Understanding Steve Jobs

Much has been said about Steve Jobs, his artistic vision, his furious temper and his famous narcissistic attitude. While these things are hotly debated by critics, fanboys and media alike, the fact remains that Steve Jobs was undoubtly was one of the most influencing pioneering forces in modern computing of PC and most importantly, the post PC era. Here is my attempt to unravel the myth and hype surrounding Steve Jobs and understand the person who largely remains a source of mystery & wonder to everyone.

The Master Illusionist

Steve was a born "salesman", a master manipulator who captivated his audience by his charismatic "personality" alone. His genius laid in the fact that he was a very good observer as well as an outstanding "persuader". His control over his body language during product launches is well controlled and mesmerizing.

On the launch of MacBook Air, I specifically remember him saying "Some people will say why this notebook doesn't have a CD drive. Well, you know, I don't need it while I'm travelling". To settle the doubts raised about his health, he presented the last slide on iPad launch , with bold letters "110/70", an indicator of normal blood pressure and said "I think it will be enough to settle your nerves, No more questions on that, please." with a smile.

His celebrated quotes like "It's not the customer job to know what his needs are.” reflect a strong confidence as well as powerful marketing pitch. What is interesting to know is that these statements are not rehearsed, but coming out naturally. Let's take a closer look at it.

Steve "explores" the needs of customer by careful observation. iPod was born as said by Jobs "not by market research". What Jobs is not telling us is that he himself did the "market research" after the idea struck him when he saw a man struggling with portable mp3 player "having way too many buttons". After he saw the same reaction from many other users, he came up with the idea of iPod. A portable music player with a "tight simple design" of hollow ring interface with huge capacity. No more controls were added. The design won his entry back as Apple CEO and simultaneously making headlines as "most loved product".

Hence, instead of "asking" the customer, Steve "personally observes" the need of the customer, "personally researches" the same reaction from other customers and then accordingly delivers the product. That is the secret why he had the "WOW!!" factor each time.

iPod also marked the makeover at Apple from PC Company to hot selling consumer Electronics Company. Steve now pulled out his marketing "masterstroke" buoyed by success of iPod. He attached the abbreviation "i" with every successive device rollout, iPhone, iTouch, iPad, iPad2 etc. The abbreviation "i" creates a strong psychological "individual" feeling to the buyer. Customer feels "attached" to his device, not because it is cool, friendly or fun to work with but it is "his/her own” device which he/she has "earned". This is also partially the reason why the "i-series" devices make such successful "gift" products. It works as a psychological "drug" which instantly grabs the customer attention. America being a highly "individualistic" society, appreciates this "i" concept, and readily incorporates into its social fabric. Little wonder why Americans are so fond of Apple devices. Every 2 out of 3 American now owns an apple product. 

Engineer has to be respected

Steve wasn't an engineer. He was an appreciator of art. But at the same time, he respected the importance of engineer in technology. Because, that is the person who can transform your artistic vision into reality. Almost every manager at some point or the other falls for "money" trap loses focus and immediately resolves to profit recovery mechanisms by aggressive hiring/firing. But that was not the case at Apple. Steve carefully chose his executives, people who were passionate enough to rather work on lower pay than to chicken out and quit immediately during hard times.  Conforming to strict deadlines for product launch ensured that everyone was on focus and delivered his/her personal best at all times.

After everyone did their job on time, Steve wore his famous "salesman" cloak and masterfully executed product launch among much fanfare. He choreographed the stage show so efficiently that every time the customer response was overwhelming. Entire technical staff at Apple gets to cloud nine on launch date. In one single stroke, Steve's furious temper, their overnight toil, all starts makes sense. Entire staff is on the cusp of "self-actualization" on launch day. They all feel well deserved and worth pursuing to start working on next upcoming project with new found energy and enthusiasm.


If you have faith in the passion of technology in engineer, don't view him as any other pay check employee. Keep him focused and energized to bring about the best inside him. The return on this "investment" is invaluable and gets a loyal following as a bonus.


We can consider Steve Woznaik as the finest example in this regard. Even after Woz disbanded from Apple, Jobs made it point to honor Woz's contributions to Apple by giving him lifetime salary. Hence, Woz always remained just a call away for any contribution or suggestion to Jobs regarding any Apple product.


Sadly this is the part that current managers have failed to understand miserably, taking every engineer as a paycheck employee and dismissing him as per the profit return on business. I will personally thank Steve to prove that having faith in the capability of a person and acknowledging it is actually more "profitable" and "less costly" in long run.

Behind the infamous "Steve's temper"

Steve kept bureaucracy out Apple and gave his developers full freedom to explore and brainstorm over the product. But to have the final say, he needed freedom to "impose" his decisions, which directly explains his affinity to stick to CEO's position till very last. But why he did that?? Let’s take closer look.


