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My favorite Jobs masterclass is his talk at Apple's developer conference in 1997 [1]. He had just returned to the company, and a lot of people were unhappy with
by resu_nimda 6y ago
My favorite Jobs masterclass is his talk at Apple's developer conference in 1997 [1]. He had just returned to the company, and a lot of people were unhappy with him and/or Apple at the time. He decided to do an hour long off-the-cuff Q&A session with the developers. Famously, one of the questioners was harsh and insulting, and he handled it with grace.
I honestly can't think of another tech CEO that could have pulled off this performance. Maybe Bill Gates? I get the sense that the reality distortion field was very real because he was so clear and eloquent about his mission, it never needed to be scripted or rehearsed, it just came out of him at all times.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig
- Aeolun 6y agoThanks for this one. It’s interesting to see some content from pre-iPhone days. It’s interesting how many of the things he said were correct in hindsight, but may just be because he made it so.
- pastrami_panda 6y agoIf someone knows the timestamp of this particular exchange please share.
- als0 6y agoHere is the moment where Steve Jobs receives the harsh question https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022 https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022
- pastrami_panda 6y agoOh I remember this, I love that part so much. I often think about what he says about starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology, really simple but bright stuff.
- pharaohgeek 6y agoI'd really love to know if the individual asking the question is still with Apple. I'd also love to know what he thinks of the company now.
- resu_nimda 6y agoThe conference was not just for Apple employees but anyone developing within the Apple ecosystem. According to a Quora post [1], the guy worked for a security firm contracted by Sun. I’m not aware of any follow-ups with him though. [1] https://www.quora.com/History-of-Apple-Inc-Whos-the-guy-who-insults-Steve-Jobs-in-this-clip-of-WWDC-1997 https://www.quora.com/History-of-Apple-Inc-Whos-the-guy-who-...
- jihadjihad 6y agoI think he makes a really salient point about focusing on problems in search of solutions rather than the reverse. So often in technology we come with solutions and look for problems to apply them to, but Jobs is right that we have to start at the pain points and work backwards from there.