Co Founder Chairman And Ceo Of Apple Media Essay

Steven Paul Steve Jobs was an American entrepreneur. He is known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006.

After a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He served as CEO and held majority of the shares until Disney’s purchase of Pixar in 2006. In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operating system, Apple turned to NeXT Computer. Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor, and took control of the company as an interim CEO. Jobs brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1998.

As the new CEO of the company, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side, the company’s Apple Retail Stores, iTunes Store and the App Store. The success of these products and services provided several years of stable profitable returns.

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In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was initially treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined. On medical leave for most of 2011, Jobs resigned in August that year, and was elected Chairman of the Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to his metastatic tumor on October 5, 2011.

Jobs has received a number of honors and public recognition for his influence in the technology and music industries. He has widely been referred to as “legendary”, a “futurist” or simply “visionary”, and has been described as the “Father of the Digital Revolution”, a “master of innovation”, and a “design perfectionist”.

PERSONAL LIFE

Jobs’s birth parents were Abdulfattah “John” Jandali, from Syria, who taught in University of Wisconsin and Joanne Carole Schieble who was a student. In December 1955, ten months after giving up their baby boy (Steve Jobs), Schieble and Jandali got married and in 1957 they had a daughter, Mona. They divorced in 1962.

In the 1980s, Jobs found his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, who told him he had a sister, Mona. They met for the first time in 1985 and became close friends.

After deciding to search for their father, Simpson found Jandali managing a coffee shop. In a taped interview with his biographer Walter Isaacson, aired on 60 Minutes, Jobs said: “When I was looking for my biological mother, obviously, you know, I was looking for my biological father at the same time, and I learned a little bit about him and I didn’t like what I learned. I asked her to not tell him that we ever met…not tell him anything about me.” Jobs was in occasional touch with his mother Joanne Simpson, who lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles. Jandali stated in an interview with the The Sun in August 2011, that his efforts to contact Jobs were unsuccessful.

Jobs demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23, 2010

Jobs once dated Joan Baez for a few years. Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs, believed that Jobs was interested in Baez because she had been the lover of Bob Dylan” (Dylan was the Apple icon’s favorite musician). Jobs confided in Joanna Hoffman his concerns about the relationship. She would later tell his official biographer “She was a strong woman, and he wanted to show he was in control. Plus, he always said he wanted to have a family, and with her he knew that he wouldn’t.

Jobs was a fan of The Beatles. He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also was interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about his business model on 60 Minutes, he replied:

“My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person; they are done by a team of people.”

In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment in The San Remo, an apartment building in New York City, only to sell it almost two decades later to U2 singer Bono. Jobs never moved in.

In 1984, Jobs purchased the Jackling House, Spanish Colonial mansion designed by George Washington Smith in Woodside, California. Although it reportedly remained in an almost unfurnished state, Jobs lived in the mansion for almost ten years. According to reports, he kept a 1966 BMW R60/2 motorcycle in the living room, and let Bill Clinton use it in 1998. From the early 1990s, Jobs lived in a house in the Old Palo Alto neighborhood of Palo Alto. President Clinton dined with Jobs and 14 Silicon Valley CEOs there on August 7, 1996, at a meal catered by Greens Restaurant. Clinton returned the favor and Jobs, who was a Democratic donor, slept in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.

Jobs usually wore a black long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by Issey Miyake (that was sometimes reported to be made by St. Croix), Levi’s 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. Jobs told Walter Isaacson “…he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style.” He was a pescetarian.

Jobs’s car was silver Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, which did not display its license plates, as he took advantage of a California law which gives a maximum of six months for new vehicles to receive plates; Jobs leased a new SL every six months.

Jobs contributed to a number of political candidates and causes during his life, giving $209,000 to Democrats, $45,700 to associated special interests and $1,000 to a Republican.

1.3 Health issues

In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer, and in 2004, he that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor; Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors’ recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months, instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease, before finally having surgery in July 2004. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his choice of alternative treatment led to an unnecessarily early death. He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or “Whipple procedure”) in July 2004 that appeared to successfully remove the tumor.

In early August 2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. His “thin” appearance and unusually delivery and his choice to give significant portions of his keynote to other presenters, caused a wildfire of media and Internet speculation about his health

Two years later, similar concerns followed Jobs’s 2008 WWDC keynote address. Apple officials stated Jobs was victim to a “common bug” and was taking antibiotics, while others explained his appearance was because of the Whipple procedure.

