Steve Jobs Biography Quotes

It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to to , We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.

Asked about the fact that Apple's iTunes software for Windows computers was extremely popular, Jobs joked, 'It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.

If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today ?

People who know what they are talking about don't need power Point.

Walter Isaacson, who ate dinner with the Jobs family while researching his biography of Steve Jobs, told Bilton that, “No one ever pulled out an iPad or computer. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.” It seemed as if the people producing tech products were following the cardinal rule of drug dealing: never get high on your own supply.

Great things in business are never done by one person,They are done by a team of people

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Jobs had always been an extremely opinionated eater, with a tendency to instantly judge any food as either fantastic or terrible. He could taste two avocados that most mortals would find indistinguishable, and declare that one was the best avocado ever grown and the other inedible.

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.

BIG THINKERS OFTEN DO BIG THINGS. SMALL THINKERS NEVER DO BIG THINGS.

Broad-Based Education: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.… I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.… It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. —Commencement address, Stanford University, June 12, 2005

भारतीय गावाकडील लोक आपल्यासारखा बुद्धीचा वापर करत नाहीत. त्यांची भिस्त अंतर्ज्ञानावर असते आणि त्यांची ती क्षमता जगातील इतर कोणापेक्षाही अधिक विकसित झालेली आहे. माझ्या मते अंत:प्रेरणा ही एक शक्तिशाली गोष्ट आहे. अगदी बुद्धीपेक्षाही जास्त शक्तिशाली! त्याचा माझ्या कामावर विलक्षण परिणाम झाला.

I didn’t invent the language or mathematics I used. I make little of my one food, none of my own clothes. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.

Steve Jobs, He trusted that the dots would connect . He believed the reward is the journey. He followed his heart. He didn't settle for Okay. He did what he loved. And if he didn't love what he did, if didn't believe it was a great work, he redid it again and again. He tried to live each day as though it really matter, even before he had cancer.

This biography is essential reading.” —The New York Times, Holiday Gift Guide “A superbly told story of a superbly lived life.

strong personality was the topic that most interested me in my biographies of Franklin

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become

Get your mind around it. You can do it

Great things in business are never done by one person.They are done by a team of people

asked Jobs why he wanted me to be the one to write his biography. “I think you’re good at getting people to talk,” he replied.

A Benjamin Franklin Reader Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Kissinger: A Biography

सिंप्लिसिटी इज द अल्टिमेट सॉफिस्टिकेशन’ ‘साधेपणा हाच परमोच्च सुसंस्कृतपणा

ऍपल आणि बॉय स्काउटमध्ये फरक काय? तर बॉय स्काउटवर प्रौढांची देखरेख असते.

ज्या लोकांना असा वेडा विश्वास असतो की ते जगही बदलू शकतात... तेच जग बदलतात. - ऍपलची ‘थिंक डिफरंट’ जाहिरात, १९९७

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and Kissinger: A Biography, and is the coauthor, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He and his wife live in Washington,

आयुष्याच्या तिसऱ्या अंकात त्याला मिळालेल्या नेत्रदीपक यशाचा प्रारंभ खरं तर पहिल्या अंकातील ऍपलच्या हकालपट्टीमुळे झाला नव्हता तर तो दुसऱ्या अंकातील त्याच्या चमकदार अपयशामुळे झाला होता.

माझे मित्र खरोखरच हुशार होते. माझे विशेष आवडीचे विषय म्हणजे गणित, विज्ञान आणि इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स. त्यांनाही हेच विषय आवडत आणि एलएसडीसारखे अंमली पदार्थ आणि विद्रोही संस्कृतीचे इतर व्यवहारही.

एखादी कंपनी सुरू करण्यामागचा उद्देश खूप श्रीमंत बनणं हा कधीच असू नये. ज्या गोष्टींवर तुमचा ठाम विश्वास आहे, असं काहीतरी बनवण्याचं ध्येय समोर ठेवून कायम टिकणारी कंपनी तुम्ही उभारली पाहिजे.

Sketches Einstein: His Life and Universe A Benjamin Franklin Reader Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Kissinger: A Biography The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (with Evan Thomas)

माझ्या वडिलांचं डिझाइनचं भान खूपच चांगलं होतं. कोणतीही वस्तू, कशी घडवायची याचं त्यांना ज्ञान होतं. आम्हाला कपाटाची गरज भासली की ते कपाट बनवायचे. आमच्या घराचं कुंपण बनवलं तेव्हा मीही काम करायला हवं म्हणून त्यांनी माझ्या हातात एक हातोडा दिला.

