The Personality Of Steve Jobs

 ‘His personality and passions and products were all interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be as if part of an integrated system. His tale is thus both instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.’ (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xix) this is how Walter Isaacson describes him and just like Apple which is really good to learn about how he become so successful in his life.

Despite the focus on Steve Jobs’ life, it appears that what we think of him is completely different from what he thought of himself back when he was still young ‘I always thought of me as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics. Then I read something that one of my heroes, Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about the importance of people who could stand at the intersection of humanities and science, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.” (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xvii). These are the words Jobs said when he was just realizing what he wanted to do. Although he thought of himself as a humanities person, he knew deep down that electronics was somewhat important to him too after reading the article by Edwin Land, owner of Polaroid, realizing that being able to do both is important and will develop technology later on. Jobs found out what he was going to do in the future when he was young but in his book he also mentions how he has done things which he is not happy about and regrets “ I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was twenty-three and the way I handled that,” he said. “But I don’t have any skeletons in my closet that can’t be allowed out.”’ (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xvii-xviii). This shows that he got his girlfriend pregnant when he was young and the way he solved the problem, he also mentions “But I don’t have any skeletons in my closet that can’t be allowed out.” Which means that he didn't destroy the child from his girlfriend’s body. The way he explains this shows that he feels disappointed about what he did in the past.

His closest friends think that the knowledge that he was given up at birth left some scars. “I think his desire for complete control of whatever he makes derives directly from his personality and the fact that he was abandoned at birth,” said one longtime colleague, Del Yocam. “He wants to control his environment, and he sees the product as an extension of himself .” Greg Calhoun, who became close to Jobs right after college, saw another effect. “Steve talked to me a lot about being abandoned and the pain that caused,” he said. “It made him independent. He followed the beat of a different drummer, and that came from being in a different world than he was born into.” (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page 4-5) according to his friends, he can control his life really well, this relates to when he was adopted from a young age, not having his real family around and having to count on yourself, showing that he has had a hard time for the day of his birth and being abandoned. However, even though we know Steve Jobs as being a successful man, he is described as “Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally, about the people he worked with and competed against. Likewise, his friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, demons, perfectionism, desires, artistry, devilry and obsession, and the innovative products that resulted.” (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xvii)

Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, but how did this name come about? According to Walter Isaacson, ‘They considered some typical tech words, such as Matrix, and some neologisms, such as Execute, and some straightforward boring names, like Personal Computer Inc. The deadline for deciding was the next day when Jobs wanted to start filing the papers. Finally, Jobs proposed Apple Computer. “I was on one of my fruitarian diets,” he explained. “I had just come back from the apple farm. It sounded fun, spirited, and not intimidating. Apple took the edge off the word ‘computer.’ Plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.” He told Wozniak that if a better name did not hit them by the next afternoon, they would just stick with Apple. And they did.’ (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page 63) And ‘The word instantly signaled friendliness and simplicity. It managed to be both slightly off-beat and as normal as a slice of pie. There was a whiff of counterculture, back-to-nature earthiness to it, yet nothing could be more American.’ (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page 63) Here also said this name is unique and it is not following the trend. This is what makes the word stand out. Although, “So it forces your brain to dwell on it. Apple and computers, that doesn’t go together! So it helped us grow brand awareness.” Mike Markkula said (Steve jobs, Isaacson, W page 63) he explains that because the two things do not go together, that’s the reason why people will remember it and will stick in their mind. I agree it is true that because it is a fresh word for being a company’s name, it is combined with the electronic with nature.

Another question which we may ask is who is Mike Markkula? ‘He was one of the dozens of men who had made money from a young company’s public stock issue only to decide that there was more to life than becoming a corporate vice-president.’ and ‘He had made no secret of the fact that one of his goals in life was to become a millionaire by the time he was thirty, and when he managed to do so, he also didn’t bother to conceal his satisfaction.’ (Return to the little kingdom, Moritz, M page 183) from what Michael Moritz wrote is that he is successful when he was young but also that he has a dream to have £1,000,000 by the time he is thirty years old. From this, we can see that he is the kind of person who will try really hard to get what he desires or his aim. But he also has good skills and strength in his work and his area, which Michael Moritz also mentioned that ‘He worked on the pricing strategy for new chips, composed datasheets, helped solve customers’ problems, and was considered steady and reliable but not a rising star. His main claim to fame was guiding the development of Intel’s computer system for processing customer orders, where he immersed himself in the nitty-gritty details of the programming.’ (Return to the little kingdom, Moritz, M P184) this also tells that he helped Steve Jobs a lot in Apple.

Apple does not only focus on the technical side, they also want to be a part of fashion marketing for example ‘Apple is working with luxury brand Hermès to introduce a new Apple Watch collection, the Apple Watch Hermès. The collection includes a custom face that uses Hermès' 'traditional iconography' and comes with a choice of three bands: the Single Tour, the Double Tour, and the Cuff. All three bands are made with brown leather, and they can be paired with both sizes of the stainless steel Watch case. The collaborative watches will be available beginning October 5th, and they're not going to come cheap: their starting retail price is USD 1,100.’(Apple and Hermès are teaming up to introduce the Apple Watch Hermès collection, Cox, J) from this, it shows that Steve wants to make Apple a wide brand, not only in the technology industry, so it starts making collaborations with luxury brand Hermès so the price won’t below. In this way, Apple becomes so successful because they look at current trends and what the generation would need, from what Isaacson wrote ‘He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with the technology, so he build a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.’ (Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xix）and he also really enjoyed when he is working, even though he was not feeling well according to Hartmut Esslinger ‘Steve handled his life during his illness and continued to hold a passion for design as the central inspiration and guiding force of his professional leadership.’(keep it simple, Esslinger, H page 266). So he has achieved in this world, ‘In addition, he opened the way for a new market for digital content based on apps rather than just websites. Along the way, he produced not only transforming products but also, on his second try, a lasting company, endowed with his DNA, that is filled with creative designers and daredevil engineers who could carry forward his vision. In August 2011, right before he stepped down as CEO, the enterprise he started in his parent’s garage became the world’s most valuable company.’(Steve Jobs, Isaacson, W page xix) this presents that his company has a big value in the technical and monetary. Hartmut Esslinger has explained that ‘Yes, Steve also achieved stunning financial success, but it is his cultural contribution that makes his life story truly unique. Apple, like no other company, has brought world-class design and pristine branding to a new mass-market- a market it actually created.’(keep it simple the early design years of apple, Esslinger, H page 266).

From Steve’s passion and dedication from a young age, he discovered and developed the brand Apple is now. Full of history and connections, it develops each year with new products and new technology, making the previous item such as the first iPhone nothing compared to what we have in an iPhone X now. With the help of Mike Markkula, they made the company into a worldwide global brand that is now known by everyone.