Steve's execution is like a skilled magician. He is very well informed about the anticipations of his end-users. To be successful each time, he knows he has to deliver a bolder product than the last one. Keeping this in mind, he chooses his core team very carefully. The team works in a close tight choreography in background to keep the show running smoothly.


Like magic art, Steve is the only public face to the general public from Apple. Others remain strictly in shadows, working feverishly to perfection to carry out the background help. These include engineers, designers and testers all rolled into one separate identity.

When finally Steve gets into his "act" during product launch, public will only see and believe what Steve will showcase them. They will only perceive what they see and hear from him. For making his message get through audience most effectively, Steve creates "hell" for his staff. He "dictates" his terms very clearly so that there is no ambiguity in execution. Thus, by remaining as CEO only he can have that level of authority to have everyone on the same boat of Apple. Anyone failing to comply is promptly shown the door and fired,

Magic, in its actual form is extremely private art but at the same time, its execution is almost exclusively public. Bigger the show size, bigger the number of "naive" audience, higher the chances of its success. But, in almost all the cases, a single or slight mistake in the execution of a magic "trick" forfeits "everything". Audience loses its "interest" and demands "instant cash back". Everyone feels cheated and "disillusioned"


This's the fundamental reason behind the famous "Steve's temper" over trivial issues and his almost brutal and non-forgiving attitude towards his employees, coworkers and team. He became so infamous for firing people that it became "terrifying" for everyone to dare mess anything with him.  It however, become useful to him in long run, because that deterrent control was conveyed either through a stern-look-at-your face or reverting to absolute silence in between crucial meeting discussions with key people when he disagreed on a point or so.

Tight synchronization with media

Steve maintained a tight synchronization with media and more importantly he made sure that they were given the highest priority. The craze of Apple products is such that media vans queue up well in advance with a margin of 7-8 hours before launch time to garner most exclusive "first time" updates by parking as close as to Apple campus. That also meant that they had to rigor through overnight waking up and braving through the wee hours of the morning.


Steve designed a separate entrance for media persons which open just about 30-40 mins before the product launch time. It is specially designed to cater the needs of "hapless" tired souls. Morning breakfast, coffee, donuts, soda, mineral water was generously served to recharge their energy levels. That too is efficiently wrapped up by friendly customer service.

The acknowledgement is perhaps best quoted by an anonymous fellow journal

"Other corporations should learn a thing or two from Steve Jobs. Rarely, I have entered any other conference or a product launch which has a dedicated smiling staff which greets me on entrance by saying "Welcome to the campus, sir. Would you like a cup of cappuccino??” simultaneously handing me the cup”.

That's the reason why press and media remain so loyal to Apple. Steve acknowledges their contribution with growth of Apple and leaves no stone unturned to keep them happy and satisfied. In return, press is motivated to go an extra mile to promote Apple and its products.


These very same things are mentioned in "best practices" of marketing and sales. But has any other corporation delivered the same promise every time with same "warmth"? Managers are too busy to view these events through the glasses of "marketing budget" and stick accordingly to it.

The Protective ring of "Fanboys"

During his reign at Apple Inc., Jobs developed a novel concept of Apple "fanboys". This is basically a protective army of "Apple product lovers" which go on an extra mile by shielding any criticism thrown at any of the Apple product. Technically known as Apple "evangelists’", these guys went beyond than just spreading the popularity of Apple product. Jobs actively encouraged more and more of the audience level participation to "repel" any questions about any problems arising with the iProducts. This ensured the brand image of Apple remained untarnished by users and more and more new customers were lured into buying iProducts by word of mouth, public relations, and references.

This strategy is the backbone reason why Apple iProducts continue to do so well in sales. This is the reason why Apple retail stores became so popular shopping places. If even one fanboy is lurking around the store, he acts as a pseudo salesman to convince the new user into buying an iProduct.

The classic narcissistic

Jobs was a classic narcissistic having an ego about "the size of Antarctica".  He treated himself as "the king of the world". Doesn't mince words when questioned about his dictatorship rule in the company. He also makes a point to publicly humiliate the question asking person if "poked around too much". This attitude makes him much disliked by both of his peers and co-workers. Interestingly, he delayed his cancer surgery because he felt that his body would be “violated”. This "superiority" feel over himself ultimately cost his life when delayed surgery allowed the cancer to spread over to neighboring tissues.

He fancied himself as the "purest" innovator ever, thrashing Google's Android a "stolen" idea and openly criticizing Microsoft. Well, if that "purity" is so important to him, then why the "idea" of computer mouse remains largely credited to Apple but not to Xerox, the original inventor. Why his management style of is the text book execution of dictatorship? Why his marketing strategy very closely matches the "best practices" of the sales/marketing scout manual? These ideas and principles’ were existing before, only were shy of being executed properly. “Good artists copy, Great artists steal”. An entrepreneur’s job is to take notice of these findings, develop his business model around it and then execute his product/service to demonstrate the strength of the foundation ideas that fuel its success.

