Since the book about the leader behind Apple was launched, many people from various industries hunted it, trying to find out the recipe of a genius, of a man who changed the face of technology and who revolutionized continuously the world of computers.
Apparently a young man like any other belonging to his generation, Steve Jobs was, in fact, a teenager with an IQ level over the average one – he was tested in his last year at the primary school and he already had a high school level. Finding out that he was adopted and becoming dominated by this fact, he found in it the drive to do something great, to be always in search of perfection.
Learning about the importance of product design from his father, Paul Jobs – who was a motor mechanic and used to fix cars at home, in his garage, admiring their looks and showing to his son all the details, which resulted in creating a beautiful car – Steve Jobs managed to master these techniques, used by him later on all his computers.
All in all, what he didn’t inherit from anyone was his power of persuasion. Many of the persons met by him during his life, or his employees, named this capacity as „the reality distortion field”. Even if some circumstances appeared to be against them at a certain moment in time, Steve Jobs used to convince everyone that the objectives were doable, as they have been set from the beginning. He used this technique many times during negotiations, obtaining what he desired every time.
Zen Buddhism adept and confident vegetarian, the genius of computers replicated his severe regime of life in the company led by him. Being of an exceptional cruelty, he had the power to get rid of those employees who didn’t seem to be useful, insulting people who didn’t satisfy his criteria of performance and involving only quality persons in the process of creating an Apple product.
Few were known as close acquaintances of Steve Jobs, especially after he was banished by the board council from his own company, which was founded in his garage with Steve Wozniak, but he regained his respect, returning to Apple after making NeXT and Pixar successful. With the same anti-compromise attitude regarding the product design, he succeeded to rehabilitate the collapsing company – due to its CEO, who was incapable of leading it.
This time, not the advertising spot „Think different” caught everyone’s attention, but the product itself, launched with great confidence every time. From the computers that encompassed all a consumer needs, Apple stepped forward into the post-PC era, by creating the iPad. Along with it, the iCloud, the iPod and the iPhone were all the representations of what Steve Jobs wished to obtain: a product which anticipates the needs of a consumer, complete as a work of art due to its flawless design, stimulating the creativity of an user by involving him/her in the process of creating content.
Walter Isaacson mentions all these details about Steve Jobs-the businessman in his authorized biography, but outlines few aspects of Steve Jobs-the father, reflecting only the important moments, which have already captivated the public in the past, elucidating the mystery around them and avoiding gossip.
The tragic faith of this contemporary genius is somehow regarded with resignation, with a particular naturalness, by objectively describing the stages of his disease and his wife’s fight against it in order to keep him with her, despite the fact that he was as harsh in his family life as he was in business. The author of his biography thinks it’s important to mention that Steve Jobs didn’t know all the details of his book, willing to let the world read an objective story of his life, which is explaining to people how could he leave a legacy to the entire world.
Book reviewed by Valeria Tudor.
