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I'm having a difficulty fathoming (or believing) how this anecdote would be possible. When Steve Jobs' secretary picked up the phone, was it working hours? Br

I'm having a difficulty fathoming (or believing) how this anecdote would be possible. When Steve Jobs' secretary picked up the phone, was it working hours? Brushing that aside, how could the secretary have called Nomura headquarters, reach the person who can grant access to the site, then have that person call the chauffeur within 10 minutes?

sneak 5y ago
His personal secretarial staff was probably at least 5-10 people in total, with three shifts. Just having a megayacht[3] in a different time zone (e.g. in Europe) means you have to have three shift coverage to do management logistics for fueling/supply/HR/etc as it moves around between ports. They would already have his chauffeur’s number, and would be able to provide it to the people at the site (to enable a jp-jp conversation without sleepy California translators in the loop). The personal (not even professional) staff of people that rich/busy are frequently larger than most small startups. If you add in managing their security detail, that of their family members, travel, yachts, 3-10 different residential properties, all the associated vendors, et c, it adds up fast. It’s a full time job for at least a half-dozen people if you have enough property and helicopters. They’d also have private, direct numbers for a whole lot of extremely well-connected people who make it their business to pick up the phone when the three comma club calls them. He was running one of the largest and most important companies in the US at that time (separately from the fact that his personal fortune was immense), which means his staff would likely have access to many in government, military, diplomats, et c. Recall that Apple built a special spy iPod firmware for a classified project for the DOE to do espionage[1]. Google’s LSE used to park and fill up their private (not Google - personal) jet at Moffet, a military airfield next to the Googleplex. (They even got the reduced, government-internal-only tax subsidized price for jet fuel.[2]) They’re connected. The CEO of Apple (or Google, or Microsoft, et c) can, presumably, if necessary, speak to the POTUS same-day. Pulling some diplomatic strings to get a garden tour is entirely within the realm of believable. Billionaires inhabit a different world. [1]: https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ipod/ https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ip... [2]: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/12/13/inspector-general-google-execs-saved-millions-on-jet-fuel-at-moffett https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/12/13/inspector-gen... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(yacht) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(yacht)
- suls 5y ago
  Yeah, this is very much in line with [1] (see Access under $1billion section): > Access. You now can just ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back. [..] Within 60 minutes, we had a call back. I was in B1's home talking to him the next day. Truly amazing how the top 0.0001% operates. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_insanely_wealthy_people_buy_that_ordinary/cnnmca8/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_i...
blihp 5y ago
Working hours wouldn't matter. Steve was a very well connected CEO and probably better connected than most re: Japan. Canon was a significant partner with and investor in NeXT, for example. So it's not a stretch to imagine he knew connected people over there. All his secretaries probably needed to do was get in touch with the staff (more likely, the personal secretaries) of no more than a few of his contacts within a couple of degrees of someone high up at Nomura and say 'Steve needs a favor'. Someone knew someone and so on... and it's done.
- cududa 5y ago
  I always tell new founders to treat Executive Assistants as more important than the VC or exec they’re talking to. The elite ones all somehow know each other and talk. One particular EA that managed a billionaires life (he was on my board) and I became very close friends, she’s retired now, but there’s not a single powerful person she hasn’t managed to get me a meeting with, within a few days

sneak 5y ago

His personal secretarial staff was probably at least 5-10 people in total, with three shifts. Just having a megayacht[3] in a different time zone (e.g. in Europe) means you have to have three shift coverage to do management logistics for fueling/supply/HR/etc as it moves around between ports. They would already have his chauffeur’s number, and would be able to provide it to the people at the site (to enable a jp-jp conversation without sleepy California translators in the loop). The personal (not even professional) staff of people that rich/busy are frequently larger than most small startups. If you add in managing their security detail, that of their family members, travel, yachts, 3-10 different residential properties, all the associated vendors, et c, it adds up fast. It’s a full time job for at least a half-dozen people if you have enough property and helicopters. They’d also have private, direct numbers for a whole lot of extremely well-connected people who make it their business to pick up the phone when the three comma club calls them. He was running one of the largest and most important companies in the US at that time (separately from the fact that his personal fortune was immense), which means his staff would likely have access to many in government, military, diplomats, et c. Recall that Apple built a special spy iPod firmware for a classified project for the DOE to do espionage[1]. Google’s LSE used to park and fill up their private (not Google - personal) jet at Moffet, a military airfield next to the Googleplex. (They even got the reduced, government-internal-only tax subsidized price for jet fuel.[2]) They’re connected. The CEO of Apple (or Google, or Microsoft, et c) can, presumably, if necessary, speak to the POTUS same-day. Pulling some diplomatic strings to get a garden tour is entirely within the realm of believable. Billionaires inhabit a different world. [1]: https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ipod/ https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ip... [2]: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/12/13/inspector-general-google-execs-saved-millions-on-jet-fuel-at-moffett https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/12/13/inspector-gen... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(yacht) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(yacht)

suls 5y ago
Yeah, this is very much in line with [1] (see Access under $1billion section): > Access. You now can just ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back. [..] Within 60 minutes, we had a call back. I was in B1's home talking to him the next day. Truly amazing how the top 0.0001% operates. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_insanely_wealthy_people_buy_that_ordinary/cnnmca8/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_i...

blihp 5y ago

Working hours wouldn't matter. Steve was a very well connected CEO and probably better connected than most re: Japan. Canon was a significant partner with and investor in NeXT, for example. So it's not a stretch to imagine he knew connected people over there. All his secretaries probably needed to do was get in touch with the staff (more likely, the personal secretaries) of no more than a few of his contacts within a couple of degrees of someone high up at Nomura and say 'Steve needs a favor'. Someone knew someone and so on... and it's done.

cududa 5y ago
I always tell new founders to treat Executive Assistants as more important than the VC or exec they’re talking to. The elite ones all somehow know each other and talk. One particular EA that managed a billionaires life (he was on my board) and I became very close friends, she’s retired now, but there’s not a single powerful person she hasn’t managed to get me a meeting with, within a few days