TORONTO – In the years since his death, Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has been painted in many lights.
Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography — released in October 2011, just three weeks after Jobs’ death — described him as a brilliant, yet temperamental manager, with a fierce temper.
A new book titled Becoming Steve Jobs, by tech journalist Brent Schlender and Fast Company editor Rick Tetzeli, offers a more personal look at the late Apple co-founder.
Although the biography is unauthorized, it paints a much different picture than Isaacson’s thanks to Schlender’s personal relationship with Jobs.
“We wanted to explain exactly what it was that he accomplished, because people like to generalize that he was a genius, a brilliant design mind, or great technologist. What he was was a great impresario,” Schlender told Global News.
“The degree of difficulty of what he was able to accomplish and how he marshaled people to do this in a fast-changing world is a management story that’s unparalleled.”
The book cites Schlender’s interviews and personal interactions with Jobs and interviews with those who knew him in his later years with Apple, including current CEO Tim Cook.
Many Apple executives have showed support for the book, released March 24, including Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, Eddy Cue.
“I thought the Isaacson book did him a tremendous disservice. It was just a rehash of a bunch of stuff that had already been written, and focused on small parts of his personality,” Cook said in the book.
While some have accused the book of being “too protective” of Jobs, the book does shed some light on his relationship with those still running the show at the company and the incredible business story that is Apple.
“There is no way the 20-something guy that was at Apple in the beginning could ever have done what he did at Apple when he returned. There are two totally different management styles – two totally different approaches to the evolution of technology and ways of dealing with talented executives.”
Tim Cook – Apple’s new front man, Jobs’ close friend
Hidden in the subtext of Becoming Steve Jobs is a story about Cook.
The book provides a personal look at Cook and Jobs’ relationship – including the revelation that Jobs refused a partial liver donation from Cook during his battle with cancer.
The business side of the story casts light on how Cook has helped guide Apple through the rapidly changing tech industry since taking over for Jobs in 2011.
“Tim is an extremely talented tamer of complexity,” said Schlender.
Schlender said the subtext of the business angle shows how Cook came in and rationalized the production process for Apple.
He changed how the company dealt with inventory, the price of parts and how Apple dealt with manufactures in China – which is one of the reasons the company is able to release so many new products in one year.
“It made it possible for Apple to make this big jump from making thousands of things a week, to making millions of things a week,” Schlender said.
“He can keep a lot of plates spinning – and he’s an ideal CEO for Apple now because it’s a far more complex entity.”
Cook has also demonstrated a very different public persona than Jobs. Cook is very concerned with philanthropy and has positioned Apple on political issues such as LGBT rights. This week Cook spoke out against the so-called “religious objection” legislation being introduced in Indiana and Arkansas, which say business owners can cite their personal religious beliefs to refuse service to a customer or resist a state nondiscrimination law.
Cook said he was opposing the new wave of legislation on behalf of Apple, a company that he said strives to conduct its business “in a way that is just and fair.”
From the iPod, to the Apple Watch – Would Jobs be happy with Apple’s evolution?
Apple is in the midst of many big changes – Apple Watch at the helm, leading the company’s first venture into wearable tech and a bigger shift toward being a lifestyle brand.
But how would Apple’s late co-founder feel about these changes?
“Steve always said follow your nose – go where the technology leads,” said Schlender.
The author added Jobs likely would have seen wearable technology as an opportunity to continue making the personal devices that Apple excels at.
However, Jobs was known to resist certain areas of technology – including opening up the iPhone to third party applications, a business that is now vital to Apple.
Jobs held a special place in the hearts of Apple fans.
After his death, hundreds of impromptu memorials turned up at Apple stores from Toronto to Tokyo and even outside his home in Palo Alto, California. Tetzeli believes that legacy was thanks to the way Jobs looked at the devices Apple created.
“You can contrast Apple’s products with anything else in the technology industry that calls itself personal computing – there is something humane and delightful that taps into our creativity and that we appreciate,” he said.
“Steve always looked at computing as an opportunity to put tools in the hands of creative people. I think there’s something about that that flatters all of us – we are flattered that someone is making products that assume our ability to create.”
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