Steve Jobs Case
21 April 2017 08:23 PM
SYNOPSIS
About the Mac machine project
People involved - Jobs, Hertzfield, Tribble, Noyce - mother figure , Bob - father figure
Steve Jobs had a way of getting things done from his employees
The employees had termed this - Reality distortion theory.
Jobs was
- a task master | Perfectionist with high levels of impatience
- he was someone who can never take no for an answer from any one
- He always had a way of bending the truth to the point that : meetings or discussions
Or talks on world affairs were never really spun around the facts
- He sets unrealistic deadlines - somehow gets things done
- People end up meeting the deadlines for some of the most difficult tasks because
He never really tells them about the task's difficulties - "You did the impossible because you
Did not realise it was impossible"
- Highly emotional person | Can read anyone very quickly | Does not have control over his
extreme emotions | Perfectionist with high levels of impatience |
- Only Noyce could calm him of all the tantrums
Mac team had an awarding system - It mostly awarded people who stood up against Steve - in a
right sense .
INCIDENTS
- Yelling out "you asshole cant you get anything right" in a meeting
- Going to Atkinson's team and calling his work "this is shit"
- Going to Larry Kenyon's MAC os team and asking to reboot 10 seconds earlier . He came up
with a boot that was 28s faster post Jobs' tantrum. - "Steve had a way of motivating by
looking at the bigger picture"
- At the end of the day on seeing the results the employees still feel they were lucky to have
worked under him
LPI Page 1
SIDENOTE
Steve Jobs was a jerk :
He always had a binary outlook towards the whole world
either your Work is the best or is total shit
You are the chosen/enlightened one or a complete shit
head
His opinions keep changing by the day - if he calls ur work the best
today he may call it shit tmrw
U come up with an idea- - he would say it is shit. But if he likes it
he ll propose the same idea to u urself a week later n call it his
idea
People got used his tantrums - if he says "this is shit" they
automatically translated it to "why do you think this is the best
way?"
BOTTOMLINE
He was a complete jerk, with extreme moods, totally disoriented
leadership skills. He had power and extreme manipulative skills that
His manipulative ability allowed him to influence ppl by knowing
when to say what to flatter someone and also at the same pull them
downhill all at once.
He had a way of getting the team extra ordinary, impossible things.
But when asked whether all of this behaviour was necessary - the
answer is a definite no. Wozniak suggests that though Mac product
that came up was extra ordinary - it came out well off schedule and
high on budget. His behavior caused employees to burn out and feel
stressed. He could have handled it better