Reading Reflection No. 3
1) About the entrepreneur
What surprised you the most?
I did not know that Steve Jobs was adopted. His adoptive father was the one who introduced him to engineering and design. It makes me wonder if he was never adopted would Steve Jobs be the man, he was. Would we have the Apple products we know now, had he stayed with his birth parents. I also did not know that he worked in the company Atari. I was also surprised that his partner Wozniak was willing to give their original design for the computer for free. I was also surprised how fast the company boomed within a short period of time. It went from being worth thousands to being worth billions in a matter of about 3 years. I think what surprised me the most was how he treated people. He was not a very nice person in my opinion.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
I admire Job's determination. He didn’t let things stop him from going for what he wanted. I also admired that he worked hard with everything that he did. Though I didn’t think it was nice of him to bring that work everywhere he went even when it was time to spend time with the family.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
I didn’t like that he didn’t believe that his child with Chrisann was actually his. Even though in the end he did feel regret, I still feel it was wrong of him. I also think it was wrong of him to exclude people who have been working for him since the start from the stock market launch. Made me feel that he was not a very nice person to work for. I feel like the people who have been with you in making your vision come alive should be rewarded. It made it more apparent that he didn’t care when I read that people would come to him with ideas and he would brush them off as dumb then act like he came up with the ideas himself later on.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
He was fired from his own company that he created. He didn’t allow this to stop him. After that, he founded a new company NeXT and although it was not as successful on its own it would later be used by Apple. NeXT failed on its own but paved the way for him to get back his company Apple. After being kicked out of Apple was also when he bought into Pixar which is obviously very successful now.
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
He displayed a commitment to his career. He wanted everything to be perfect and he brought his work everywhere early on. He displayed decision making. Most of his decisions that he made seem to be good ones. He had this idea to make basically anything he imagined to come to life even if people were skeptic about his ideas, he was able to prove people wrong. Leadership was another competency and although he wasn’t the nicest leader, in the beginning, I really felt that he had the vision to lead the company to success and that is exactly what he did when he got the chance to do so. Communication was also huge with Steve Jobs. The man knew what to say in order to get what he wanted.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I was confused as to why he would not take the CEO position when it was first offered to him. I would have thought that he wanted the power over the company since that is what originally led to him leaving in the first place.
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
"Is Apple as it is today in 2017 what you envisioned for your company or are there things that you would change?" I think that after his passing there were obvious changes to the company. I would like to know how he feels about the changes.
"What other products not already explored by Apple would he have liked to get into? I always wondered what other ideas he had for the future of his company." I am an Apple fanatic and would like to know what other products I could have had he still been around.
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think he believed that hard work is important and he really didn’t have time for people who thought otherwise. He wanted everything to be perfect and you couldn’t achieve that if you weren't working hard. He also believed in having a passion for something is the only way to succeed. Without it, you won't succeed. I do agree with him. Without having a passion for what you are doing then you will only do the bare minimum to make it by. If you have the passion then it will drive you to do great things and succeed at what you want.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
I admire Job's determination. He didn’t let things stop him from going for what he wanted. I also admired that he worked hard with everything that he did. Though I didn’t think it was nice of him to bring that work everywhere he went even when it was time to spend time with the family.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
I didn’t like that he didn’t believe that his child with Chrisann was actually his. Even though in the end he did feel regret, I still feel it was wrong of him. I also think it was wrong of him to exclude people who have been working for him since the start from the stock market launch. Made me feel that he was not a very nice person to work for. I feel like the people who have been with you in making your vision come alive should be rewarded. It made it more apparent that he didn’t care when I read that people would come to him with ideas and he would brush them off as dumb then act like he came up with the ideas himself later on.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
He was fired from his own company that he created. He didn’t allow this to stop him. After that, he founded a new company NeXT and although it was not as successful on its own it would later be used by Apple. NeXT failed on its own but paved the way for him to get back his company Apple. After being kicked out of Apple was also when he bought into Pixar which is obviously very successful now.
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
He displayed a commitment to his career. He wanted everything to be perfect and he brought his work everywhere early on. He displayed decision making. Most of his decisions that he made seem to be good ones. He had this idea to make basically anything he imagined to come to life even if people were skeptic about his ideas, he was able to prove people wrong. Leadership was another competency and although he wasn’t the nicest leader, in the beginning, I really felt that he had the vision to lead the company to success and that is exactly what he did when he got the chance to do so. Communication was also huge with Steve Jobs. The man knew what to say in order to get what he wanted.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I was confused as to why he would not take the CEO position when it was first offered to him. I would have thought that he wanted the power over the company since that is what originally led to him leaving in the first place.
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
"Is Apple as it is today in 2017 what you envisioned for your company or are there things that you would change?" I think that after his passing there were obvious changes to the company. I would like to know how he feels about the changes.
"What other products not already explored by Apple would he have liked to get into? I always wondered what other ideas he had for the future of his company." I am an Apple fanatic and would like to know what other products I could have had he still been around.
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think he believed that hard work is important and he really didn’t have time for people who thought otherwise. He wanted everything to be perfect and you couldn’t achieve that if you weren't working hard. He also believed in having a passion for something is the only way to succeed. Without it, you won't succeed. I do agree with him. Without having a passion for what you are doing then you will only do the bare minimum to make it by. If you have the passion then it will drive you to do great things and succeed at what you want.
Eliana,
ReplyDeleteI also read this book for this assignment. I didn't know that he was adopted and wonder if that set him on the path to being Steve Jobs that we know. I found it interesting to learn that he wasn't the most affectionate leader, despite becoming a public figure and the head of a major company. It was upsetting to learn that with all his issues of abandonment, he did the same to his own daughter, if not to worse effect as he didn't even acknowledge her as his for years. I wonder if towards the end of his life if he regretted his leadership style. Although he did accomplish so much and was very clearly an extremely gifted individual, I don't necessarily look at him as an inspiration due to his temper and attitude towards those who helped him get to be who he became.
Hey Eliana,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your review. I chose to review the Steve Jobs biography for our first reading reflection assignment, and I agree with many of the points that you make. Jobs was very controversial and opinionated as a leader. Some people view Jobs's leadership style with disdain saying that he was too mean or stern. However, I believe that his leadership style came from the fact that he was so dedicated to Apple's vision.
I would want to ask Jobs the same question that you had: "what do you think about the company's path today"? Since leadership switched hands, there were some obvious changes to Apple, and I would want to know if they would align with Jobs's vision if he were still alive