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The Steve Jobs Way

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The Steve Jobs Way

iLeadership for a New Generation

Vanguard Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Apple customers just can’t live without Steve Jobs’s “insanely great” products, and that’s the way he liked it

Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe,” said Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and then chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. Today, all personal computers incorporate a version of the mouse-driven graphical user interface that Jobs perfected and popularized. The guiding spirit behind the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone and iTunes, Jobs is an American corporate legend. Few people worked more closely with him than Jay Elliot, a former senior vice president at Apple. In this business biography, written before Jobs died, Elliot and co-author William L. Simon detail Jobs’s corporate achievements, his attention to product detail and his visionary leadership. getAbstract recommends their revealing profile to those compelled by or curious about the genius of Jobs.

Summary

The Steve and Woz Show

In 1971, at age 16, technophile Steve Jobs met computer geek Steve Wozniak. Wozniak and his love of technology impressed Jobs, who sensed that he and “Woz” were soul mates. A few years later, they became partners in a technology start-up, the future Apple Computer Inc. (now Apple Inc.). They made a perfectly complementary team: Wozniak had no business savvy, but Jobs had plenty. When Wozniak built Apple’s first computer, he needed Intel’s expensive DRAM chips. Since Apple could not afford them, Jobs convinced Intel to send him the costly chips for free.

Wozniak loved to tinker with technology and build things. Jobs was a visionary leader who could imagine commercial and product possibilities that no one else could see. “When Steve believes in something, the power of that vision can literally sweep aside any objections, problems or whatever. They just cease to exist,” said Macintosh engineer Trip Hawkins.

Walk in the PARC

Developments at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California sparked Jobs’s imagination. Its researchers were building a new computer to market against IBM’s dominant commercial line. On one visit, PARC...

About the Authors

Jay Elliot is a former senior vice president of Apple Computer. William L. Simon co-wrote The Art of Deception and Ghost in the Wires.

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    P. O. 1 decade ago
    great insight to Job's and the history of Apple
  • Avatar
    W. L. 1 decade ago
    Fantastic book. I've read some Apple stories but this book still gives me many pointers.
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    P. K. 1 decade ago
    A must read....makes us understand that true innovation lies in making things simple.