Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson is a well thought out piece of writing that can help anyone learn about leadership. Steve Jobs is one of the most decorated leaders of the modern time who has helped shape the technological landscape. Prior to reading the book, I viewed look up to Steve Jobs but did not know what it takes to be a leader and to succeed. Through his leadership and vision, he helped to establish Apple and even after his demise, the company continues to perform exceptionally. Insights through the elaboration of the personal and professional life of Steve Jobs offered me great lessons. The thesis that Isaacson tries to build throughout the book is on the leadership elements of Steve Jobs. The writing style used by the author is fascinating and it made me get hooked to the story from the first to the last chapter.
The book is divided into 42 chapters and Isaacson did a good job of using words to bring out the extraordinary life and personality of Steve Jobs. Isaacson introduces the book by elaborating the childhood life of Steve Jobs. It was a sad section reading how Steve was abandoned and how he grew up. It was an aspect that many people did not know and it was an eye-opening insight. Chapter three of the book which talks about how Steve dropped out of Reeds college and later on went to take a calligraphy class. As Isaacson put it, the class later inspired him in his life as he used the concept to develop a wide range of fonts. The author then goes ahead to discuss the lives of Steve and Chrisann Brennan and the birth of their daughter Lisa Brennan. The next intriguing chapter is ‘The Mac is born: you say you want a revolution.’ It talks about the early development stages of Apple and most significantly Macintosh. It was a key learning point for me as I learned how Steve created his company, the challenges he faced and how he eventually became successful.
The next interesting chapter in the book is ‘The Launch: a dent in the universe.’ Isaacson elaborated the challenges Steve faced become the launch of its first product. The most interesting one was how engineers indicated that would need an extra two weeks but Steve Jobs inspired them to finish before the launch. The company they went ahead and created one of the best commercial that helped it to attract clients. The chapter about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates was also interesting and there were a lot of key lessons learned. Isaacson, they go ahead to elaborate the growth of the company and the impact Jobs had that contributed to its growth. Another fascinating section is where the author elaborates how Steve discovered he had cancer. According to Isaacson, Steve attributed the ailment to the stress that he was experiencing and how he attempted to combat it with fruits and herbal medicines. The last two chapters talked about how the health of the leader kept deteriorating and how it affected his personal and professional life. The last chapter talks about his legacy which is critical and that was the most intriguing section in the book. The author did a good job to capture all the elements of his career and how it made him fail and succeed. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson is well written and helped me to learn key concepts in leadership which will be essential in my professional life.
How leadership lessons will change my life in the future?
One of the key lessons I have learned about the leadership of Steve Jobs is on the need to be focused and determined in what we pursue in life. In the book, the leadership element that came out from the first chapter is Steve Jobs was very ambitious. Isaacson elaborates how Jobs was focused on coming back to the company even after being dismissed some few years before. After being ousted from Apple, he went ahead and formed NeXT which was later acquired by Apple and Steve Jobs was able to get his job as the CEO back. Nothing stood by his way and that helped him to bring success to Apple after years of underperforming. It was a great lesson for me as in many times I face challenges which make me think of giving up. Steve Jobs knew his skills and efficiently utilized them to create what he had envisioned. One of the challenges I face is combining education which my plans in life and that has in the past affected me. Staying focused and determined will help one to achieve their dreams and life desires. Without focus, other people will not see your vision and follow through. Steve is an example of a good leader who inspired other people to do their best to achieve the best outcomes. Applying the lesson in life will help me to gain more knowledge through education and use the skills to become successful in my professional life.
The second lesson I have learned about the leadership of Steve Jobs is on taking responsibility. As a leader, we are entitled to everything good or bad that takes places in the organizations. Human beings have a conscious choice and through the decisions we make, they will have either a positive or negative implication. Steve Jobs displayed this through his controlling personality. One of the instance he showed this as elaborated by Isaacson was when he chose to ensure Apple will maintain focus on its software’s and products and not allow other companies to use their platform. That came to benefit the company and it is the business model behind the success of Apple. That made me contemplate on the instances where I did not own up to my mistakes in life. On a personal level, this is a weakness that I have and reading the book help to give me insights on how I can become better. Steve owned up to every mistake that was taking place in the company but ensures at the end of the day it was corrected. As a future leader, this is an element that realized I need to acquire and use. Point fingers do not help in making others become better, I realized it destroys the relationship between people. After reading the biography, I realized that one of the reasons why most leaders fail is they want to be associated with success and not a failure and that was not the case of Steve Jobs.
The third lesson I have learned about the leadership of Steve Jobs is the importance of balancing work and life. According to Isaacson, one of the areas Steve Job failed was a work-life balance. During the early stages of his career, he describes the instances where Jobs and most of the colleagues would spend most of the times in the offices and has less social lives. Later on, with her wife Lauren, they created a scheduled that ensured they will spend most of their nights in their homes with their children. Reading this section made me reflect on my life and I realized I needed to change. The more I read the book, I realized that connecting with people is essential as it will help one to connect and analyze the challenges the society is facing. The author indicates that having a social life is essential to our lives and it can help us become more productive in the workplace. There have been many times I have sacrificed my social life for other things and at the end of the day, it ended up affecting my academic and personal life. It is a good lesson for anyone aspiring to be leaders and it helped me to realize there is a life beyond what we work to achieve. I realized I need to plan for my time and ensure there is a balance between my life, education, and work.
The fourth lesson I have learned about the leadership of Steve Jobs is why we need to focus on creating things that will add value to the lives of the people. Steve Jobs envisioned Apple as the brand that will help people get access to a computer and his aim was simplifying it as possible. In the book, Isaacson elaborates that Apple aimed at creating products that will appeal to the diverse population and it achieved it. That was a great concept introduced by Steve Jobs and illustrated his qualities as a leader. He did not focus on the profits but wanted the products to have an impact on people. According to Isaacson, Jobs believed focusing on profits is a recipe for mediocrity. After graduating, my vision is to establish a company that will help to solve the needs of people. It was a key learning point from the book and I learn the value of great products. I realized that despite Apple products having a higher selling point, they have always been on demand as compared to those of other brands. I will use the lesson when I think of creating a product to introduce to the market. Before reading the book, I did not realize what makes brands successful and sustainable in the long term. The strategy by Steve Jobs will be essential in my professional life.
Another lesson I have learned about the leadership of Steve Jobs is on the need to take risks. One of the elements in Steve Jobs career was that he was a risk taker. He was ready to take a risks through the products he created and as a perfectionist, he was not ready to settle for less. As a leader of in life, we face a new set of challenges every day and that need to be solved. The fascinating section in the biography is on how after the dismissal of Steve Jobs from Apple, the company was not ready to take risks. That made it lose its value in the market and Microsoft and IBM greatly benefitted. I realized that taking risks can help us achieve what we want in life and through the experiences, learn what we can do to improve. Apple introduced new products to the market and dominated in markets where many would not have thought. I have been afraid of taking risks and love making calculated decisions. That would help me in the short term but later I would need to make other decisions. The lessons from the biography of Steve Jobs will greatly help me in my personal and professional life and I have learned a lot of concepts.
Work Cited
Isaacson, W. "Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography." Abacus (2015).