In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. Jobs’s prognosis was described as “excellent”.

On January 17, 2011, a year and a half after Jobs returned from his liver transplant, Apple announced that he had been granted a medical leave of absence. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees, stating his decision was made “so he could focus on his health

Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO on August 24, 2011. “Unfortunately, that day has come”, wrote Jobs, for he could “no longer meet his duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO”. Jobs became chairman of the board and named Tim Cook his successor. Jobs continued to work for Apple until the day before his death

1.4 PROFFESIONAL LIFE

Wealth

Jobs only earned $1 a year as CEO of Apple, Jobs held 5.426 million Apple shares worth $2.1 billion, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney’s acquisition of Pixar) worth $4.4 billion. Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance. Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd-wealthiest American.

Stock options backdating issue

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in 2007

In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. The case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations, though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted to him were returned without being exercised in 2003.

Reality distortion field

Apple’s Bud Tribble coined the term “reality distortion field” in 1981, to describe Jobs’s charisma and its effects on the developers working on the Macintosh project. Tribble claimed that the term came from Star Trek. Since then the term has also been used to refer to perceptions of Jobs’s keynote speeches.

The RDF was said by Andy Hertzfeld to be Steve Jobs’s ability to convince him and others to believe almost anything, using a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement, and persistence. Although the subject of criticism, Jobs’s so-called reality distortion field was also recognized as creating a sense that the impossible was possible. Once the term became widely known, it was often used in the technology press to describe Jobs’s sway over the public, particularly regarding new product announcements.

Inventions and designs

Jobs’s design style was influenced by Joseph Eichler, and the designs of Braun’s Dieter Rams. His designs were also greatly influenced by the Buddhism. His sense of intuition was also influenced by spiritual people.

Even while terminally ill in the hospital, Jobs sketched new devices that would hold the iPad in a hospital bed. He also despised the oxygen monitor on his finger and suggested ways to revise the design for simplicity.

The Macintosh Computer

The Macintosh was introduced in January 1984. The computer had no “Mac” name on the front, but rather just the Apple logo. The Macintosh had a friendly appearance since it was meant to be easy to use. The Macintosh was identified as a computer that ordinary people could understand.

The NeXT Computer

After Apple let Jobs go in 1985, he started a company that built computers. The NeXT Computer was introduced in 1989. Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the world’s first web browser on the NeXT Computer. The NeXT Computer was the basis for today’s Macintosh OS X and iPhone operating system (iOS).

iMac

Apple iMac was introduced in 1998 and its innovative design was directly the result of Jobs’s return to Apple. Apple boasted “the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else’s”. Described as “cartoonlike” the first iMac, clad in Bondi Blue plastic, was unlike any personal computer that came before.

iPod

The first generation of iPod was released October 23, 2001. The major innovation of the iPod was its small size. The capacity of the first generation iPod ranged from 5G to 10 Gigabytes. The iPod sold for US$399 and more than 100,000 iPods were sold before the end of 2001. The introduction of the iPod resulted in Apple becoming a major player in the music industry. Also, the iPod’s success prepared the way for the iTunes music store and the iPhone. After the 1st generation of iPod, Apple released the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, video-capable iPod Nano, screen less iPod Shuffle in the following years.

iPhone

Apple began work on the first iPhone in 2005 and the first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The iPhone created such a sensation that a survey indicated six out of ten Americans were aware of its release. Time magazine declared it “Invention of the Year” for 2007. In June 2009, the iPhone 3GS, added voice control, a better camera, and a faster processor was introduced by Phil Schiller. A major feature of the iPhone 4S, introduced in October 2011, was Siri, which is a virtual assistant that is capable of voice recognition.

Philanthropy

Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek magazine stated that “Jobs isn’t widely known for his association with philanthropic causes”, compared to Bill Gates’s efforts. In contrast to Gates, Jobs did not sign the Giving Pledge of Warren Buffett which challenged the world’s richest billionaires to give at least half their wealth to charity. In an interview with Playboy in 1985, Jobs said in respect to money that “the challenges are to figure out how to live with it and to reinvest it back into the world which means either giving it away or using it to express your concerns or values.” Jobs also added that when he has some time we would start a public foundation but for now he does charitable acts privately.

