The Critical Asshole: Listening to...

I just finished the Steve Jobs biography and I must say, Isaacson did a great job of chronicling the rise, fall, re-rise, illness, and death of a one of the most important figures in the technology industry.  As mentioned in other reviews, the bio weighs heavily on the early days with a lot of information about the formation of Apple and Jobs’s stint with Pixar, but is relatively light when the story comes to the point when the iPod is being developed.  I have to admit, it had me in tears at the end where Isaacson, knowing Jobs is on death’s doorstep, allows him to have a final say.  Jobs talks about his legacy and there are a few great lessons within that summary.  A few points to note about the the life of Steve Jobs and what I got from this great bio:

Steve Jobs was a dick

It has been said before and detailed by employees, acquaintances, friends, family, and unfortunate strangers.  Steve Jobs was a dick.  He could be relentlessly cruel, screaming and berating employees in front of their peers, he sometimes manipulated and deceived those closest to him, and ironically, though he was put up for adoption, he abandoned a daughter and neglected his own family.  While he was alive I had heard that he was a tyrant boss to work for, but the recurring theme throughout the book seems to be Steve Jobs’s overwhelming capacity for his mistreatment of others—and the ability of others to handle or endure the abuse of being around him.  I was surprised there wasn’t a detailed account of Jobs getting his ass kicked by a disgruntled employee or stranger who got crossways with him.

Steve jobs respected musicians and artists more than those in their respective industries

Though Jobs was an asshole, one trait that was endearing was his respect and deference for artists and musicians.  From his relationship with Apple design master Jony Ive, to Jobs’s rescue of a music industry run by executives so out of touch with technology and creativity that they had resorted to suing music fans.  I wish there had been more material and stories from the iPod and iTunes development era, but I imagine that because the products are still a large part of Apple’s business, many of the “inside” stories were probably kept off the record.

Steve Jobs attitude about products was unique (but it shouldn’t be)

The overwhelming drive for Steve Jobs was to develop the best products and run the best company possible.  This makes him unique amongst CEO’s who choose a path based on profit maximization and cost-cutting.  As Jobs states at the end, the types of decisions that come from these methods of operation are completely different and shape the way a company and brand establishes itself.  Focusing on product development and innovation is not easy for any company which is why so many companies DON’T do it.  It’s a strange fault of capitalism that some times the best products or services don’t win out (however at the time of writing, Apple had become the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization).  If only our banks, utility companies, news outlets, and politicians had the same philosophy of “delighting the customer.”

Buy Steve Jobs through Amazon in hard cover or download the e-book through Apple’s iBookstore.