नंतर जॉब्झ म्हणाला. परंतु त्याची प्रखर भावनिकता त्याला खऱ्या निर्वाणापासून दूर ठेवत होती. झेनबद्दलचं त्याचं भान आणि जाणीव यांबरोबर मन:शांती, आंतरिक स्थैर्य किंवा परस्परसंबंधातील मृदुता यांची त्याच्या वागण्यात जोड मिळालेली दिसत नव्हती हे मात्र नक्की.

जसं माझं वय वाढतंय तसा माझा ‘प्रेरणे’वरचा विश्वास वाढत चाललाय. मायक्रोसॉफ्टमधल्या लोकांचं संगीत आणि कलेवर आमच्याइतकं प्रेम नाहीये, म्हणूनच झून इतकं बकवास प्रॉडक्ट ठरलं. आम्ही जिंकलो कारण आमचं संगीतावर प्रेम आहे. आयपॉड आम्ही आमच्यासाठी बनवला आणि जेव्हा तुम्ही एखादी गोष्ट स्वत:साठी, जिवलग मित्रासाठी किंवा कुटुंबासाठी बनवता तेव्हा तुम्ही त्यात कुठलीही तडजोड करत नाही. जर तुमचं त्या गोष्टीवर प्रेम नसेल तर तुम्ही त्यासाठी जादाचे कष्ट घेणार नाही, सुट्टीच्या दिवशी काम करणार नाही आणि कुठलीही नवीन गोष्ट करणार नाही.

is an unflinching biography of a manifestly great man. . . . Steve Jobs’s life was a great story with a near mythic arc, and Isaacson captures it well . . . the book moves at a fast pace with a great eye for detail. . . . Isaacson is perceptive and original.

माझ्या कॉलेजशिक्षणासाठी लागणारा फंड अशा प्रकारे कुठे फोर्ड फॉल्कन किंवा अशीच एखादी भंगारातली गाडी पन्नास डॉलर्सला विकत घेऊन, काही आठवडे त्यावर मेहनत घेऊन, तिची दुरुस्ती करून, अडीचशे डॉलर्सना विकून टॅक्स न भरता लपवून केलेल्या कमाईच्या पैशातून उभारला जात होता.

वॉझनी एक अप्रतिम यंत्र तयार केलं पण स्टीव्ह जॉब्झ नसता तर ते मशीन अजूनही छंदाच्या सामग्रीमध्ये अडकून पडलं असतं.’’ तरीही अनेकांना असंच वाटत होतं की, ऍपल-२ ही फक्त वॉझनियॅकची निर्मिती आहे. ज्यामुळेच जॉब्झ पुढचा टप्पा गाठायला सज्ज झाला की, जो केवळ त्याचाच ठरला असता.

The creativity that can occur when a feel for both the humanities and the sciences combine in one strong personality was the topic that most interested me in my biographies of Franklin and Einstein, and I believe that it will be a key to creating innovative economies in the twenty-first century.

shaping some of the greatest technological innovations of our time.” —The Washington Post “A wonderfully robust biography that not only tracks Jobs’s life but also serves as a history of digital technology. What makes the book come alive, though, is Isaacson’s ability to shape the story as a kind

As Osborne famously declared, "Adequacy is sufficient. All else is superfluous." Jobs found that approach to be morally appalling, and he spent days making fun of Osborne. "This guy just doesn't get it," Jobs repeatedly railed as he wandered the Apple corridors. "He's not making art, he's making shit.

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and Kissinger: A Biography, and is the coauthor, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World

Isaacson is to be commended for explaining the genius of Jobs in fascinating fashion, launching a discussion that could reach infinity and beyond.” —The Christian Science Monitor “Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs comes as a breath of fresh air . . . a reliable and captivating guide to a man who reshaped the computing industry

त्याला एलिसनसारखी उधळपट्टीची सवय नव्हती. बिल गेट्ससारखी दानशूरतेची ऊर्मी नव्हती किंवा ‘फोर्ब्स’च्या सर्वात श्रीमंत व्यक्तींच्या मानांकनाच्या चढाओढीत तो किती वर आहे हे पाहायची तळमळही नव्हती. त्याऐवजी त्यानी त्याच्यातल्या अहंकारी वृत्ती आणि वैयक्तिक धडाडीने लोकांना अचंबित करेल असा वारसा निर्माण करून त्याद्वारे समाधान शोधण्याचा प्रयत्न केला.

