I’m currently reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and very revealing it is too.
I’m quite a fan of biographies of people in the tech industry and this book is certainly one with the most in depth look at it’s subject’s personality. Perhaps that’s because Steve Job’s personality is more interesting than say Bill Gates!
I’m about half-way through the book at the moment and what strikes me is How did he do it? Almost everyone quoted in the book reminds us of Steve Job’s almost sociopathic personality. He bullied, berated and belittled almost everyone in his life. The fact that he achieved so much and that there is a cult of Steve Jobs amongst fans of Apple products is getting harder and harder to understand the more I read of the book.
I remember a teacher at school, Don Culver, always used to tell us “Hitler liked children and dogs but he was still evil”. The cult of personality seems to depend more on something built in to the person rather than their actions.
In the book I’ve not heard many quotes from people saying the liked Steve Jobs, or that they enjoyed working for him. But there’s no doubt he brought something out of those people that they might otherwise never have discovered.
A good read!