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

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

#81
post #78
post #32

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 the…

I'm also believe in karma. And the way he died,, his long battle/suffering - leads me to believe he had debts to pay. No human has the right to judge any other human this way. Since you believe in karma, hadn't you better stop?

"No human has the right to judge any other human..."

I wasn't judging. I was making an observation. And we "humans" have the right to judge ourselves. :)

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

#82
post #73
post #32

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 the…

Self-made man doesn't mean nobody did anything for you. If an olympic athlete wins a race, he didn't build the stadium, didn't sew his uniforms and shoes, didn't grow and squeeze his morning juice drink with his own hands, didn't build the car he used to get to the stadium and didn't personally extract the oil and made it into the gasoline to power his vehicle. All these things are done by other people. That does not…

" If an olympic athlete wins a race, he didn't build the stadium, didn't sew his uniforms and shoes, didn't grow and squeeze his morning juice drink with his own hands,"

Ahh, but he had a coach/trainer. And financial backing - allowing him to buy the equipment and travel that was need to compete.

No one lives in a vacuum. No one.

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

#83

In the ten years I worked at Pixar I had the pleasure of seeing or hearing a couple of Jobs famous tantrums first hand. At least in Pixar's case, they always seemed childish and destructive to me. Meanwhile, Ed Catmull, the CEO, commanded the instant respect of absolutely everybody in the company despite being unfailingly polite and soft spoken because we all had such enormous regard for his intellect and maturity.

Well, this proves that you can be childish and destructive and still accomplish amazing things, right? So.. er.. yay?

(And yes, Ed Catmull is awesome.)

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

#84

If we're still talking about him half a year after he's gone he must have gotten something right. I think something that techies don't see is that Jobs real gem is Pixar, a company that Lucas couldn't make work and a company that became Disney's animation studio. My bet is that as these devices go from being cool gadgets to the mundane that Jobs will be remembered for those Pixar films which will seem charming even i…

He almost did nothing for Pixar, except pouring money into it quarter after quarter and using Toy Story's success to rise again. He was a very big visionary, a great manager and he deserves every bit of praise he gets for what he did at Apple in his second coming, but his role at Pixar was only to negotiate and give them money; not that it's an unimportant thing. Pixar would most certainly not exist today if it wasn'…

Standing up to the stuffed suits at Disney would have been no job for the fainthearted. Jobs may not have done anything at Pixar, but he certainly did a lot for them.

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

#85
post #3

I have read Steve Jobs biography and this is definitively a cautionary tale and a great warning for anybody, but for other reasons that stated in this article. I am no Apple fan, as a matter of fact I don't like the look and feel of their product but I gained a great admiration for Steve Jobs because he seemed like a man in immense suffering. I'm not talking about the obvious physical pain of cancer and all his crazy…

I am no Apple fan, as a matter of fact I don't like the look and feel of their product but I gained a great admiration for Steve Jobs because he seemed like a man in immense suffering.

People tend to forget that the word "passion" itself is rooted in suffering and sacrifice. By (classical) definition you can't be passionate about something unless you sacrifice for it.

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

#86

In the ten years I worked at Pixar I had the pleasure of seeing or hearing a couple of Jobs famous tantrums first hand. At least in Pixar's case, they always seemed childish and destructive to me. Meanwhile, Ed Catmull, the CEO, commanded the instant respect of absolutely everybody in the company despite being unfailingly polite and soft spoken because we all had such enormous regard for his intellect and maturity.

Well, this proves that you can be childish and destructive and still accomplish amazing things, right? So.. er.. yay? (And yes, Ed Catmull is awesome.)

What I saw from Jobs at Pixar seemed largely counterproductive. Maybe it worked better at Apple?

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

#87
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pandora gives me a bunch of bands that sound like bands that I like. That's a feature, not a bug.

Only if you don't differentiate "sounds like" and "are appealing in the same way." If you don't, having a conversation about this will be fruitless.

So now i'm wildly curious.

This makes it sound like you don't just choose to listen to certain music because you like the sound of that music.

Why else is music appealing except because of how it sounds?

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

#88
Whenever I read these articles tha have arisen lately about Steve Jobs' managerial style, I'm surprised that no one mentions the most obvious thing: the people working for Jobs were building the iPhone, and the iPad, and some of the other greatest products the world has ever seen. Why on earth would the executive of a second-rate financial services software company (or whatever) think that they could motivate people in the same way?

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

#89
How many of your bosses were assholes?

Asshole wise I think Jobs might have been on the gentler side than some I've worked for.

Ever worked in a bank for a trading desk or a trader? That trader will make Jobs look like father christmas.

Bezos, the old bill gates, jobs,Steve balmier, marissa Mayer, all of my bosses except 2, Bloomberg, - all mutherfucking ahole bosses. Hell During my first stint, I sucked at it too. Don't single out jobs here.

The Only one who has grown up is Gates. In my mind Gates beats all these guys fr the amazing foundation he as created and how he has reinvented himself completely and the vigorous passion with which he is helping humanity.

I never thought I'd defend gates-I hae windows mre than anyone I know.

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

#90
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an USAism to think that "growing up" mandates "repressing emotional outbursts". In many parts of Europe it's expected that grown men have emotional outbursts. Repressing them gives the impression of rigrid and cold humans which you should not trust.

It is very American, but I think we get it from the English. They of the stiff upper lip.

And the English got it by trying to make themselves seem like the opposite of the French.
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