एखाद्या उद्योजकामध्ये अवर्णनीय असं काहीतरी असतं, जे स्टीव्हमध्ये मला दिसलं,’’ तो म्हणाला, ‘‘त्याला फक्त इंजिनियरिंगमध्ये रस नव्हता तर त्याला व्यवसायाचीही आवड होती. मी त्याला हे शिकवलं की तुम्ही काही करू शकता असा आत्मविश्वास तुमच्यात असेल तर ते प्रत्यक्षात येतं. मी त्याला सांगितलं की, सगळं तुझ्या नियंत्रणात आहे असाच वाग म्हणजे लोकांनाही तसंच

यामुळे मॅकइनटॉश टीमनी जॉब्झचा केवळ फायद्याचा विचार न घेता उत्कृष्ट प्रॉडक्ट बनवण्याचा ध्यास अंगीकारला. ‘‘जॉब्झ स्वत:ला कलाकार समजत असे. डिझाइन टीमला त्यानी त्या पद्धतीनेच विचार करण्यासाठी प्रोत्साहित केलं,’’ हर्टझफेल्ड म्हणाला, ‘‘प्रतिस्पर्ध्यावर मात करायची किंवा भरपूर पैसे कमवायचे हे आमचं उद्दिष्ट कधीच नव्हतं; आमचं उद्दिष्ट होतं- फक्त सर्वोत्कृष्ट गोष्टी बनवण्याचं.

It’s a testament to Isaacson’s skill as a biographer that readers can at last obtain the picture of Steve Jobs as a human being rather than a legend . . . anyone who’s ever wondered how so very much about the technology landscape has changed so fundamentally in just thirty-five years, owes it to themselves to read this book.” —TUAW.com “Walter Isaacson’s book is an unflinching biography of a manifestly

स्टीव्ह स्कलीला भासवत होता की, तो अद्वितीय आहे. स्कलीला तसं आधी कधी वाटलं नव्हतं. स्टीव्हनी मात्र त्याच्यात वास्तवात नसलेले ढीगभर गुण आरोपित केल्यामुळे स्कली तेच खरं मानून उन्मत्त झाला. यामुळेच स्कलीला स्टीव्हची भुरळ पडल्यासारखी झाली आणि तो बेताल बनला. जेव्हा हे स्पष्ट झालं की, स्कली त्याच्याबद्दलच्या स्टीव्हच्या वर्णनाला पुरा पडू शकत नाही तेव्हा स्टीव्हनी वास्तवाचा केलेला हा विपर्यास फारच स्फोटक परिस्थिती निर्माण करायला कारणीभूत ठरला.

रॅस्किनला वाटायचं, कम्प्यूटरचं नामकरण एखाद्या स्त्रीलिंगी नावानी करणं म्हणजे लिंगभेद करण्यासारखं आहे. म्हणून त्यानी त्या प्रकल्पाचं पुनर्नामकरण केलं ते त्याच्या आवडीच्या मॅकइनटॉश -McIntosh - या लालचुटूक रंगाच्या सफरचंदाच्या नावानी. पण ‘मॅकइनटॉश लॅबोरेटरी’ या ऑडिओ उपकरणं बनवणाऱ्या कंपनीबरोबर नामसाधर्म्याचा वाद होऊ नये म्हणून त्यानी हेतूपुरस्सर त्याचं स्पेलिंग वेगळं केलं. असा तो प्रस्तावित कम्प्यूटर मॅकइनटॉश -Macintosh- अशा नावानी ओळखला जाऊ लागला.

बौद्धधर्मात अंतर्ज्ञानावर भर दिला जातो. याचा बराच प्रभाव जॉब्झवर पडला होता. आत्मज्ञानातून होणारं आकलन व जाणिवा या अमूर्त विचार आणि बुद्धिपूर्वक केलेल्या विश्लेषणापेक्षा अधिक महत्त्वाच्या आहेत हे मला उमजू लागलं होतं,’’ असं त्याबद्दल नंतर जॉब्झ म्हणाला. परंतु त्याची प्रखर भावनिकता त्याला खऱ्या निर्वाणापासून दूर ठेवत होती. झेनबद्दलचं त्याचं भान आणि जाणीव यांबरोबर मन:शांती, आंतरिक स्थैर्य किंवा परस्परसंबंधातील मृदुता यांची त्याच्या वागण्यात जोड मिळालेली दिसत नव्हती हे मात्र नक्की.