After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs initially. Jobs’s friends told The New York Times that he felt that expanding Apple would have done more good than giving money to charity. Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in Product Red program, producing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple has gone on to become the largest contributor to the charity since its initial involvement with it. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono cited Jobs saying there was “nothing better than the chance to save lives”, when he initially approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program. Through its sales, Apple has been the largest contributor to Product RED’s gift to the Global Fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, according to Bono.

1.5 ERA

1955: Stephen Paul Jobs is born on Feb. 24.

1972: Jobs enrolls at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but drops out after a semester.

1974: Jobs works for video game maker Atari and attends meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak, a high school friend who was a few years older.

1975: Jobs and Wozniak attend Homebrew Computer Club meetings.

1976: Apple Computer is formed on April fool’s Day, shortly after Wozniak and Jobs create a new computer circuit board in a Silicon Valley garage. A third co-founder, Ron Wayne, leaves the company after less than two weeks. The Apple I computer goes on sale by the summer for $666.66.

1977: Apple is incorporated by its founders and a group of venture capitalists. It unveils Apple II, the first personal computer to generate color graphics. Revenue reaches $1 million.

1978: Jobs’ daughter Lisa is born to girlfriend Chrisann Brennan.

1979: Jobs visits Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC, and is inspired by a computer with a graphical user interface.

1980: Apple goes public, raising $110 million in one of the biggest initial public offerings to date.

1982: Annual revenue climbs to $1 billion.

1983: The Lisa computer goes on sale with much fanfare, only to be pulled two years later. Jobs lures John Sculley away from Pepsico Inc. to serve as Apple’s CEO.

1984: Iconic “1984” Macintosh commercial directed by Ridley Scott airs during the Super Bowl. The Macintosh computer goes on sale.

1985: Jobs and Sculley clash, leading to Jobs’ resignation. Wozniak also resigns from Apple this year.

1986: Jobs starts Next Inc., a new computer company making high-end machines for universities. He also buys Pixar from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas for $10 million.

1989: First NeXT computer goes on sale with a $6,500 price tag.

1991: Apple and IBM Corp. announce an alliance to develop new PC microprocessors and software. Apple unveils portable Macs called PowerBook.

1993: Apple introduces the Newton, a hand-held, pen-based computer. The company reports quarterly loss of $188 million in July. Sculley is replaced as CEO by Apple president Michael Spindler. Apple restructures, and Sculley resigns as chairman. At Next, Jobs decides to focus on software instead of whole computers.

1994: Apple introduces Power Macintosh computers based on the PowerPC chip it developed with IBM and Motorola. Apple decides to license its operating software and allow other companies to “clone” the Mac, adopting the model championed by Microsoft Corp.

1995: The first Mac clones go on sale. Microsoft releases Windows 95, which is easier to use than previous versions and is more like the Mac system. Apple struggles with competition, parts shortages and mistakes predicting customer demand. Pixar’s “Toy Story,” the first commercial computer-animated feature, hits theaters. Pixar goes to Wall Street with an IPO that raises $140 million.

1996: Apple announces plans to buy Next for $430 million for the operating system Jobs’ team developed. Jobs is appointed an adviser to Apple. Gil Amelio replaces Spindler as CEO.

1997: Jobs becomes “interim” CEO after Amelio is pushed out. He foreshadows the marketing hook for a new product line by calling himself “iCEO.” Jobs puts an end to Mac clones.

1998: Apple returns to profitability. It shakes up personal computer industry in 1998 with the candy-colored, all-in-one iMac desktop, the original models shaped like a futuristic TV. Apple discontinues the Newton.

2000: Apple removes “interim” label from Jobs’ CEO title.

2001: The first iPod goes on sale, as do computers with OS X, the modern Mac operating system based on Next software. Apple also releases iTunes software.

2003: Apple launches the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs at 99 cents each, giving people a convenient way to buy music legally online. It sells 1 million songs in the first week.

2004: Jobs undergoes surgery for a rare but curable form of pancreatic cancer. Apple discloses his illness after the fact.

2005: Apple expands the iPod line with the tiny Nano and an iPod that can play video. The company also announces that future Macs will use Intel chips.

2006: Disney buys Pixar for $7.4 billion. Jobs becomes Disney’s largest individual shareholder, and much of his wealth is derived from this sale.

2007: Apple releases its first smartphone, the iPhone. Crowds camp overnight at stores to be one of the first to own the new device.

