Steve Jobs: Revelations from a tech giant

Isaacson: He had a great Mercedes sports coupe with no license plate on it. That was his affectation.

Kroft: No license plate?

Isaacson: He always believed--I said, "Why don't you have a license plate." At one point he said, "Well I don't want people following me. I don't want people--" and I said, "Having no license plate is actually more noticeable." He said, "Yeah, you're probably right. You know why I don't have a license plate?" I said, "Why?" He said, "I don't have a license plate." And I think he felt the normal rules just shouldn't apply to-- and he had his little everyday acts of rebellion that were showing, "Hey, I'm a little bit different."

Kroft: Parking in handicapped spots?

Isaacson: Yeah. I mean, he always kind of felt, "I don't succumb to authority." So, you know, it's just who he is.

That disregard for the establishment helped him achieve some of his biggest successes, allowing him to see products and applications that no one else imagined. So in 1984, Apple introduced a truly revolutionary product, the Macintosh. It used graphics, icons, a mouse and the point-and-click technology that is still standard. It was innovative and influential, but sales were disappointing. And Jobs' confrontational management style became even more brittle. He would try and rationalize it in this taped interview with Isaacson.

[Jobs: I feel totally comfortable going in front of everybody else, you know, "God we really f***d up the engineering on this, didn't we?" That's the ante for being in the room. So we're brutally honest with each other and all of them can tell me they think I'm full of s**t, and I can tell anyone I think they're full of s**t. And we've had some rip-roaring arguments where we're yelling at each other.]

Jobs loved the arguments, but not everybody else did. And Isaacson writes some of his top people began defecting.

Isaacson: He was not the world's greatest manager. In fact, he could have been one of the world's worst managers, you know? He was always, you know, upending things. And, you know, throwing things into turmoil. This made great products, but it didn't make for a great management style.

Jobs would eventually provoke a boardroom showdown with Apple president John Sculley over who would lead the company. The board chose Sculley.

Kroft: So he was out of his own company?

Isaacson: Kicked out of his own company. And, you know, he always had that feeling of abandonment. There was nothing worse than being abandoned by Apple.

He sold his stock and used the company to start a new venture called NeXT Computer, which made great products that no one bought. But Jobs would be saved by a tiny company that he acquired from George Lucas for five million dollars. Pixar Studios would eventually revolutionize movie animation and make Jobs a multi-billionaire. Apple hadn't done so well. And a decade after Jobs left, it decided to buy NeXT Computer and the services of Jobs as a consultant. But he would soon take over as CEO.

Kroft: And when he goes back, it's almost bankrupt?

Isaacson: It's like 90 days away from bankruptcy. They're totally out of money. And it's lost its way totally. So he says, "Here's the 27, 30 things you're making, printers or whatever." And he draws a chart that just has four squares. And he says, "Professional, home consumer. Laptop, desktop. We're gonna make four computers."

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[stevanovich9]

Steve Jobs didn't interest me. His inventions were purveyors of GIGO, Twittercrap and webfomercials. They were reinventing the wheel and not groundbreaking. The world has never had a true visionary. It's a cesspool devoid of creativity. A groundbreaking invention would be on the order of holographic video games or anything that is a cure for logistical logjam. Jobs was worshipped by cultist geekdom. Geeks and nerds have no opinions. They're lemmings who believe whatever the Orwellian media tells them to.

[borge225225]

This won't be popular and I doubt it's in Isaacson's book. If Jobs had 1) known he was actually in the software business rather than in the hardware business and 2) not been so either a) greedy or b) unwilling to license his architecture we might all have been "driving" Apple computers the past 25-30 years instead of Windows / PCs etc. When I think of the time I have spent on Microsoft products, the frustration, the money the heartache, etc. just because Jobs wanted MORE (money, power, control, quality....you pick it) it makes me angry even though I know he is Mr. Wonderful / Magic / Disney...again...you pick it. I just think you need to be aware of the existence of the other side of the information equation. And for Jobs to say things like: "Gates never invented anything" is despicable. I'll tell you what Gates invented: He invented standardization for one thing. Before that you never knew what you would get with software for Apple. You didn't even know what the Help File would look like. You had to buy something called a "Conflict Resolution File" to "resolve conflicts" - literally. Another think Gates invented - or maybe UN-INVENTED was greed. He invented the idea of giving away his money and actually doing something with it instead of building medieval castles (Larry Ellison - Oracle) or maybe private islands (Richard Branson) or , well you can go on for encyclopedias of lists of wasteful spending by the rich. Gates (and then Warren Buffet) have decided to give all of their money away. They are doing enormous amounts of good in education, health care, third world development and more - often more than whole governments. I don't put down the creativity of Jobs. I just don't put him on a pedestal either. He made a lot of very bad decisions, including about his own health care, like the decision not to have surgery immediately after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

