Steve Jobs

Author's Name: Walter Isaacson
Reviewed by: Stephen Adams

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I've written several articles for this blog on Steve Jobs—and this book drives home several points that I've made about Jobs' leadership and his personality. Reading this book, hearing the background of many of his famous (and infamous) decisions, hearing from his co-workers, friends, competitors and outside observers is fascinating. Jobs was a complex man, with many idiosyncrasies, many foibles, but an amazing ability to delivery products which amazed consumers and had them begging for more. Isaacson does not pull any punches—the Steve Jobs depicted in the book is mercurial, displaying wild mood swings, demanding, ingenious and perhaps just a bit crazy. Yes, crazy. And Jobs embraced that, penning the following for an Apple Ad:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. — Apple Inc.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone. You see a real person who rose to greatness, warts and all. Embrace that and remember nobody is perfect.