वेननी आपले १०% शेअर्स राहू दिले असते, तर २०१० च्या अखेरीस त्यांची किंमत २.६ अब्ज डॉलर्स इतकी झाली असती. त्याऐवजी २०१० मध्ये नेवाडा राज्यातील छोट्या गावात एका लहानशा घरात तो एकटा राहात होता. अत्यंत गरिबीमुळे तो शासनानी दिलेल्या सोशल सिक्युरिटीच्या चेक्सवर जगत होता. तरीही त्यावर तो म्हणतो, ‘‘मला याचे वाईट वाटत नाही. माझ्यासाठी मी माझा सर्वोत्तम निर्णय घेतला. जॉब्झ आणि वॉझ हे दोघे खऱ्या अर्थाने वादळी झंझावात होते. त्यामुळे मला माहीत होतं की, त्यांच्याबरोबर प्रवास पचवणं मला शक्य झालं नसतं.

मी लवकरच मरणार आहे ही जाणीवच मला माझ्या आयुष्यातील महत्त्वाचं हत्यार वाटली. जीवनातील अनेक धाडसी पर्याय निवडताना एवढं समर्थ हत्यार माझ्यासमोर कधीच आलं नव्हतं. कारण इतरांच्या अपेक्षा, गर्व, अपयशाची वा फजितीची भीती- या साऱ्या गोष्टी मृत्युदरबारी विरल्या आणि फक्त शाश्वत तेवढ्या तरल्या. तुम्ही गमावू शकता असं काही तुमच्याकडे आहे, या विचारातून मुक्ती मिळवायचा सर्वोत्तम मार्ग म्हणजे तुम्ही एके दिवशी मृत्यूला सामोरं जाणार याची आठवण ठेवणं. गमावण्यासारखं आपल्याकडे खरोखरच काही नसतं. त्यामुळे तुमच्या हृदयाची साद न ऐकण्याचं काहीएक कारण नाही.

PRAISE FOR WALTER ISAACSON’S Steve Jobs “This biography is essential reading.” —The New York Times, Holiday Gift Guide “A superbly told story of a superbly lived life.” —The Wall Street Journal “Enthralling.” —The New Yorker “A frank, smart and wholly unsentimental biography . . . a remarkably sharp, hi-res portrait . . . Steve Jobs is more than a good book; it’s an urgently necessary one.” —Time “An encyclopedic survey of all that Mr. Jobs accomplished, replete with the passion and excitement that it deserves.” —Janet Maslin, The

मायक्रोसॉफ्टची प्रमुख अडचण अशी आहे की त्यांना अभिरुची नाही. त्यांना काडीइतकीही अभिरुची नाही,’’ तो म्हणाला. ‘‘आणि मी हे लहानसहान बाबींबद्दल म्हणत नसून साकल्याने विचार करून म्हणतो आहे. ते मूलभूत कल्पनांचा विचारच करू शकत नाहीत आणि त्यांच्या वस्तूत ते सद्भिरुची आणि सुसंस्कृतपणा आणू शकत नाहीत. त्यामुळे मला वाटतं की, मला झालेलं दु:ख हे मायक्रोसॉफ्टच्या यशामुळे नाही. मला त्यांच्या यशाचं काहीही वाटत नाही. बहुतेककरून त्यांनी ते त्यांच्या कष्टाने मिळवलं आहे. मला त्याचं काही सोयरसुतक नाही. पण ते अगदी सुमार दर्जाच्या, टुकार वस्तू बनवतात याचं मात्र मला दु:ख होतं.

