Reading Reflection 1

1. Walter Isaacson delivered a very intriguing biography about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs had a very interesting life with many ups and downs. One thing that surprised me the most about Steve Jobs was that he was given away to a different set of parents when he was born and later in his life, he found his biological parents and discovered he had a sister. It also surprises me that after starting to have success with Apple, that his mom didn’t reach out to him but that he had to reach out to his mom. What I admired most about Jobs was his ability to introduce so many new products to so many new markets. Many critics would bash down his ideas, but he would prove them wrong. What I least admired about Jobs was his intake of drugs. In 1985, Jobs was fired from Apple due to his brattish behavior and eventually returned after working with Pixar for several years.

2. I also admired Jobs passion to be perfect. He was a perfectionist and wanted everyone else that worked for him to be a perfectionist and to see his vision as well. He was very rude to employees that didn’t comply, but it was because he wanted his workers to be perfect. Any employee that Jobs realized was below average, he would fire on the spot. Jobs passion and perfectionist personality led his company to what it is today.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how Steve Jobs got away with being so rude to some of his employees. Even though he was let go for being mean to them there were a lot of cases where nothing was done to Mr. Jobs.

4. One question I would ask Steve is if he ever considered whether his work-life balance was a healthy one or if he didn’t care about a work-life balance. Another question I would have to ask Steve Jobs is how he dealt with critics and other employees telling him that his products weren’t going to sell.  

5. I think Steve Jobs opinion of hard work is different than most people. He was a perfectionist with no room for error. I think he pushed some people to hard and maybe himself too hard. I am not saying if he changed his methods that he may have been more successful. I do share the passion aspect of how he worked but I do not agree on how he treated himself and other people. I think if you have a similar passion like Jobs did then you will be able to accomplish the things you set your mind to because if you are so passionate about your work then it really doesn’t feel like work.