Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 108 posts

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#31

Post by TheSOB88 »

nsns wrote: post #23
imgabe wrote: post #12

One of the things that struck me while reading Jobs' biography was how frequently he cried. Numerous times throughout he's described as weeping, sometimes at momentous occasions, like getting fired from Apple, and sometimes over relatively trivial matters. Think about it. When was the last time you saw a grown person cry about something at work? Ever? I think one of the things that made Steve Steve, and made him capa…

What you describe is very childish behavior, infantile even, but I believe you are right about Jobs being like that, and I think this might explain why he was so good at making toys adults crave like children. But we shouldn't idolize someone like that, IMHO, this isn't healthy conduct. Even if he has made a lot of money during certain periods of his life, it does not vindicate his behavior or make him a proper role…

Maybe we can idolize him and not seek to become him, but try to be somewhere in the middle.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#32

Post by crag »

Wasn't he a buddhist? Not that that means anything. Buddhist's are more then capable of being shit-heads.

But if he was a practicing buddhist.. wouldn't he had recognized what leads to suffering? Desire of course. Desire to be be perfect. Or maybe his desire to prove he was right?

There are other words I'd use to describe him (and several other corporate giants); arrogance comes to mind.

Sometimes these men think there really did do it all on their own. Why I love hearing a billionaire say, "I'm a self made man". Oh really? So all the people who worked for you, cooked for you, kept your schedule, managed your companies, investments and life didn't do a damn thing? Really?

And that's what I think of Steve Jobs. No doubting he was brilliant and had amazing taste. But he wasn't the most important person in the room. At it's start Woz built Apple. Steve just sold it. And today, he didn't design the products, but he had vision of what he wanted. And many of us wanted the same thing. He was a damn good salesman. And he had a great ability of keeping everyone on focus. But he wasn't the most important person in the room. Apple could (and it does) go on without him. And I think he knew it. And it dogged him all his life.

I'm also believe in karma. And the way he died,, his long battle/suffering - leads me to believe he had debts to pay. I only hope, in the end he died clean.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#33

Post by brandall10 »

nsns wrote: post #23
imgabe wrote: post #12

One of the things that struck me while reading Jobs' biography was how frequently he cried. Numerous times throughout he's described as weeping, sometimes at momentous occasions, like getting fired from Apple, and sometimes over relatively trivial matters. Think about it. When was the last time you saw a grown person cry about something at work? Ever? I think one of the things that made Steve Steve, and made him capa…

What you describe is very childish behavior, infantile even, but I believe you are right about Jobs being like that, and I think this might explain why he was so good at making toys adults crave like children. But we shouldn't idolize someone like that, IMHO, this isn't healthy conduct. Even if he has made a lot of money during certain periods of his life, it does not vindicate his behavior or make him a proper role…

Who said anything about money? He changed the game multiple times in multiple industries, and had his greatest successes as he was fighting death. If you compare his net impact vs. actual wealth he was a pauper... and esp if you look at his stake in Apple, as the majority of his wealth was from Pixar/Disney.

There are too many 'responsible adults' wallowing in mediocrity who more than anything else actually drag the system down. Maybe you can look up to them as role models on how to raise a family (although I personally would disagree as the majority fail at that anyway)... but how to leave a mark on this world and push for excellence, I will look to people like Steve, Musk, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edison/Tesla, etc. Please don't conflate the two.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#34

Post by alaskamiller »

If you believe in MBTI, Steve Jobs is pegged as an ENTJ.

This is the brief definition of an ENTJ:

"They tend to be self-driven, motivating, energetic, assertive, confident, and competitive. They generally take a big-picture view and build a long-term strategy. They typically know what they want and may mobilize others to help them attain their goals. ENTJs are often sought out as leaders due to an innate ability to direct groups of people. Unusually influential and organized, they may sometimes judge others by their own tough standards, failing to take personal needs into account."

Here's the kicker:

ENTJs are among the rarest of types, accounting for about 2–5% of those who are formally tested.

A generation of people are going to try really hard to emulate a cult status figure's personality but at the end of the day that's all it really is: a bad fidelity copy.

Don't live to be Steve Jobs, be you. And if it so happens that you turn out awesome then great. If not, then work on acceptance.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#35

Post by Aloha »

I think there are good examples to take from Jobs. It's all about a time and a place, sometimes you want to drive to resolution, and be a dick, because that is what will produce the most efficient best result, and for other things, good enough _is_ good enough, and additional pushing will not result in substantive improvement. Wisdom is the ability to pick those two situation apart.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#36

Post by stcredzero »

> Soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997, he decided that a shipping company wasn’t delivering spare parts fast enough. The shipper said it couldn’t do better, and it didn’t have to: Apple had signed a contract...But the lesson here might make us uncomfortable: Violate any norm of social or business interaction that stands between you and what you want.

I've heard that many Chinese regard contracts more as guidelines than as iron-clad rule sets to be interpreted like bytecode. The relationship between the parties and their needs are more important than the letter of the law. (Or the letters on the contract.) By this set of norms, the shipper was the transgressor in this case, and Steve did the right thing.

Take care of the customer, or someone else will.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#37

Post by stcredzero »

alaskamiller wrote: post #34

If you believe in MBTI, Steve Jobs is pegged as an ENTJ. This is the brief definition of an ENTJ: "They tend to be self-driven, motivating, energetic, assertive, confident, and competitive. They generally take a big-picture view and build a long-term strategy. They typically know what they want and may mobilize others to help them attain their goals. ENTJs are often sought out as leaders due to an innate ability to d…

> A generation of people are going to try really hard to emulate a cult status figure's personality but at the end of the day that's all it really is: a bad fidelity copy.

Reminds me of what happens when I use Pandora. Instead of revealing a bunch of bands I like, Pandora gives me a bunch of bands that sound like bands that I like.

Don't imitate. Attune yourself to value.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#39

Post by alaskamiller »

stcredzero wrote: post #37
alaskamiller wrote: post #34

If you believe in MBTI, Steve Jobs is pegged as an ENTJ. This is the brief definition of an ENTJ: "They tend to be self-driven, motivating, energetic, assertive, confident, and competitive. They generally take a big-picture view and build a long-term strategy. They typically know what they want and may mobilize others to help them attain their goals. ENTJs are often sought out as leaders due to an innate ability to d…

> A generation of people are going to try really hard to emulate a cult status figure's personality but at the end of the day that's all it really is: a bad fidelity copy. Reminds me of what happens when I use Pandora. Instead of revealing a bunch of bands I like, Pandora gives me a bunch of bands that sound like bands that I like. Don't imitate. Attune yourself to value.

I never made that connection but that indeed is why I don't use Pandora anymore.
Post reply on HN