I wasn't lucky enough to ever meet or work with Steve, but one thing I've seen during my time in the tech industry is that there are a lot of people who try to emulate him. Unfortunately it's a lot easier to emulate Steve's weaknesses than his strengths, so the result is that some people are just whiny entitled jerks without much else to offer.
I know that unflattering depictions of Steve Jobs are the big hits these days, but this one seemed more like an attempt to flatter that left me flat. He sounds incredibly annoying to work with and the people working with him have that hands-on-hips "oh, him!" attitude at some massively dickish moves. Blowing off peoples' ideas so glibly and pointing to the door imperiously to indicate they should leave? Threatening to ditch a demo and terrifying your employee? Ordering 300 custom made white italian dress shirts just so he could wear a brand new one each time?
Hi, I'm the author. :-) You're very right, he could be incredibly frustrating to work with. I've always thought it was strange that we have so many incredible stories about working with him, but few people tell them. Or if we do, we talk about the good things he did. I was trying to do that too because I liked him and deeply miss him, but wow could he be annoying.
Being hard to work with may have been one of Jobs' defining qualities. The author seems to be making the point that his strengths outweighed his many shortcomings.
That buying thing extended all the way up to cars. I recall reading Steve Jobs never registered his cars. He'd simply buy one in cash from the dealer, drive on the temporary registration period, then sell the vehicle for a new one when that was up.
> Steve and I both showed up at the show in dark suits and white shirts.
I thought Steve always wear his turtleneck. Even going with investment banks. My guess is that those days it was way more formal then what we have now.
>He loved hanging out in art museums. My memory could well be off, but I remembered it as 300 new white shirts. He wanted a new one each time he dressed up.
So he doesn't do any clothes washing? Would the old one be recycled? Throw away?
Fascinating Story, I miss Steve. I miss the old Apple. Where they are relentlessly innovating. It is not that they have stopped now, but it has definitely slowed.
And I think with this story, Cake will now get lots of invitation to its site.
I have often wondered why I am not as successful as Steve, and this was particularly perplexing since I was wearing black turtlenecks almost every day.
Now it turns out that that is wrong, I should have been wearing dark suits with custom made Italian shirts! Duh!
Looking forward to the great work that is to emerge now that I have course corrected.
> I thought Steve always wear his turtleneck. Even going with investment banks.
In his NeXT and early Apple return years he wore a lot of things including expensive Italian suits (the business magazine were fond of mentioning that to show his style).
This is a great "growth hack" to introduce that service Cake. The story is really good too, but what immediately caught my attention was: "what is this cake thing?". It looks good btw, did anybody else know about it?
Ironically, a guy named Tim Berners-Lee at Cern had developed something he called WorldWideWeb on NeXT machines. I was trying to figure out what it was good for. It was kind of like Microsoft Word, except some sentences were blue and underlined and if you clicked on them you got a new document that came from a different computer.
Steve asked intensely the first time he saw it, “Is this cool?” I think that was his way of saying he didn’t get what it’s good for. I said I wasn’t sure.
[+] [-] gozzoo|7 years ago|reply
So true and so pity.
[+] [-] gozzoo|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] madeofpalk|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkempe|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joncrane|7 years ago|reply
I know he accomplished some cool stuff but geez.
[+] [-] cmacaskill|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fhood|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ashleyn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ksec|7 years ago|reply
I thought Steve always wear his turtleneck. Even going with investment banks. My guess is that those days it was way more formal then what we have now.
>He loved hanging out in art museums. My memory could well be off, but I remembered it as 300 new white shirts. He wanted a new one each time he dressed up.
So he doesn't do any clothes washing? Would the old one be recycled? Throw away?
Fascinating Story, I miss Steve. I miss the old Apple. Where they are relentlessly innovating. It is not that they have stopped now, but it has definitely slowed.
And I think with this story, Cake will now get lots of invitation to its site.
[+] [-] projectramo|7 years ago|reply
Now it turns out that that is wrong, I should have been wearing dark suits with custom made Italian shirts! Duh!
Looking forward to the great work that is to emerge now that I have course corrected.
[+] [-] protomyth|7 years ago|reply
In his NeXT and early Apple return years he wore a lot of things including expensive Italian suits (the business magazine were fond of mentioning that to show his style).
[+] [-] coldtea|7 years ago|reply
Steve started wearing that sometime around 2000. So like 23+ years into his career.
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] germinalphrase|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] santiagobasulto|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thinkingemote|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Jenz|7 years ago|reply
I used to be an Apple-guy, although I've moved away from it recently,
I wonder, if Steve was still there, would I have stayed with Apple?
[+] [-] ericls|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vilen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] therealmarv|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] macns|7 years ago|reply
Steve asked intensely the first time he saw it, “Is this cool?” I think that was his way of saying he didn’t get what it’s good for. I said I wasn’t sure.
[+] [-] princekolt|7 years ago|reply