work ethic and a razor sharp mind. He was a calculative decision maker who always knew what the next brilliant move to make was. I found that Jobs had trouble forming meaningful relationships as a child because of how he was given up for adoption. I did find it confusing how this came about because it seemed as if his adoptive parents were very loving people. This is shown by his early relationship with his first child Lisa, whom he initially denied was his child.
      There are two questions I am really interested in asking Jobs if I had ever had the opportunity while the man was alive. It is evident from everything in this biography that Steve Jobs gave a hundred percent of himself to his work and his visions for success. This led to his family taking a back seat to his work and his dedication to what he was trying to achieve for Apple ultimately kept him from being an ideal family man. So my first question is, if you had the ability to go back and live your life all over again, would you still dedicate the time, commitment, and effort you did for your work or would you want to make sure you were more involved with your family? I want to know the answer to this because I have heard that to achieve the ultimate pinnacle of success, one must be willing to sacrifice everything. I just want to know if doing so and achieving that success is truly worth it in the end. My other question stems from the fact that Steve Jobs was very open about stealing ideas from other sources and improving them. In fact, one of his favorite quotes is " Good artists copy, great artists steal" which was claimed to have been said by Picasso. So as someone who felt like it was okay to borrow ideas from others and improve upon them, why were you upset with Bill Gates when Microsoft released the initial version of Windows software which seemed to have copied the Mac operating system? I ask this because I feel like one cannot justify stealing something and then feel betrayed when it happens to you.
      If there is one safe take away from this biography, it is that Steve Jobs absolutely personified what hard work is. If you read this book, there are many criticisms to draw on Jobs because the man was truly a flawed genius. However, the one thing no one can dispute is Jobs' work ethic. He tortured himself working inhuman hours just like he demanded of his employees. He was willing to sacrifice anything needed to ensure what he did was of the highest quality and as close to perfection as possible. This led to working more intensely than most people ever should but then again, one cannot dream to build a multinational tech giant like Apple without putting in a few hours.