title and author: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Content Synopsis:

This is an in-depth study of the life of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and one of the people most instrumental in the development of the personal computer and other digital products.

Jobs was a genius, an artist, a successful businessman, a corporate leader, a thought leader, an innovator, a rebel, and an eccentric. In the late 1970s, he dropped out of Reed College in Oregon and founded Apple with his friend Steve Wozniak in 1976. He developed the concept of a fully integrated personal computer with software and hardware that Apple controlled exclusively. He was forced to leave Apple in 1985 and later formed his own company to build the NeXt computer. He later became a key player at Pixar and helped launch it as the world’s most successful digital animation producer. Apple finally bought Pixar.

In 1994 he returned to Apple at their invitation when the company was not doing well. What followed was the success of one product after another with the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, iTunes and the iPad. On October 5, 2011, Jobs died of pancreatic cancer that he had battled for more than six years. He was 56 years old.

In addition to telling the story of Apple and Job’s influence on it and its products, the book delves into his personal life and personality. Few hits are thrown. Jobs is depicted as narcissistic and often brutal in his relationships with colleagues, friends, and family. He usually put his work before everything else. His relationships with his children were often problematic. He had little contact with his first daughter, Lisa.

In 1991, he married Laurene Powell, a business student. Their marriage is described as successful, although Powell had to learn to live with someone who was often difficult.

Jobs was known for being brutally honest in his work. It would declare an idea or proposed product “crap” and demean the people involved in it. He claimed that his only goal was to gather A-class people to build A-class products to serve the public in the best possible way. He had a unique ability to get the most out of people who respected him despite his often difficult interpersonal style. He also lavished compliments on people and his work when he liked it. People often liked him despite his rough edges.

He was famous for perfecting the “launch” of a new product with a carefully planned stage presentation. The new products were kept secret until he unveiled them at these presentations. He was a master in public relations and marketing. He didn’t believe in asking the customer what he wanted. Rather, he believed that his role was to figure out what the next big thing should be and then educate the public about it. He told them what they needed and this was almost always successful.

His artistic and design emphasis maintained a focus on hardware and software that was elegantly designed. At the same time, he possessed a vision of the future while paying excruciating attention to detail.

The computer industry developed along two separate paths: the open system where software was licensed on different computers, championed by Bill Gates at Microsoft, and the fully controlled and integrated model that Jobs maintained at Apple. He would rarely license Apple software to other manufacturers. If he wanted Apple software and products, he had to get them from Apple. Apple became the largest and most profitable computer company under Job’s supervision.

The book does a masterful job of showing us who Steve Jobs was as a person, CEO, designer, visionary, and businessman. He was a complex man with a genius for knowing what the public would want before knowing what he would want.

This is an outstanding book both as a biography and as a study of what makes for success in business.

Utility:

Reading about successful people is always helpful. You can learn a lot about the importance of focus, simplicity, attention to detail, and devotion to quality from this book. You’ll also learn some aspects of a CEO’s personality that it probably wouldn’t be wise to emulate.

Readability/Writing Quality:

The book is very well written. Holds your attention and is well organized. The author juggles many characters and timelines well. You never feel lost.

Notes on the author:

Walter Issacson is the executive director of the Aspen Institute. He has been president of CNN and editorial director of Time magazine. Issacson also wrote bestselling biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, and Albert Einstein.

Three great ideas that you can use:

1. It is essential to stay focused to be successful. Knowing what to say no to is just as important as knowing what to say yes to. Jobs always focused on perfecting a few products rather than overloading with too many.

2. Attention to detail is just as important as attention to the big vision. Jobs understood this and launched a series of high-quality products that generated customer loyalty and lots of revenue. He said that he was not interested in making money but in changing the world. If he made money in the process, he was fine.

3. To get the most out of people, you must challenge them. A high-quality company needs high-quality people, and some ruthlessness in maintaining quality is essential to the success of the product.

Disclosure Information:

Title and author: steve jobs by Walter Isaacson

Copyright holder: 2011 Walter Issacson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster