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I'm often frustrated at folks who take the wrong lesson from Steve Jobs. As this piece describes, they look at the dude and take away that they should be jerks

I'm often frustrated at folks who take the wrong lesson from Steve Jobs. As this piece describes, they look at the dude and take away that they should be jerks because that's how things get done. And that's a terrible lesson. In my read, as a guy who's been following Apple since he was a kid, there's one principal lesson for leaders and entrepreneurs: If you care about making exactly what you want, make sure you're the boss. That's it. You can define the agenda, you can get the right people, you can motivate them according to your style. You get to win all the design arguments. You get to slip the deadlines for quality. You can definitely be a jerk in that context, but you don't have to.

monksy 13y ago
I would argue that there are plenty of better, and less publicised, examples of people who are passionate about their work than Steve Jobs.
- jonnathanson 13y ago
  Steve Jobs is such a striking example because he was highly unusual in the business world, and especially in the tech business, and because he succeeded on such a massive scale. He was basically an artist. I don't mean that as a fawning compliment; I mean that as a description of his personality: for better and for worse. He was driven by a relentless aesthetic vision, he worked himself up into near-manic episodes, he was emotionally labile, and he was perfectionistic. These are qualities you usually find in the arts. I've worked with and around writers and directors for most of my career, and I've seen "Steve Jobs" in a lot of the more successful ones. Consider the example of Stanley Kubrick, or, more recently, David O. Russell. Now, go watch the infamous David O. Russell temper tantrum video on YouTube. You could just about substitute Steve Jobs for David in that video and believe it.
  - zjmichen 13y ago
    I don't agree with the idea of the "mad artist," an elite diamond-in-the-rough character who cloisters himself away on manic episodes of hyper-creativity, becomes an alcoholic, and emerges with a genius piece of Art. Art is a slog. Artists are the ones with enough endurance to churn out shit day after day, refining the best of what they produce. The best artists are social, because that's where the most ideas flow freely. Most artists I know (writers, musicians, graphic artists) are like this. Perpetuating the myth of the great lone genius is elitist, which is a discriminatory and dangerous ideology.
    - rdouble 13y ago
      Most writers I know are unsociable alcoholics, much like the stereotype.
      - zjmichen 13y ago
        Well, ok. I suppose anecdotal samples are not the best evidence for either side. I'd like to imagine that most artists are relatively well-adjusted. Anyway, that's the kind of world I'd like to live in. Everyone can (and should) be an artist to some degree. While I do agree with the fairly obvious point that some people are more talented than others, I reject the idea that there are "genius artists", spikes of talent on an otherwise smooth talent-graph.
        rdouble 13y ago
        Most evidence suggests the contrary.
        mikecane 13y ago
        >>>I'd like to imagine that most artists are relatively well-adjusted. Keep imagining. But great ones aren't. Go read: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 The Outsider by Colin Wilson http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/0874772060 http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/087477206... The Price of Greatness: Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy by Arnold M. Ludwig http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Greatness-Creativity-Controversy/dp/1572301171 http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Greatness-Creativity-Controv... EDIT to add: Why Jobs stood out is because the closest equivalent to what he was is a film director. But business is not set up to hand out accolades like Hollywood does. So instead of everyone learning who did what in Apple -- as with film we find out about sound editors, foley artists, etc, etc. -- we just get the face of Jobs.
    - jonnathanson 13y ago
      I didn't say that all artists, or even necessarily "the best" artists, fit a certain personality stereotype. Rather, I'm suggesting that the Steve Jobs personality paradigm is more commonly found among artists, and within the fields of the arts, than it is in business. "The best artists are social, because that's where the most ideas flow freely." Strongly disagree with this statement. History abounds with brilliant artists who were socially well adjusted and socially oriented. But it provides just as many examples, if not more, of artists who were introverted to the point of isolation, or who lived tempestuous social lives, or who wrestled with crippling mental illness (there is a shockingly highly incidence of bipolar disorder among history's great novelists, in particular). I don't think one can make a categorical declarative about the personality types of "most artists," or "the best artists." There is too much variance within the set, and there are too many variables to consider. And "best" is a subjective minefield in its own right.
- _Simon 13y ago
  What do you mean? How do you measure "passion"? Since you provide no examples I'll counter that you are wrong, and leave it at that.
mayank 13y ago
FWIW, it's an inevitable occurrence of cargo cult management, a sort of post-hoc reasoning, and it's not just young CEOs of tiny startups that are prone to it (but immaturity and inexperience do seem to be correlated with this particular brand of Jobs-envy).
kleinsch 13y ago
Agreed. I can count multiple people I've worked with who decide that to be a leader/genius/visionary, you first must be a jerk, and that will lead to respect. If you really are a genius, you're a huge pain to work with, but at least you're worth something. If you're not, you just look like an ass.
- dyno12345 13y ago
  Pretty much every SV god has a reputation for being incredible jerks: Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, Musk, Ellison So, maybe the rule isn't if you're a jerk you're a genius, but instead, if you're a genius, be a jerk. You just probably aren't a genius.
  - loceng 13y ago
    I wonder if it's the amount of ineptitude or not being on the same page that they may experience on a daily basis - even if it's 1 of 100s of people they interact with? I can see that being very trying when you literally have hundreads of things you need to make sure get done daily.
  - geon 13y ago
    You could add Torvalds to that list.
  - epsylon 13y ago
    And Jeff Bezos :)
loceng 13y ago
Thank you for perfectly summarizing the structure of the Steve Jobs situation.