आमची एक छान जोडी जमली होती.’’ जसा जॉब्झ वॉझच्या इंजिनियरिंगच्या जादुई ज्ञानाने प्रभावित व्हायचा, तसा वॉझही जॉब्झच्या व्यावसायिक धडाडीमुळे दिपून जायचा. हे दोघांच्या सोईचं होतं. वॉझनियॅक म्हणतो, ‘‘दुसऱ्या लोकांशी व्यवहार करण्यास मी कधी राजी नसायचो. लोकांना दुखावणं मला कधी जमलं नाही; पण स्टीव्ह मात्र अनोळखी लोकांना बोलावून त्यांच्याकडून कामं करवून घेऊ शकायचा. जे लोक हुशार नसायचे, त्यांच्याशी तो खूप वाईट वागायचा. परंतु माझ्याशी तो कधी उद्धटपणे वागला नाही. नंतरच्या काही वर्षांतही, जेव्हा मी त्याच्या प्रश्नांची त्याला हवी तितकी चांगली उत्तरं नाही देऊ शकायचो.

एखाद्या मुद्द्यावरून मतभेद झाले तर तो मध्यस्थीही करू शकेल. ‘‘ते दोघे खूप भिन्न प्रकृतीचे होते, परंतु त्या दोघांची एकत्रित ताकद खूपच मोठी होती,’’ वेन म्हणतो. काही वेळा जॉब्झ राक्षसीवृत्तीने झपाटल्यासारखा वागायचा, तर भोळाभाबडा वॉझनियॅक देवदूतासारखा वागायचा. जॉब्झकडील धाडसी वृत्तीमुळे तो लोकांकडून हवं ते करवून घेऊ शकायचा किंवा काहीवेळा चलाखीने त्यांना आपल्या बाजूला वळवूनही घ्यायचा. त्याच्यात लोकांना मंत्रमुग्ध करायची ताकद होती, पण तो स्वभावानी थंड आणि निर्दयी होता. याउलट वॉझनियॅक हा लाजराबुजरा, इतरांशी वागताना अवघडल्यासारखा आणि त्यामुळेच लहानमुलासारखा निरागस आणि गोड वाटायचा.

मी वयात आलो तो काळ खूप जादूई होता. झेननी आमच्या जाणिवा उंचावल्या होत्या आणि एलएसडीनीही.’’ नंतरच्या काळातसुद्धा तो आपल्या आत्मज्ञानाचे श्रेय सायकडेलिक अंमली पदार्थांना देतो. ‘‘एलएसडीचं सेवन करणं हा एक प्रगल्भ अनुभव होता आणि माझ्या आयुष्यातील सर्वात महत्त्वाच्या गोष्टींपैकी एक होता. एलएसडी तुम्हाला नाण्याची दुसरी बाजू दाखवतं. त्याचा अंमल कधी जातो त्याची तुम्हाला आठवण रहात नाही. पण तुम्हाला ते माहिती मात्र असतं. त्यानी आयुष्यात खऱ्या अर्थाने महत्त्वाचं काय आहे याचा समज माझ्या मनात दृढ झाला. पैसा कमावण्यापेक्षा सर्जनशीलता जोपासून उत्तमोत्तम वस्तू बनवायच्या आणि आपल्यापरीने शक्य तितकी मानवी इतिहासाच्या प्रवाहात आणि मानवी वैचारिक जाणिवेमध्ये भर घालायची.

exciting time in the age of computers, when the machines first became personal and later, fashionable accessories. It is also a textbook study of the rise and fall and rise of Apple and the brutal clashes that destroyed friendships and careers. And it is a gadget lover’s dream, with fabulous, inside accounts of how the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad came into being. But more than anything, Isaacson has crafted a biography of a complicated, peculiar personality—Jobs was charming, loathsome, lovable, obsessive, maddening—and the author shows how Jobs’s character was instrumental in shaping some of the greatest technological innovations of our time.

I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics,” he said. “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 sciences, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.” It was as if he were suggesting themes for his biography (and in this instance, at least, the theme turned out to be valid). The creativity that can occur when a feel for both the humanities and the sciences combine in one strong personality was the topic that most interested me in my biographies of Franklin and Einstein, and I believe that it will be a key to creating innovative economies in the twenty-first century.

