This week marks the 10th anniversary of the device that finally allowed me to explain what I do: “I write about iPods and stuff like that.” Today marks the three-week anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs, who didn’t invent the MP3 player or even the iPod for that matter, but arguably perfected both.
[partner id="evolverfm"]Listening to an NPR program that asked Greek residents of Athens, Georgia to explain the impact of the Greek financial crisis on their lives, it occurred to me that while most business leaders (and people for that matter) can be categorized by whether they resemble the ancient Athenians or Spartans, Steve Jobs’ approach to business balanced these opposing ideas in an unusual way.
In case it’s been a while since you studied world history, here’s the standard take on Athens vs. Sparta as explained by (who else?) Social Studies for Kids:
Remind you of anyone? If anyone has better explained the dual nature of Steve Jobs — a ruthless warrior who “enslaved” employees by some accounts and prized creativity and the liberal arts — I have yet to read it. Here’s a partial rundown culled from various sources including these.
Steve Jobs the Spartan
- Ruthless businessman
- Exerted near-totalitarian control over his company and its creations
- Was a workaholic who authorized a biography partially to explain to his children what he had been doing and why he was so absent
- Convinced Steve Wozniak to sell computers instead of giving away schematics, and allegedly shortchanged him on an early check from Atari
- Scared employees with a combative management approach
- Tried to stage a “boardroom coup”
- Forced manufacturers of accessories to pay Apple if they wanted to make stuff that worked with Apple products, enforcing that policy with proprietary cables
- Bought Pixar for $10 million and sold it for $7.4 billion
- Refused to license Apple’s operating system to other companies
- Engaged in a public “War of words” with competitor Michael Dell
- Refused to respond to media requests except when it advanced a specific strategic goal like getting on the front of Time magazine
- Eliminated Apple’s corporate philanthropy program and if he donated to causes, did so without the fanfare that accompanied competitor Bill Gates’ generosity
- Sued bloggers, issued threats, dispatched security forces when unreleased iPhones went missing
Steve Jobs the Athenian
- Buddhist hippie
- Designed computers favored by students and schools
- Believed technology could be aligned with liberal arts
- Learned to read before he went to school and how to build things soon after
- Built the machines overwhelmingly favored by artists in all fields who work with computers
- Believed that only people who had done acid could truly understand him
- Thought he could invent a diet that would defeat a rare form of pancreatic cancer as effectively as surgery
- Built Pixar from almost-scratch to release some of the most beloved, creative animated movies of all time
- Made the personal computer much, much more “personal”
- Turned parts of Apple and Pixar into a “creative wonderland”
- Launched a (mostly) open iTunes app store, allowing thousands or more developers to support themselves through creativity
- Imagined and re-imagined humanistic computing machines with historically significant effects on mankind’s trajectory
