1. I was most surprised about how much of a well-rounded polymath Steve Jobs was. I knew he was obviously always good with electronics, but hearing about his interest in other areas, especially while growing up, was fascinating. I was also amazed by the several different reasons that Steve Jobs and his company decided on the name Apple was fascinating. It is such a simple but iconic name that I was very interested to hear the reasoning behind the name. I really admired Jobs’ ingenuity and his “never say die” attitude. Even after he was fired by his own company, he quickly began to work on new projects, which would lead to him becoming a billionaire. There isn’t much about Jobs that I do not admire, but I guess if I had to pick a trait it would be his tendency to chase those closest to himself away with his commanding behavior. If you look at the falling out between Jobs and Wozniak, I think that could have been prevented by Jobs. Finally, it is obvious to anyone who knows anything about Steve Jobs that he faced adversity. He was put up for adoption when he was born, he was fired by the company he founded, and he had cancer for the last several years of his life. However, Jobs never stopped working.
2. In terms of competencies, the most evident one in Steve Jobs was his ability as a visionary, inventor, and a leader. Jobs was able to see the world and the tech industry in a way that no one else was able to, and he created success off of that. His ability to lead is evident, especially in his return to Apple. Jobs helped turn Apple, upon his return, into the trillion-dollar goliath that it is today.
3. I felt like I understood a vast majority of the book, the thing that was confusing to me was Jobs’ unrelenting hate for Android and Eric Schmidt. I understand that Jobs felt that Android simply stole the iPhone, but I feel as if that is the way the industry works. Even if you are the first to market and have complete legal control over your product, someone else will undoubtedly find a way to change your product enough to put it into the marketplace themselves. I was simply confused by the fact that a savvy business man such as Jobs wouldn’t just accept that this is the way industry works and move forward.
4. If I were able to ask Steve Jobs two questions, I would ask him:
a. What were the biggest internal and external driving forces in his life?
b. What figure in history inspired him the most?
i. I would ask Jobs these two questions to gain further insight into how he was able to succeed as an entrepreneur. I think knowing someone’s inspirations and reasons for their drive can tell you a lot about how to find success.
5. I think Jobs saw “hard work” as the chance to do something amazing. Jobs never stopped his work and search for something better, and that is an opinion I definitely share with him.
It is interesting how Steve Jobs decided that he wanted his company to be called Apple. I liked the questions that you would ask him I thought it was a good question to ask what his biggest internal and external driving forces in his life were. You are right when you say figuring out what inspired him is important.
ReplyDeleteHello Goetz,
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, I would say that you did an excellent job analyzing the book. It appears that you are extremely familiar with the life of Steve Jobs and that you have to spend a lot of time analyzing his personality and his character. He was definitely a one in a billion person and his brilliant mind was able to create the beautiful products most of our population is using these days. You made an excellent choice using this book for this assignment.