2008: Speculation mounts that Jobs is ill, given weight loss. In September he kicks off an Apple event and says, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” making a play off a famous Mark Twain quote after Bloomberg News accidentally publishes, then retracts, an obituary that it had prepared in advance.

2009: Jobs explains severe weight loss by saying he has a treatable hormone imbalance and that he will continue to run Apple. Days later he backtracks and announces he will be on medical leave. He returns to work in June. Later it is learned that he received a liver transplant.

2010: Apple sells 15 million of its newest gadget, the iPad, in nine months, giving rise to a new category of modern touch-screen tablet computers.

Jan. 17, 2011: In a memo to Apple employees, Jobs announces a second medical leave with no set duration. Cook again steps in to run day-to-day operations. Jobs retains CEO title and remains involved in major decisions.

Aug. 24, 2011: Apple announces that Jobs is resigning as CEO. Cook takes the CEO title, and Apple names Jobs chairman.

Oct. 5, 2011: Jobs dies at 56. Apple announces his death without giving a specific cause.

2.1 FIRST THINGS FIRST:

Definition:

The most important task gets priority, as in I very much wanted to see that movie, but first things first the papers due tomorrow. This adage was first recorded in 1545.

Steve jobs always focused on the issues which he considered to be the most important. Focus and determination was ingrained in his personality. He filtered out what he considered to be distraction. Colleagues and family members would at times be exasperated as they would try to get his attention towards some other issues which they considered important such as a legal problem, bills or medical diagnosis but yet he did not respond to such issues. He never let these issues hinder his performance at work or snatch away his attention. He would always give a cold stare and refuse to shift his laser like focus from the issue which he considers to be more important until he was ready to do so.

2.2 STRESS MANAGEMENT:

What is stress?

Stress is the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, nervous, or anxious. Stress is caused by an existing stress-causing factor or “stressor

Stress management:

Stress management refers to a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person’s levels of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving everyday functions. Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression.

In 1985 after a powerful struggle with the board of directors Jobs left Apple and formed NEXT a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operation system, Copland Gill Amelio turned to NEXT computer and the NEXT step platform become the foundation of Max Osx. Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor and took control of the company as an interim CEO. At this stressful situation Jobs instead of making more blunders and creating more problems, he dealt it in the most effective manner. It was only due to his ability to manage stress that he was able to brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1998.

2.3 INNOVATION:

According to an editor:

“Steve Jobs belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators along with Walt Disney and Thomas Edison.”

The creation of ipod explains the talent of Steve Jobs as many other companies were manufacturing MP3 players but the success of ipod is the result of a great insight coupled with brilliant execution after Napster’s game was found ultimately illegal Jobs saw that the same technology could create a legal market by ensuring music industry a stream of revenues and huge market as it would allow music lovers to download the songs of their own choice at a very reasonable price. He then created a product that was easy to use and more stylish which he could sell at a high price with huge margins. By far the best selling MP3 player ever the ipod lifted the Apple brand to unprecedented heights giving boost to the Mac sales and reestablishing the image of the company.

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

William James

2.4 CREATIVITY:

The creativity of Steve Jobs is evident from the fact that every Monday morning he would review all the products and the challenges of designing and executing them. It’s one of his social processes for connecting multiple discipline to create compelling products and he was doing it since dozen of years rigorously. He spent time building metal and relationship capital by connecting the newest ideas and brilliant and passionate minds. He was one of the few CEOs doing this practice of connecting the dots. It was due to his creativity that Jobs turned into a hard driving cash generating machine.

2.5ABILITY TO BRING CHANGE AND MANAGE CHANGE:

What is change management?

Change management is an approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.

The quality of Jobs of bringing new ideas and taking the risk of bringing change makes him quite different from others. In a special board meeting Jobs walked in and saw Apples roughly 2 dozen current products were on display. He began taking them down one by one. When he was done only four were left and those were the ones he said that would give Apple a new life by differentiating it in the market place. He once said:

“Deciding not to produce is as important as deciding what to produce”

“Our only security is our ability to change” – John Lilly

2.6 CHARISMA

What is charisma? Charisma “involves a relationship between the leader and the people being led”. He points to the different communication styles of charismatic leader as charisma is a key aspect of leadership qualities.jobs had command over his tongue and he had that talent to fold the audience under his wrap by delivering extraordinary speeches using metaphors, Analogies and storytelling. See how he used his interpersonal skills and assertive nature to get hold of the audience and over his employees as well. Further I would like to add an incident in which he used his innovative mind. The story behind ipad.one day he was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper on Sunday like an ordinary man, but unlike us he came up with an idea why not convert these pages into the digital format, why not make it more handy and make them more comfortable to use, why not do other tasks while reading the newspaper, he noted those points in his mind and came up with the idea of the Ipad. See how jobs used his brainstorming skills. By creating these stories in our head he communicates the advantages of his products most efficiently.

