13A- Reading Reflection No. 1- Steve Jobs

13A- Reading Reflection No. 1

Biography-Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

       1.      Steve Jobs

a.       What surprised you the most?

Throughout the years I have heard about the way he treated people, but until reading this book, I did not realize how badly he did treat them. I also did not realize that he held a majority stake in Pixar and was there when they produced Toy Story and when they partnered with Disney.  

b.      What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

His desire to change the world and that by being honest with people was the best way to get things accomplished. He was very driven, sometimes to the point of madness, where a times it seemed like he would break.

c.       What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

The way he treated people and he would verbally assault them if he felt their work was not up to his standards. He also took over the Mac idea as his own because he was the cofounder of the company and he felt he could take over the project.

d.      Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, he was fired from Apple in 1985 because of his bullying and harassing behaviors to those around him. After leaving Apple, Jobs started NeXT computer company followed by Pixar. In 1996, he rejoined Apple as an advisor when they acquired NeXT.

     2.      What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

He did things his way and he was very determined to be the best. He was highly driven and ruthless to those around him. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he refused conventional treatment and went the holistic view of acupuncture and a vegan diet, despite the advice of everyone around him.

     3.      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

While Steve Jobs was a brilliant man and Apple is extremely successful, I don’t understand why anyone would want to work for Jobs with the way he treated people. 

     4.      If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

a.       After being fired from Apple, what gave you the motivation to start another computer company?

b.      When or did you ever come to the realization that the way you treated people was your biggest character flaw and for true success you needed to change?

These questions would help me to learned about the maturing of an entrepreneur through failure and self-awareness and how these factors impacted him later in his life.

     5.      For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I believe he thought that success only came through hard word. He was brutally honest and harassing of those around him because of his desire to succeed through hard work. I do believe that hard work is essential to success, but I don’t believe that others should be treated poorly because they do not share my work ethic.