I confess. I’m an Apple fanboy. I try not to be dogmatic about it. Plenty of other companies make great products too, but there’s something special about Apple products that inspires an almost militant loyalty in their customers.
I’m convinced a big part of that “something special” is the mystical persona that is Steve Jobs.
His resignation from Apple CEO yesterday is the biggest tech story of the year and has inspired countless blog posts almost all of which are more insightful than this one. Reading some of the posts, I found myself continually asking the question:
What was it about Steve Jobs that made him legendary?
A year or so ago I discovery the blog memoirs of some of the original Macintosh team at Folklore.org. The posts contain personal recollection by team members of different technological accomplishments as well as famous events (such as Jobs’ removal in 1985). Between the content on Folklore.org and a few well crafted Internet bios I started to get a picture of the mythic figure of Jobs.
A few quotes seemed to illustrate Jobs’ character in an unexpected way:
About his time at Atari:
“Jobs was offered US$750, with an extra $100 each time a chip was eliminated from the prospected design. Jobs promised to complete a prototype within four days. Jobs noticed his friend Steve Wozniak—employee of Hewlett-Packard—was capable of producing designs with a small number of chips, and invited him to work on the hardware design with the prospect of splitting the $750 wage. Wozniak had no sketches and instead interpreted the game from its description. To save parts, he had “tricky little designs” difficult to understand for most engineers. Near the end of development, Wozniak considered moving the high score to the screen’s top, but Jobs claimed Bushnell wanted it at the bottom; Wozniak was unaware of any truth to his claims. The original deadline was met after Wozniak did not sleep for four days straight. In the end 50 chips were removed from Jobs’ original design. This equated to a US$5,000 bonus, which Jobs kept secret from Wozniak, instead only paying him $375.”
WikipediaThe Jobs reality distortion field:
“Well, it’s Steve. Steve insists that we’re shipping in early 1982, and won’t accept answers to the contrary. The best way to describe the situation is a term from Star Trek. Steve has a reality distortion field.”“A what?”
“A reality distortion field. In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he’s not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules. And there’s a couple of other things you should know about working with Steve.”
Folklore.orgBefore his removal from Apple in 85:
“after a brief period of depressed cooperation, Steve started attacking John again, behind the scenes in a variety of ways. I won’t go into the details here, but eventually John had to remove Steve from his management role in the Macintosh division involuntarily. Apple announced Steve’s removal,”
Flolkore.org
Reading these stories caused me to have a revelation. Steve Jobs didn’t sound like someone I would like to have as my boss. In fact, Jobs sounded like someone I would hate to work for. Reality distortion, undercutting, back-biting and manipulative – who would want to work for that?
My fanboy-ism had led me to believe I would give anything to work at Apple, but maybe the reality is I wouldn’t like it. Apple has hundreds of employees who have for years worked under Jobs’ legendary micro-management. How is it that all of these people (and for that matter the original Mac employees) put up with him?
Because vision trumps everything.
Jobs’ vision was to change the world with beautiful technology. It has been essentially the same since he founded the company 30-ish years ago. He’s famously good at communicating his vision so that people go absolutely nuts for it. When you have that kind of vision, people will bend over backwards for it (and you).
As Church leaders we know this. We’ve seen it in action, but it’s good to be reminded of what visionary leaders can accomplish.
Thanks for the example Steve, and good luck.
Peter S says
While I agree with you about vision being important, would you want a leader with this sort of vision who treats his followers in the manner you outlined? Would you want a church leader like the one outlined in your quotes? Personally I’d hope for someone who displays Christlikeness and has a vision worth following.
Brian Notess says
You’re right Peter. I’m definitely not endorsing his leadership style.
Marcus Williamson says
So good an article Brian. Don’t sell yourself short.
I dig’n the part about Steve having a “reality distortion field.” So cools.