His charisma enables him to whip up the enthusiasm of his employees (job involvement) to achieve more by doing seemingly impossible tasks, and also convince customers to buy Apple products

2.7 PERSONALIZED LEADERSHIP

He type could be explained as being personalized. In Jobs case this means that he does not only motivate by storytelling but also by force. Job’s is described by some as being manipulative, dishonest, and boorish. An indication for this can be found, when he says, for instance: “My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.”

With this thought of jobs we can easily comprehend his nature and his mindset. The only thing on which he used to concentrate were his products and on the efficiency.in the above speech he indirectly stated that no matter what I can compromise on the quality and the efficiency of labor .furthermore his aggressive was reflected when he said that I can also swipe the staff if they don’t work according to my needs.

He wants people to follow him, expects obedience and much of it seemingly out of the self-interest, since working at “Apple” is what he considers a valuable goal in his life. “Getting the job” done is highest on his priority list.jobs was an autocratic leader. But sometimes he also gave preference to his employee’s decisions so that they feel motivated.

Jobs can be described as being enthusiastic and a visionary, being impatient and having a strong will for achievement. Additionally, Jobs has taken risks and seized on opportunities many times in his career, for instance when leaving Apple (though being forced to) and leading Pixar to success, just to come back to Apple some years later and saving the day for a company in dire straits at the time.

2.8 PERSONALITY TRAITS OF STEVE JOBS

Steve jobs was an innovative business leader with all the qualities that charismatic leaders have. He was goal-oriented and a man of vision.

His qualities:

1) Vision and articulation: He had the ability to express his vision and ideas to others in terms that are understandable to others.

2) Personal risk: He was always willing to take personal risks and engage in self sacrifice to achieve his vision.

3) Unorthodox behavior, do things which are not considered as norms.

4) He was sensitive and responsive to others needs and feelings

The most important quality about him was that he had vision with degree of clarity which was not unparalleled and ambiguous. Steve Jobs was such leader known for his highest degree of clarity in perceived vision. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs: The exclusive biography” describes Jobs as an obsessively detail-oriented man who got obsessed with the details of ” the design of the case for the Apple II, the shape of the windows on the Mac’s GUI, the colour of iMac blue in its first ad campaign, the machine having a CD slot not a tray, and the lighting at his launch keynotes”

As a leader, he managed his organization’s human capital well.

Managed his intellectual capital perfectly by giving proper direction to the knowledge assimilated in the organization in order to generate innovative ideas and develop them into final products.

SUGGESTIONS

Jobs have been dead for nearly a year, but the biography about him is still a bestseller. Indeed,

His life story has emerged as an odd sort of Holy Scripture for entrepreneurs-a gospel and

an anti-gospel at the same time. To some, Jobs’ life has revealed the importance of sticking

Firmly to one’s vision and goals, no matter the psychic toll on employees or business associates.

To others, Jobs serves as a cautionary tale, a man who changed the world but at the price of

alienating almost everyone around him. The divergence in these reactions is a testament to the

two deep and often contradictory hungers that drive so many of us today: We want to succeed

in the world of work, but we also want satisfaction in the realm of home and family. For those

who, like Jobs, have pledged to “put a dent in the universe,” his thorny life story has forced a

reckoning. Is it really worth being like Steve?

Here in this article; Steve Jobs work is seen from two different perspectives: Acolyte, Rejector.

Acolytes: They’re business people who have taken the life of Steve Jobs as license to become

more aggressive as visionaries, as competitors, and above all as bosses. They’re giving

themselves over to the thrill of being a general-and, at times, a dictator. Work was already the

center of their lives, but Jobs’ story has made them resolve to double down on that choice.

Rejectors: These are entrepreneurs who, on reading about Jobs since his death, have recoiled

from the total picture of the man-not just his treatment of employees but the dictatorial,

uncompromising way that he approached life.

In one camp, Jobs has taught people that only work is the thing in this w