Isaacson’s biography can be read in several ways. It is on the one hand a history of the most exciting time in the age of computers, when the machines first became personal and later, fashionable accessories. It is also a textbook study of the rise and fall and rise of Apple and the brutal clashes that destroyed friendships and careers. And it is a gadget lover’s dream, with fabulous, inside accounts of how the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad came into being. But more than anything, Isaacson has crafted a biography of a complicated, peculiar personality—Jobs was charming, loathsome, lovable, obsessive, maddening—and the author shows how Jobs’s character was instrumental in shaping some of the greatest technological innovations

दोघांनाही दुसऱ्याहून मी जास्त चतुर आहे असं वाटायचं. स्टीव्ह मात्र गेट्सला आवडनिवड आणि शैलीबाबत जरा कमी लेखायचा,’’ अँडी हर्टझफेल्ड म्हणतो. ‘‘स्टीव्हला खरं म्हणजे प्रोग्रॅमिंग येतच नसल्यामुळे गेट्स त्याला कमी लेखायचा.’’ अगदी पहिल्या भेटीपासूनच गेट्सवर जॉब्झचा प्रभाव पडला आणि जॉब्झच्या दुसऱ्यांना चटकन भुलवणाऱ्या स्वभावाबद्दल गेट्सला थोडा मत्सरही वाटायचा. पण त्याच्या नजरेत जॉब्झ हा ‘मूलत: विलक्षण’ आणि ‘एक गूढ वैगुण्य असलेली व्यक्ती’ होता. जॉब्झचा उद्धटपणा आणि दुसऱ्याला मूर्खात काढणं किंवा मोहात पाडायचा स्वभाव गेट्सला आवडायचा नाही. जॉब्झला गेट्स सकुंचित वृत्तीचा वाटायचा. ‘‘त्यानी एकदा जरी एलएसडी चाखलं असतं किंवा तरुणपणी आध्यात्मिक अनुभवासाठी एखाद्या आश्रमात राहिला असता तरी त्याच्या विचारांच्या कक्षा रुंदावल्या असत्या,’’ जॉब्झ एकदा बोलून गेला.

Isaacson’s biography can be read in several ways. It is on the one hand a history of the most exciting time in the age of computers, when the machines first became personal and later, fashionable accessories. It is also a textbook study of the rise and fall and rise of Apple and the brutal clashes that destroyed friendships and careers. And it is a gadget lover’s dream, with fabulous, inside accounts of how the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad came into being. But more than anything, Isaacson has crafted a biography of a complicated, peculiar personality—Jobs was charming, loathsome, lovable, obsessive, maddening—and the author shows how Jobs’s character was instrumental in shaping some of the greatest technological innovations of our time.

That seemed a bit odd. I didn’t yet know that taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation. It turned out that he wanted me to write a biography of him. I had recently published one on Benjamin Franklin and was writing one about Albert Einstein, and my initial reaction was to wonder, half jokingly, whether he saw himself as the natural successor in that sequence. Because I assumed that he was still in the middle of an oscillating career that had many more ups and downs left, I demurred. Not now, I said. Maybe in a decade or two, when you retire. I had known him since 1984, when he came to Manhattan to have lunch with Time’s editors and extol his new Macintosh. He was petulant even then, attacking a Time correspondent for having wounded him with a story that was too

Hardy reinforces his narrative with stories of heroes who didn’t have the right education, the right connections, and who could have been counted out early as not having the DNA for success: “Richard Branson has dyslexia and had poor academic performance as a student. Steve Jobs was born to two college students who didn’t want to raise him and gave him up for adoption. Mark Cuban was born to an automobile upholsterer. He started as a bartender, then got a job in software sales from which he was fired.”8 The list goes on. Hardy reminds his readers that “Suze Orman’s dad was a chicken farmer. Retired General Colin Powell was a solid C student. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, was born in a housing authority in the Bronx … Barbara Corcoran started as a waitress and admits to being fired from more jobs than most people hold in a lifetime. Pete Cashmore, the CEO of Mashable, was sickly as a child and finished high school two years late due to medical complications. He never went to college.” What do each of these inspiring leaders and storytellers have in common? They rewrote their own internal narratives and found great success. “The biographies of all heroes contain common elements. Becoming one is the most important,”9 writes Chris Matthews in Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero. Matthews reminds his readers that young John F. Kennedy was a sickly child and bedridden for much of his youth. And what did he do while setting school records for being in the infirmary? He read voraciously. He read the stories of heroes in the pages of books by Sir Walter Scott and the tales of King Arthur. He read, and dreamed of playing the hero in the story of his life. When the time came to take the stage, Jack was ready.

