“Was he smart?” he asks. “No, not exceptionally. Instead, he was a genius.” This is spot-on. Jobs was, in fact, a slow learner in business. Having founded Apple and precipitated the personal-computer revolution in 1976 when he was 21, he was driven out in 1985 primarily because of his inability to control his own passions or to grasp the dynamics of a large company. NeXT, the company he then founded, was a disaster because he could not restrain his neurotic pursuit of product perfection even as the millions flowed out of the door and the beautiful computers remained unsold. That oxygen mask was just the last in a long line of inappropriate aesthetic demands.
Have to admire a guy who would refuse an oxygen mask on aesthetic grounds.
Admire, perhaps. From a distance: I have far too much experience with rage-laden bullies.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely true, Lee. And my admiration for Jobs is tempered by my experience of having in my time worked for rich hippies.
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