Unfortunately, Steve while riding on the crests of success is unable to digest the fact his contemporaries’ like Microsoft, Google also shared the same wave in his time; maybe by other methods. This just reflects his disregard for healthy competition. Steve was praised soundly by his contemporaries’ after he stepped down as CEO and subsequently after his demise but with the release of his biography he has only loathing parting words for them. That indicates a low character and ungratefulness on his part which leaves a bad taste for everyone. This "control-freak" nature has earned him much criticism in the industry.

While it was perfectly okay for Jobs to be at the helm at his control as "super user" at Apple, the flaw in his personality was that he fancied himself in "super user" mode out of Apple too. . Which means his attitude and snobbish nature doesn't change while speaking to media, press or even to important individuals or general public at large. It might work as publicity factor for him, but actually doesn't leave a good taste for everyone, giving out a distinct impression of an "egomaniac".

Jobs and Apple's success

Apple's success is closely tied around Jobs reign as a CEO of the company. Jobs nurtured the "Apple" culture among his tightly knit team and remained the torch-bearer of every product it rolled out. He brought out the very best from each individual with painstaking finesse.

Unlike the other CEOs, Jobs functions at a very different level from the traditional hierarchical authority. He is just as "another dedicated" employee to Apple as his core team but only bestowed with sweeping "root" privileges for every dept. particularly in area of marketing which he takes the torch-bearer’s position on product launch date. This embosses "Steve Jobs" DNA so tightly into each product that the end-user feels he is receiving the product directly from Steve's hands via any Apple store. That's the secret why users remain so loyal to Apple brand and its line of products.

Another major reason for Apple resides in the fact that in spite of rolling out such "pricey" array of seemingly "Richie Rich tech toys", Jobs never declared Apple as a "luxury" company; rather he promoted Apple as a brand which acknowledged an individual person having a "fine taste of living a good life". And, the end-users did just that, acknowledging the sentiment by eagerly buying Apple products.

We can understand this phenomenon as the "multiplex effect". Technically, your next  door cinema talky and multiplex in the center of the town are screening the same film, but given with 300 bucks in your pocket, will you go to the next-door-talkies or vouch in for the grand experience of multiplex? That's what Steve urges you to go for; to experience "the fine taste of life". No matter how crappy the film is, you will never feel your 300 buck investment was a waste. Even the harshest critic will acknowledge the fact as how good the sound system was, how great was the seating arrangement and how prompt and efficient was the service carried out.

That's what makes Steve Jobs a winner at the end of the day. Even his harshest critics have to acknowledge the fact that he was able to captivate the consumer's attention long enough and "persuade" them sufficiently to recover his ROI in sales revenues which he had invested in product development.

Things to learn from Steve

While there are plenty of things to praise or criticize about Steve, it is important to appreciate the array of lessons that Steve has left to tech industry which need to be brought into focus. The saga of Steve Jobs teaches us the importance of giving importance to "design strategy" as the most crucial one. A "design" or "blueprint" is the foundation of the execution of a very idea that supports the whole product or a service. No matter how much you patch up or extend it after development, the product or service is as strong as its weakest point in design. It is the "script" of the film which about to be made.

Jobs has proven that the best practices of any field (esp. marketing & sales) when properly executed in practice; actually do deliver better results than existing practices & norms. Too often they are shelved and huddled out in sidelines at "last minute preparations’" with only common sense and conventional wisdom to come out for the rescue. This means they remain "good" on paper and sketch boards often.


Jobs has shown by example, that your employee trust is your strongest weapon on any crucial day. You have to choose him by careful observation, nurture him and provide him all the support necessary to help him to rescue the company out of the tight waters. The moment you start treating him in eyes of "money", you are in for a serious trouble; later on if not immediately.

And yes, “small courtesies’ in life do matter a lot”. It can win your employee worship, can make you a hero in audiences' eye, but neglecting them every now and then can label you as an "egomaniac".

Concluding Remarks

Steve Jobs will remain as the visionary with an extraordinary sense of aesthetics and design, who bought in the new inputs from the Art and meshed it beautifully with the technical prowess of engineering science. He used the divergence lens of Art to express the beauty of the converging nature of engineering science. We still don't know how many engineers will be paying their gratitude to Steve's soul, who took some of the ingredients of their years of research, conceived an idea in his head and executed the final dish with master chef's finesse


My only regret remains that with the passing of every great magician, an era of magic takes bow along with it. We might never experience the "Steve's" magic for a very long time, but I certainly hope Jobs has provided us with enough "inputs" to keep “us” occupied. It will be interesting to see how Apple fares after losing his charismatic leader.

Perhaps, in his upcoming biography, Steve has left enough hints for a “future Steve" to pursue this dream further for the next generation.