know that taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation. It turned out that he wanted me to write a biography of him. I had recently published one on Benjamin Franklin and was writing one about Albert Einstein, and my initial reaction was to wonder, half jokingly, whether he saw himself as the natural successor in that sequence. Because I assumed that he was still in the middle of an oscillating career that had many more ups and downs left, I demurred. Not now, I said. Maybe in a decade or two, when you retire. I had known him since 1984, when he came to Manhattan to have lunch with Time’s editors and extol his new Macintosh. He was petulant even then, attacking a Time correspondent for having wounded him with a story that was too revealing. But talking to him afterward, I found myself rather captivated, as so many others have been over the years, by his engaging intensity. We stayed in touch, even after he was ousted from Apple. When he had something to pitch, such as a NeXT computer or Pixar movie, the beam of his charm would suddenly refocus on me, and he would take me to a sushi restaurant in Lower Manhattan to tell me that whatever he was touting was the best thing he had ever produced. I liked him. When he was restored to the throne at Apple, we put him on the cover of Time, and soon thereafter he began offering me his ideas for a series we were doing on the most influential people of the century. He had launched his “Think Different” campaign, featuring iconic photos of some of the same people we were considering, and he found the endeavor of assessing historic influence fascinating. After I had deflected his suggestion that I write a biography of him, I heard from him every now and then. At one point I emailed to ask if it was true, as my daughter had told me, that the Apple logo was an homage to Alan Turing, the British computer pioneer who broke the German wartime codes and then committed suicide by biting into a cyanide-laced apple. He replied that he wished he had thought of that, but hadn’t. That started an exchange about the early history of Apple, and I found myself gathering string on the subject, just in case I ever decided to do such a book. When my Einstein biography came out, he came to a book event in Palo Alto and

her that when he had first raised the idea, I hadn’t known he was sick. Almost nobody knew, she said. He had called me right before he was going to be operated on for cancer, and he was still keeping it a secret, she explained. I decided then to write this book. Jobs surprised me by readily acknowledging that he would have no control over it or even the right to see it in advance. “It’s your book,” he said. “I won’t even read it.” But later that fall he seemed to have second thoughts about cooperating and, though I didn’t know it, was hit by another round of cancer complications. He stopped returning my calls, and I put the project aside for a while. Then, unexpectedly, he phoned me late on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve 2009. He was at home in Palo Alto with only his sister, the writer Mona Simpson. His wife and their three children had taken a quick trip to go skiing, but he was not healthy enough to join them. He was in a reflective mood, and we talked for more than an hour. He began by recalling that he had wanted to build a frequency counter when he was twelve, and he was able to look up Bill Hewlett, the founder of HP, in the phone book and call him to get parts. Jobs said that the past twelve years of his life, since his return to Apple, had been his most productive in terms of creating new products. But his more important goal, he said, was to do what Hewlett and his friend David Packard had done, which was create a company that was so imbued with innovative creativity that it would outlive them. “I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics,” he said. “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 sciences, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.” It was as if he were suggesting themes for his biography (and in this instance, at least, the theme turned out to be valid). The creativity that can occur when a feel for both the humanities and the sciences combine in one strong personality was the topic that most interested me in my biographies of Franklin and Einstein, and I believe that it will be a key to creating innovative economies in the twenty-first century. I asked Jobs why he wanted me to be the one to write his biography. “I think you’re good at getting people to talk,” he replied. That was an unexpected answer. I knew that I would have to interview scores of people he had fired, abused, abandoned, or otherwise infuriated, and I feared he would not be comfortable with my getting them to talk. And indeed he did turn out to be skittish when word trickled back to him of people that I was interviewing. But after a couple of months,

Jeffrey Garten’s history of globalisation, From Silk to Silicon, tells the story of the last millennium through ten biographies. His book ends with Steve Jobs. It opens with Genghis Khan. The latter’s impact was a fitting one with which to begin his story.

letting

Walter Isaacson, who ate dinner with the Jobs family while researching his biography of Steve Jobs, reports that “No one ever pulled out an iPhone or iPad. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.

Cada día me miro en el espejo y me pregunto: "Si hoy fuese el último día de mi vida, ¿querría hacer lo que voy a hacer hoy?". Si la respuesta es "No" durante demasiados días seguidos, sé que necesito cambiar algo.

the commencement

I don't think an aerospace program has been completed on time since bloody World War II

Employees have since dubbed the acronym policy the ASS Rule.

gluten

purchase.

genius

William

neither

affordable,

Homestead.

agreed

This is the start of an industry,” he told Jobs and Wozniak, predicting the company would make the Fortune 500, the prestigious list of America’s biggest companies, in a matter of years. “It happens once a decade.