monksy 13y ago

I would argue that there are plenty of better, and less publicised, examples of people who are passionate about their work than Steve Jobs.

jonnathanson 13y ago
Steve Jobs is such a striking example because he was highly unusual in the business world, and especially in the tech business, and because he succeeded on such a massive scale. He was basically an artist. I don't mean that as a fawning compliment; I mean that as a description of his personality: for better and for worse. He was driven by a relentless aesthetic vision, he worked himself up into near-manic episodes, he was emotionally labile, and he was perfectionistic. These are qualities you usually find in the arts. I've worked with and around writers and directors for most of my career, and I've seen "Steve Jobs" in a lot of the more successful ones. Consider the example of Stanley Kubrick, or, more recently, David O. Russell. Now, go watch the infamous David O. Russell temper tantrum video on YouTube. You could just about substitute Steve Jobs for David in that video and believe it.
- zjmichen 13y ago
  I don't agree with the idea of the "mad artist," an elite diamond-in-the-rough character who cloisters himself away on manic episodes of hyper-creativity, becomes an alcoholic, and emerges with a genius piece of Art. Art is a slog. Artists are the ones with enough endurance to churn out shit day after day, refining the best of what they produce. The best artists are social, because that's where the most ideas flow freely. Most artists I know (writers, musicians, graphic artists) are like this. Perpetuating the myth of the great lone genius is elitist, which is a discriminatory and dangerous ideology.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    Most writers I know are unsociable alcoholics, much like the stereotype.
    - zjmichen 13y ago
      Well, ok. I suppose anecdotal samples are not the best evidence for either side. I'd like to imagine that most artists are relatively well-adjusted. Anyway, that's the kind of world I'd like to live in. Everyone can (and should) be an artist to some degree. While I do agree with the fairly obvious point that some people are more talented than others, I reject the idea that there are "genius artists", spikes of talent on an otherwise smooth talent-graph.
      - rdouble 13y ago
        Most evidence suggests the contrary.
      - mikecane 13y ago
        >>>I'd like to imagine that most artists are relatively well-adjusted. Keep imagining. But great ones aren't. Go read: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 The Outsider by Colin Wilson http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/0874772060 http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/087477206... The Price of Greatness: Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy by Arnold M. Ludwig http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Greatness-Creativity-Controversy/dp/1572301171 http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Greatness-Creativity-Controv... EDIT to add: Why Jobs stood out is because the closest equivalent to what he was is a film director. But business is not set up to hand out accolades like Hollywood does. So instead of everyone learning who did what in Apple -- as with film we find out about sound editors, foley artists, etc, etc. -- we just get the face of Jobs.
  - jonnathanson 13y ago
    I didn't say that all artists, or even necessarily "the best" artists, fit a certain personality stereotype. Rather, I'm suggesting that the Steve Jobs personality paradigm is more commonly found among artists, and within the fields of the arts, than it is in business. "The best artists are social, because that's where the most ideas flow freely." Strongly disagree with this statement. History abounds with brilliant artists who were socially well adjusted and socially oriented. But it provides just as many examples, if not more, of artists who were introverted to the point of isolation, or who lived tempestuous social lives, or who wrestled with crippling mental illness (there is a shockingly highly incidence of bipolar disorder among history's great novelists, in particular). I don't think one can make a categorical declarative about the personality types of "most artists," or "the best artists." There is too much variance within the set, and there are too many variables to consider. And "best" is a subjective minefield in its own right.
_Simon 13y ago
What do you mean? How do you measure "passion"? Since you provide no examples I'll counter that you are wrong, and leave it at that.

mayank 13y ago

FWIW, it's an inevitable occurrence of cargo cult management, a sort of post-hoc reasoning, and it's not just young CEOs of tiny startups that are prone to it (but immaturity and inexperience do seem to be correlated with this particular brand of Jobs-envy).

kleinsch 13y ago

Agreed. I can count multiple people I've worked with who decide that to be a leader/genius/visionary, you first must be a jerk, and that will lead to respect. If you really are a genius, you're a huge pain to work with, but at least you're worth something. If you're not, you just look like an ass.

dyno12345 13y ago
Pretty much every SV god has a reputation for being incredible jerks: Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, Musk, Ellison So, maybe the rule isn't if you're a jerk you're a genius, but instead, if you're a genius, be a jerk. You just probably aren't a genius.
- loceng 13y ago
  I wonder if it's the amount of ineptitude or not being on the same page that they may experience on a daily basis - even if it's 1 of 100s of people they interact with? I can see that being very trying when you literally have hundreads of things you need to make sure get done daily.
- geon 13y ago
  You could add Torvalds to that list.
- epsylon 13y ago
  And Jeff Bezos :)

loceng 13y ago

Thank you for perfectly summarizing the structure of the Steve Jobs situation.