I have owned one of every Apple product. I still own an iPod Classic. I converted from Macintosh to PC because there were thousands more products available for PCs and they were standardized in look, language and function. I bought and iPAD2 with cover, 2 year maintenance contract and other accessories for $650 and sold it several months later for $400 after a repair job and then a new (or refurbished - they wouldn't tell me) unit was sent me and still the problem was there: It only randomly connected to my new Belkin 2 Wi-Fi Network which works flawlessly with our two Dell laptops, my wife's iPod Touch, my Kindle, my Sony and Sennheiser wireless headphones and every other wireless piece of equipment I've applied in my house. These (including the iPod Touch) have all worked EVERY time ALL of the time even out in the yard 100 to 150 feet from the Belkin transmitter. What was different about the iPad2, I don't know. Also, I just didn't like the iPAD2. It was too heavy, too big, and if you just barely touched the screen it flipped pages in a book or a web page or a picture album and then you had to spend 5-10 minutes finding your place again. My point: They make errors. The iPAD2 being one of them. I knew I had the wrong product 2 weeks after I bought it. But they never would just give me my money back. Not even for a credit. Any other company would have. Apple is just too "special." I don't have an iPhone. But I do have two iPods and I really LOVE them!
End of diatribe.

[CupertinoGuy]

Great article on SJ. Share and find some of his great quotes at www.quotrs.com

[digdeepernow]

Bottomline, Steve Jobs was one of the most gifted humans to ever live on this planet, and he had some of the most serious flaws one could have, but they pale when compared to his positive and creative accomplishments. To those who critize Mr. Jobs for having a combative personality, and at times mean-spirited, for me, I'd rather have a robust, even angry discussion, with those who have the strength of mind to forcefully argue their position, than to have those who can't stand up for what they truly believe and think. And if you are one who feels insulted because someone vigorously disagrees with you, chances are you don't have enough self-confidence to be in the room with a bunch of creative and forcefully expressive humans, who normally look forward to be challenged about their ideas, and don't seek any safe quarter to explain their deeply held beliefs and facts about the issue under discussion. You may call such people arrogant, but in reality, they are usually deeply curious and are willing to go the needed distance to find the truth, and know the only thing that they would consider an insult would be for someone to not be prepared to competently explain their factual reasons for their own conclusion about the subject under discussion. In other words, they know what they know and challenge you to prove them wrong. In the Steve Jobs world, he wanted this kind of thinker on his team, and for the rest of us who have become so intimate with his products, often on a daily basis, his approach to problem-solving, has proven to be a masterpiece. Thank You, Steve Jobs, you were a true master of modern technology.

[PhantomMom]

Give me a break. Steve Jobs may have been smart about some marketing things, but he's no hero. And Steve Krofts did a terrible job discussing Steve Jobs' adoption. Jobs' first mother did not "abandon" Steve. Most mothers who lose their children to adoption are forced to do so, just like Steve Jobs' mother did. Parents made the decision to surrender the child for adoption, not the mother. Steve Jobs was an arrogant ass who treated people like crap. I don't think being adopted did him any favors. He was cruel to his first mother and father and to most people in his life. Steve Jobs was no saint.
And Steve Krofts, you better learn a little bit about adoption before you make such terrible statements about it. Or maybe YOU were adopted, too, and this was your way to stick it to your first parents. Clearly you are drinking the adoption koolaid that doesn't take into account the pain and loss that adoption brings. It is only a win for the adopters, most of the time.

[royalstar05]

Jobs was a good man and all but let the guy rest for christ sake. Its been two weeks and still the media goes on and on. Enough already.

[sparknvikki]

I watched the interview about Steve Jobs with great interest. I have always appreciated him regardless of his off-putting personality quirks. I am a faithful Mac user and will be as long as the products continue to live up to my expectations. I thought Mr. Issacson was thorough and fair and full of compassion toward a fellow "flawed" human being. Generally, I liked the interview. That being said, I will say that I thought Steve Kroft did a horrible job... It seemed he was barely able to hide his obvious contempt for Steve Jobs. Squinting, scowling and spewing out the word "stupid" (in reference to Mr. Jobs not seeking medical help the moment his cancer was discovered --- ), it was terrible to watch. Maybe the producers asked him to be that way to tip the scales away from the overwhelming inclination to treat Steve Jobs as the fourth member of the Trinity. But it just made me want to never watch 60 Minutes again. Two thumbs down for Steve Kroft!

[DerrickBaldwin]

No disrespect to Steve Jobs, and he will be missed, but 60 minutes should "inform" the public about Dennis Ritchie who passed away last week.

[zunitribe]

It can truly be a life changing circumstance when does finally come to the realization that they are indeed mortal. I know that may sound silly to some, but there are many of us, many, who deny and avoid the possibility until our name is almost on a death certificate. I know I experienced that dilemma and still have some self held debates over it.

[trancefrog]

As the Kindle eBook STEVE JOBS DEATH MOTIVATION SECRETS relates, Jobs was motivated by death. He literally lived each day as if it were his last. He wanted each day to be as creative and productive as possible.

[bombones]

Wrong!. His motivation? full of himself. As the upcoming book will show; Steve Jobs is mean, manipulative and vindictive. His record on how he treated Steve Woz is well known. As for don't speak ill of the dead, he started it from his grave - don't ask he how.
Way before the phenomenon of Islamophobia in the US media and anti-Arab diatribes out there; the man wanted to escape his ancestry - being an Arab. Steve Jobs did reconciled with his mother, who gave him up for adoption but was adamant in not mending fences with his living father, now in his early 80s, who lives just 250 miles away from him. Why?, Jobs does not want to acknowledge that he was an Arab. Period.