Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
Reviewed date: 2020 Dec 28
447 pages
I knew 90% of the Steve Jobs-Apple story already, but this book was still riveting. Amazing.
Somewhere in the NeXT and Pixar days, Steve Jobs learned humility. "[This] can't be about me. It's about the company." As near as I can tell, that's the difference. He still had all his faults, but less pride. He'd failed, and hard. And now he didn't want Apple's success or failure to be tied to his personal success or failure.
"Apple had shelled out more than a half billion dollars to rehire Steve Jobs." And it was a decision with no justification. None. It worked out, but I can't see why anybody on the board would have agreed.
Before, Steve Jobs was focused on making a breakthrough product. When he returned to Apple, his product was the company. His focus was on building a successful company.
It occurs to me that there's a little of Michael Scott in Steve Jobs. He yells at his employees but he's fiercely loyal to them in the end--unless he feels betrayed, in which case he holds grudges. But Steve Jobs will apologize when he's wrong. And he's smart.