Steve Jobs

“Joanne had one requirement: Her child must be adopted by college graduates.”

Joanne Schieble was committed to the notion that her unborn son would have all the opportunities possible to succeed in life, since she herself would not be raising him. Though she didn’t see this requirement fulfilled in Paul and Clara Jobs, Steve’s contribution to the world far surpassed the benefits of a formal education per se.

“Steve Jobs knew from an early age that he was adopted.”

Paul and Clara Jobs were very open with Steve about being adopted and framed his adoption story as one where they had chosen him, a special child who they wanted to be their son.

“I didn’t want anyone to know I had parents.”

When Jobs went to Reed College, he didn’t even let his parents come on campus, nor did he thank them for all they had done to get him there. Instead, he wanted his new peers to think of him as someone without roots or connections or family history, almost messianic in nature.

“Jobs quickly became bored with college.”

For the most part, even during his childhood, Jobs had not been captivated by formal education, and this remained true during his college years as well. He soon dropped out and audited a mix of seemingly unrelated courses he was interested in but that didn’t lead to a degree.

“In the mornings and evenings he would meditate and study Zen, and in between he would drop in to audit physics or engineering courses at Stanford.”

Jobs was deeply drawn to Eastern spirituality, which became a significant part of his life for years to come, even as he was acquiring the skills to someday lead the world’s most valuable company.

“Jobs is a complex person…and being manipulative is just the darker facet of the traits that make him successful.”

This is a quote by Steve Wozniak, in reference to an instance where Jobs allegedly withheld money from Wozniak. Yet instead of passing judgment on Jobs’s misdeeds, Wozniak explains the situation by referring to Jobs as complex, his success related to his manipulative, often cajoling nature.

“Apple. It was a smart choice. It signaled friendliness and simplicity.”

As Jobs and Wozniak decided on a name for their new company, they landed on Apple, unconventional and quirky for a technology company, inspired by a trip Jobs took to a local apple orchard.

“This passion for perfection led him to indulge his instinct to control.”

Jobs was notorious for being a perfectionist, which came with many strings attached, such as an insatiable desire to control nearly every aspect of the projects he managed. This constant search for perfection—according to his own standards—often infuriated and exasperated those around him.

“The Apple II took the company from Jobs’s garage to the pinnacle of a new industry.”

The Apple II computer’s success officially meant that Apple had made it. For Jobs this was only the beginning, but this product was enough to consolidate its status as a marketplace leader.

“Jobs felt that design simplicity should be linked to making products easy to use.”

This was one of Jobs’s core beliefs at Apple: the customer experience had to be inextricably linked to a visually pleasing product, which in Jobs’s mind essentially meant that it was simple and sleek.

“For all of his obnoxious behavior, Jobs also had the ability to instill in his team an esprit de corps.”

Isaacson points out that even when Jobs was temperamental and even abusive, he did have the ability to promote a sense of team spirit, even if he did so using unconventional methods to achieve this.

“Jobs confided in Sculley that he believed he would die young, and therefore he needed to accomplish things quickly so that he would make his mark on Silicon Valley.”

Jobs believed that he was special, someone like Einstein or Ghandi, and thus his obsession with achieving great things within his field was constantly on his mind. He approached his work with urgency, as evidenced in this confession to John Sculley.

“Over the years Steve Jobs would become the grandmaster of product launches.”

Apple product launches have become a global phenomenon, which was something that Jobs was particularly skilled at doing. This began in 1984 with the Macintosh and has carried over into Apple’s ongoing success, in the 2010 launch of the iPad for instance.

“Beneath their personal rivalry—and occasional grudging respect—was their basic philosophical difference.”

Here Isaacson is referring to the rivalry between Jobs and Bill Gates, who carry many surface level similarities but who approached their work very differently. While Apple systems by design (and Jobs’s influence) are largely incompatible with others, Microsoft did the exact opposite.

“When the NeXT computer finally went on sale in mid-1989, the factory was primed to churn out ten thousand units a month. As it turned out, sales were about four hundred a month.”

The NeXT computer, poised to be Jobs’s big comeback after a dramatic ousting from Apple, was a commercial failure. This experience humbled Jobs, teaching him valuable lessons and hurting his ego.

“When it came to women, Jobs could be deeply romantic.”

Despite Jobs’s harsh approach towards his colleagues, he often fell deeply in love. Over the years he had many different relationships with women, from Chrisann Brennan to Joan Baez to his wife Laurene Powell.

“With the launch of the original Macintosh in 1984, Jobs had created a new kind of theater: the product debut as an epochal event, climaxed by a let-there-be-light moment in which the skies part, a light shines down, the angels sing, and a chorus of the chosen faithful sings ‘Hallelujah.’”

Jobs saw himself as someone who navigated the intersection between technology and the arts, and his product launches often felt like the unveiling of a new work of art, filled with drama and suspense, a piece of business theater.

“The next step for the digital hub strategy was to make a portable music player.”

After iTunes started gaining traction, the iPod would become the next big thing for Apple. As a music lover, particularly the music of Bob Dylan and the Beatles, the iPod became a pet project for him.

“There was one classical musician Jobs revered both as a person and as a performer: Yo-Yo Ma.”

Jobs was enamored with Yo-Yo Ma, who eventually played at his funeral. To Jobs, Ma exhibited the kind of artistic purity he had always been moved by throughout his life.

“Whether it involved personal topics relating to his family and marriage, professional issues relating to engineering or business challenges, or health and cancer issues, Jobs sometimes simply didn’t engage.”

Jobs’s wife Laurene Powell explained that Jobs often ignored things he had trouble confronting, as if perhaps he could will them out of existence. Here, Isaacson synthesizes this idea, saying that Jobs would simply retreat from the issue at hand, many times focusing on something else to fill the void.

“A few days after he unveiled the iPad in January 2010, Jobs held a ‘town hall’ meeting with employees at Apple’s campus. Instead of exulting about their transformative new product, however, he went into a rant against Google for producing the rival Android system.”

Even as Jobs’s health was deteriorating, he remained fierce in his criticism of other companies, in this case Google, for what he considered ripping off an idea. He took the launch of the Android personally, as Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, had seen Jobs as a mentor.

“Jobs’s relationship with his wife was sometimes complicated but always loyal.”

Isaacson praises Laurene Powell for the positive, often calming influence she had in Jobs’s life. Even though Jobs’s work and temperament made their marriage difficult at times, Isaacson claims that loyalty and faithfulness were key components of their relationship.

“As his health deteriorated throughout the summer, Jobs slowly began to face the inevitable: He would not be returning to Apple as CEO.”

As Jobs contended with his own declining health and the prospect of peacefully transferring power and leadership, he knew the time had come to step down and resign as CEO. Less than two months later, he passed away.