To reach people no one else is reaching we have to do things no one else is doing yeah…and Steve Jobs embodied that with technology…
As the Church we have this opportunity everyday, but oh…to risk it ya know. To risk it alls and just go for it. 😀
Brian Notess says
He’s definitely an interesting character study. There’s a lot to be learned, good and bad.
Gabe Hoffman says
I’d say Steve’s journey is quite the opposite of your headline, and a testament to why it doesn’t. There is a tension between seeing the future and knowing how to get there, a tension between now and the future. While vision is compelling, if it’s not in the right season, or place, or culture, it’s not compelling it’s tyrannical and manipulative. Take a look at the parallels to the life of Joseph. Joseph initially thought, quite literally the world revolved around him, and his brother hated him, and tried to kill him (Early Steve). Next through that season of slavery he learned that he needed space in the middle of the universe for God, he told the baker and the butler, “Interpretations belong to God, tell me your dreams”. Room for God and Him in the middle. The is the NeXT years, Steve started to see where vision isn’t enough, he needed a team. But still the vision trump card meant that they tried to sell crazy priced machines. And finally when Joseph got before Pharaoh he said, “I cannot do it, but God will give you the answers…” Finally Steve comes back, and the first thing he does is assemble a team that will work out the tension between his vision and current reality. The don’t release his dream products, the iPad, the iPhone, till the time was right and team was there to execute. He hasn’t lost how important vision is, but he did learn how to build the vehicles to get there, how to recruit people onto his team, and I’d think the humility to realize he’s not the center of world, but that doesn’t mean that doesn’t have the audacity to dream a better way to the future. Egypt was a much different place because Joseph learned how to dream, and so we are too. Dreams don’t trump everything, and I think Jobs learned that, and learned how to build a team that will long out last him. I think that was a long journey of humility. Just a thought, but we’ll perhaps get to hear his own take on it, in his own words soon enough. Interesting parallel to me though.
Brian Notess says
Love these thoughts Gabe. I should change the title to “Vision combined with execution trumps everything.” it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue though.
I too am interested in hearing Jobs’ reflections. What I respect especially is that he stuck with his vision, even though his executions often failed (EG NeXT ). His unquenchable vision is what allowed him to get past his various failures.
Kevin Gilbert says
Bravo! Are you working out an upcoming sermon? 😉 Excellent analogies.
Gabe Hoffman says
I agree Brian, it’s not as catchy of a title, but I think the tendency of those of us that eat vision for breakfast is to think that it actually does trump everything 😉 And when we do think that way, it leads to those stories you shared, of just being jerks to everyone. I can’t wait to compare those early stories with the stories of the last 15 years or so. Should be very interesting.
And yes Kevin, it was from a sermon a couple of week ago, but honestly I took from Mike Breen, and his Covenant and Kingdom stuff, so full credit to him, it’s great stuff.
Kevin Gilbert says
Gabe, and everyone, I seem to remember reading that the official, meaning Steve’s involvement and cooperation, biography is due out before the year is over. I definitely look forward to reading that.
Brian Notess says
I heard that too. Looking forward to reading it.
Tre Lawrence says
All about the turtleneck. I would preach in one if I ad the neck for it…
Seriously though: great article, and great commentary.
Brian Notess says
Thanks Tre!
Tre Lawrence says
All about the turtleneck. I would preach in one if I had the neck for it…
Seriously though: great article, and great commentary.
Billy Ritchie says
Echoing some of the comments above I think “Character trumps everything”. Vision totally is important but if not based on character and true servant leadership i believe people will bail out on the vision. Put the 2 together and you have a great force. For us all as Christ followers it would seem that God is maybe more interested in who we are becoming that what we do for Him.
Brian Notess says
I’m tempted to agree with you Billie. At least in principle.
The challenging part is that it seems like in Steve’s case his vision was successful despite obvious character flaws and despite his inability to execute (in many cases).
I’m definitely not advocating the Steve Jobs leadership model in the church. It’s just an interesting case study.