Reading Reflection No. 1

1) Steve Jobs

• What surprised you the most?

Steve jobs noted that being adopted (abandoned by his parents) affected his life greatly because he felt it made him feel very different, maybe sometimes special. However when he and his girlfriend had a child at a very young age Jobs ended up making the same decision as his biological parents did, giving the child up for adoption.

Steve Jobs dropped out of college, but kept attending classes. This showed his desire to obtain knowledge over just a degree.

I had no clue that Steve Jobs had any part in Pixar. He was CEO when it mainly dealt with computer graphics. He saw its potential in animation so they partnered up with disney and started created successful films. Even though Jobs played no role whatsoever in the making of these movies, he did in a way guide the direction of Pixar to where it is now.

Steve jobs was a hippie. At one point when he was younger he would only shower once a week because he thought his all fruit diet prevented body odor.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

He had very humble beginnings. His parents were high school dropouts, and Steve himself didn’t finish college. Somehow steve was still able to be tenacious and reach success. (walking into atari and getting a job, and then later using those connections to help apple). It also seemed that he truly did make the apple computer and other products “the best”, he sought perfection. Not only did he want his product to be functional, but he wanted it to be art as well.

For a number of years He accepted an annual salary of $1 a year, because he preferred the money that he would have made to be invested in the company and help stimulate growth.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

It seemed like he mostly took or stole others ideas and made them successful, rather than innovate himself. He was also cold-hearted towards many people, mostly employees during his lifetime. There was even an award given annually to the person who would resist or challenge Steve’s behavior. He was also very stubborn and controlling of his ideas.

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes. Because steve wanted things to also be aesthetically pleasing, this sometimes drove up the cost of production. And when working on his business NeXT, they largely failed because the price exceeded what customers were willing to pay.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

Steve Jobs was a very smart individual. He started noticing at a young age that he was above average intelligence and skipped a grade because of it. In his childhood he enjoyed playing with electronics. Throughout his life he has been able to convince others into his way of thinking. He had the ability to combine science with art when he lived in a time where people thought there was no overlap.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I was confused why Jobs would leave Apple completely (after being kicked off the board), when he had the chance to at least stay on as a part of the creative team. This was confusing to me because Jobs seemed so attached to apple, and its ideas.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

-Why did you feel animosity towards Microsoft for “stealing” your user interface idea, when it appears that you also stole the same idea from Xerox?

Why: because it seemed Jobs understood that the GUI isn’t an idea that one could posses it’s just an improvement to the system that was in place.

-Regardless of technological limitations, what do you believe is the future of computer innovation.

Why: Steve Jobs is a visionary and I would be interested to see where he thinks we’re heading and what the next steps are once we have the capabilities.

5) While Steve Jobs didn’t exactly do a lot of hands on work (that was designated towards engineers like Wozniak), he did spend a lot of time and energy into achieving perfection. Upon his return as CEO Jobs said that he was working hours that would go from 7 in the morning to 9 at night. Steve Jobs said that this had negative effects on his health, and was exhausting. Steve Jobs like many others may believe that hard work is or can be unpleasant, however when you truly want something you will work hard for whatever that is.