With that,” Hertzfeld recalled later, “he walked over to my desk, found the power cord to my Apple II, gave it a sharp tug, and pulled it out of the socket.” Everything Hertzfeld had been working on was gone. Jobs stacked the monitor on top of the computer and told Hertzfeld, “Come with me. I’m going to take you to your new desk.

would put much of the power of a computer neatly into the palm of your hand. The father of four would be repeatedly compared with the inventor Thomas Edison and

Lo importante es el camino, no la meta. No se trata solo del logro de algo increíble. Se trata del propio hecho de hacerlo, día tras día, de tener la oportunidad de participar en algo verdaderamente increíble.

Lasseter had created eye-popping and entertaining small movies—a short called Luxo Jr. featured an animated desk lamp

Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clear enough to make it simple. But it's worth in the end, because once you get there, you can move mountains

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on, but that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the one hundred other good ideas there are. You have to pick carefully

He not busy being born is busy dying

was one of those sort of apocalyptic moments,” he said later. After seeing what Xerox called a graphical user interface (sometimes pronounced

businessman. Though only fifty years old, the college dropout was a technology rock star, a living legend to millions of people around the world. In his early twenties, Jobs almost single-handedly introduced the world

lifestyle.

The Only Way to Do Great Work is To Love What You Do

Don't be trapped by what others expect or succumb to their options

seeing a rough version of the movie in late November 1993, the president of

Life is short and we're all going to die very soon

So to anyone out there still wondering, here’s your permission slip: you do not have to be like Steve. When Isaacson, his biographer, was asked by a 60 Minutes interviewer about Jobs’s failings, he replied, “He could have been kinder.” Grant adds, “How do we know he succeeded because of his asshole behaviors … and not in spite of them?” Indeed, a more recent biography of Jobs, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, argues that Jobs matured during his time away from Apple, and was much more modulated in his behavior—giving credit when appropriate, dispensing praise when warranted, ripping someone a new one when necessary—during the second (and more successful) half of his career. Without that kind of modulation—without getting a little outside our comfort zone, at least some of the time—we’re all probably less likely to reach our goals, whether we’re prickly or pleasant by disposition. As Grant himself puts it, “What I’ve become convinced of is that nice guys and gals really do finish last.” He believes that the most effective people

When life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door

On a warm June day in 2005, Steve Jobs went to his first college graduation—as the commencement speaker. The billionaire founder and leader of Apple Computer wasn’t just another stuffed-shirt businessman. Though only fifty years old, the college dropout was a technology rock star, a living legend to millions of people around the world. In

In his early twenties, Jobs almost single-handedly introduced the world to the first computer that could sit on your desk and actually do something all by itself. He revolutionized music and the ears of a generation with a spiffy little music player called the iPod and a wide selection of songs at the iTunes store. He funded and nurtured a company called Pixar that made the most amazing computer-animated movies—Toy Story, Cars, and Finding Nemo—bringing to life imaginary characters like never before. Though

Though he was neither an engineer nor a computer geek, he helped create one gotta-have-it product after another by always designing it with you and me, the actual users, in mind. Unknown to those listening to him that day, more insanely awesome technology was in the works, including the iPhone, which would put much of the power of a computer neatly into the palm of your hand. The father of four would be repeatedly compared with the inventor Thomas Edison and auto magnate Henry Ford, who both introduced affordable, life-changing conveniences that transformed the way Americans lived. Yet

and stunningly mean-spirited. Some parts of his life sounded like a fairy tale right out of the movies: There was a promise made when he was a baby, romances, remarkable rebounds, and riches almost too big to be believed. Other parts were so messy and ugly, so very human, that they would never be considered family entertainment.

would announce that NeXT was bringing the world a breakthrough. But the customers didn’t follow and NeXT wasn’t close to making a profit, which companies must do to thrive and grow. At a board meeting in spring 1991, company officials delivered more bad news about poor results. Investor Ross Perot interrupted the presentation with a blunt assessment: “So what you’re telling me is the cockpit’s on fire and the plane’s in a tailspin.