Review of Steve Jobs' Biography by Walter Isaacson - Report Example

Briefing Paper [The of the will appear here] [The of the will appear here] Introduction Biographies are a source of deep insight into a personality that would otherwise appear to be large to the average person. But when we start reading a biography of a person, however, big he is, we often find that the person is quite like us; in his fears and his happiness. But what makes him big is often what he was able to accomplish in his life despite the odds. One such personality is that of Steve Jobs. Even when most people do not know the name of Steve Jobs, they know of his company, Apple and its products. Steven Jobs, while leading Apple Inc., provided the world with revolutionary products such as iPhone, iPads, and iPods. The man may no longer live in the world but his company leads the industry with its innovative products. His biography, ‘Steve Jobs’ has been written by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson, with his position as the managing editor of Time Magazine and the chairman of CNN had developed a link with Jobs that prompted Jobs to consider Isaacson as the person to write his biography. Also this was not the first biography that the Isaacson wrote. He has been accredited with writing biographies of prominent people. These include Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger. While Jobs cannot be considered in the same league as these people but similar to these people, Jobs brought the world to a new crosswords where science took a turn for the better. The reason for selecting Steve Jobs as the high profile person was because Jobs with his company, Apple has come to represent innovation and creativity. At a time when companies are fighting to release innovative products into the market, Jobs has already been there. His company, under his leadership, did not release just one innovative product. Rather Jobs supplied the world with products that revolutionized six different industries: ‘personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing’ (Isaacson, 5) Critical Review Since Isaacson was the authorized writer to completing Job’s biography, he was able to get a deep insight into Jobs’ mind. Isaacson was able to uncover many qualities of Jobs that were a result of his childhood upbringing. For instance, the simple sleek designs that have come to represent Apple products were a result of Jobs’ admiration for his childhood home in California. These homes were designed by real estate developer, Joseph Eichler who was inspired by the simple taste of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural pieces (Isaacson, 19). The biography does not paint Jobs as a caring person. Rather, at times, Jobs’ colleagues and acquaintances describe him as a man without any emotions. They attribute this to Jobs’ childhood as Jobs’ biological parents put him up for adoption. His friends put forth the claim that Jobs could be selfish and self-serving at times but in my opinion, this was what made the person into such a great success. To put forward such innovations in an industry so highly competitive was not an easy feat but Jobs managed to do so. It does not matter much that he did not look back to mend relations with people he had not treated kindly. Jobs had a different purpose in life. He had to give the world a legacy, one that completely changed how people interacted. Isaacson, either consciously or unconsciously, has painted an image of Steve Jobs as a person who dictated every aspect of his business. As Jobs expanded his company and gained confidence in his abilities, he gave himself a very important position. While many would argue that Jobs deserved the throne that he carved for himself, there are others who would disagree claiming that Jobs was strongly authoritative. Even though the company was big and was working in a fast paced industry but Jobs kept all decision making power in his hands. Even when the entire company was against him, Jobs only took heed to his thoughts and opinions. Needless to say that this created resentment amongst his own people but Jobs, as discussed, was not a people pleaser. He was a man who had singlehandedly built an empire that continues to be successful even after his death. The biography can be a great source of life lessons for young entrepreneurs. Jobs began his career from a garage business and later expanded the business to such proportion that people today aspire for his products. His products are the luxury products of their industry and lead every industry where they have managed to enter. Thus, from his life people can learn my lessons on making a business into a global success. For instance, they could learn from the marketing tactics that Jobs applied to his business. While Jobs may have built a business that billions would envy, he did make many mistakes along the path. He even deviated from the path when he left Apple Inc. for good. For instance, Jobs’ NeXT computers were not an instant success. But Jobs did not lose hope. It was not in him to lose hope. He took personal interest in his products and was quite possessive about them When Jean-Louis Gassée wrote positively about NeXT and Jobs, Steve Jobs went to visit him at his house. He rewarded Gassée by inviting him over to the event where NeXT was being accepted by IBM. Steve Jobs were also not afraid to take risks. When people were wondering whether a product or a venture would be successful, Jobs was already working on it. He outsourced the production of Apple products to China. He was a risk taker but even then Jobs was grounded in reality. He knew he was ousted when Scully asked the board to choose either Jobs or Scully as the head. People chose Scully because they were not comfortable with Jobs’ attitude and style of leadership. Even though Isaascon tries to present an objective overview of Steve Jobs life, some of his feelings tend to come across in the book. Isaacson has chosen a chronological perspective of writing Jobs’ biography which is fitting considering the way Jobs moved along his career path. However, the biography, it seems is tainted by Isaacson’s view of the person. Even the people who have tried to provide insight in Jobs’ personality have not been very kind to him. They tend to reflect on his dominating personality rather than the fact that this person was responsible for giving the world so much in terms of technology. Conclusion In the entire biography that I read, I perceived a different outlook of Steve Jobs. He was a passionate person but his passion was for his products rather than people even his own family took a backstage when Jobs’ products were at stake. This is reflected in the way Jobs cried when he was forced to leave Apple at one point of time. He was also willing to compromise on his position, if only it meant that Jobs would be allowed to play with his toys- his products. It was only during Steve Jobs’ time that the company was able to release the most successful products developed by Apple Inc. including iPad, iPod and iPhone. People even worry whether Apple would be able to survive without Steve Jobs there to dominate and lead the company as he pleased. Work Cited Issacson, Walter, “Steve Jobs”, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2011, Print Read More