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Becoming Steve Jobs summary

Name: Becoming Steve Jobs
Rating: 4.4 (150 reviews)
Author: Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli

Brent Schlender Rick Tetzeli

The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

4.4 (150 ratings)

25 mins

Brief summary

Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli is a biography that chronicles the lesser-known facets of Steve Jobs' life, including his relationships with colleagues, friends and family. It tells us how Jobs matured as a leader, and his vision for technology.

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Biographies

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Becoming Steve Jobs
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What’s in it for me? Learn the epic story behind one of tech’s true innovators.

Steve Jobs epitomizes the daring and creativity of the tech industry’s pioneering entrepreneurs. Idolized by many, he has become an almost mythological figure – a knight crusading for innovation and immaculate design. As CEO of Apple, Jobs created one of the most valuable and admired companies in the world and, along with it, a series of amazing products, including the iPhone.

But who, exactly, was the man behind the myth?

A good many tales have been told. Some saw Jobs as a genius and visionary leader, while others thought he was a pompous jerk, a single-minded perfectionist or a stubborn half-genius, half-asshole. This is the story of how Steve Jobs became the Steve Jobs we think of today.

You will also find out

how Apple got its name;
what role Pixar played in Jobs’s coming back to Apple; and
how Jobs made some of his last great products while fighting death.

Steve Jobs had an early knack for technology.

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco – and, shortly thereafter, he was put up for adoption by his biological mother, Joanna Schieble. As a result, he grew up the son of Paul and Clara Jobs, a working-class couple.

Being adopted by Paul and Clara may have greatly contributed to his later work, since Jobs quickly developed a keen understanding of technology. Because his father was a car mechanic and craftsman who made furniture, there was a workbench in the family’s garage and Jobs’s father taught him how to build things, take them apart and put them back together again. This education served him well; later in life, when showing the iPod to the author, Jobs reminisced about how his father told him to work as diligently on the underside of a cabinet as on its finish.

Jobs was also smart as a whip. He skipped sixth grade and was naturally drawn to math and science. Because of his demonstrated skill in these subjects, he was accepted into the Explorers Club, a group of kids who worked on electronics projects on the Hewlett-Packard campus. It was here that Jobs used a computer for the first time.

He was clearly precocious, so it’s no surprise that he was just 21 years old when he and Stephen Wozniak founded Apple.

Here’s what happened:

The pair met in 1969 when a friend introduced Jobs to Wozniak, or “Woz,” an engineering genius and the son of a Lockheed Martin engineer. At the time, computing was anything but personal and computers didn’t even have keyboards or monitors. Woz recognized these shortcomings and Jobs knew they could build a better computer for home use.

So they set up in Jobs’s parents’ garage and began working on their first model, the Apple 1. They invited in a few kids from the neighborhood to assemble it and pretty soon they had a miniature assembly line going. They named the new company Apple – a nod to both the Garden of Eden and an Oregon apple orchard and commune that Jobs frequented after high school.

Apple quickly churned out a second computer, and the company became one of the fastest growing start-ups in history.

In founding his own company and designing the Apple 1, Jobs had discovered his purpose in life. He and Wozniak even convinced a local small-business owner to distribute their machines. Soon enough, they were selling a dozen computers every few weeks. Fewer than two hundred units of this first model were ever sold, but this success was nonetheless energizing.

Riding the momentum of their first attempt and Wozniak’s assurance that he could build a much better machine, they went to work on their second computer, the Apple II.

A series of product failures resulted in Jobs’s forced exile.

In the late 1970s, Jobs’s life was a rollercoaster; he was in his early twenties and he had thrown himself full throttle into his career, forgoing a social life and even going without sleep.

In many ways it paid off and, when Apple went public in 1980, Jobs’s shares made him worth $256 million. However, by icing out early contributors like Bill Fernandez and Daniel Kottke, Jobs isolated himself within the company. And then he and Wozniak began to grow apart.

After leaving Apple, Jobs continued trying to revolutionize technology, but with little success.

Though forced out of Apple, Jobs was not about to give up. He was ready to plot his tech revolution and, with investors and the media hailing him as a genius, he was certain he could be a great CEO. He was also certain that he was the only person alive who could create such amazing products.

So, in 1985, he founded the computer company NeXT. But success didn’t come as readily as he’d assumed it would.

In the early 1990s, Microsoft dominated the computer industry, but success at Pixar reinvigorated Steve Jobs.

While Jobs struggled to pull together his vision for NeXT, which was drifting disastrously, another tech star was rising. This was Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. During the 1990s, his company was dominating the industry as NeXT and Apple alike began fading into the past.

In fact, by 1991, Microsoft was already the world’s leading software company. This might have had something to do with the fact that, while Apple and NeXT didn’t license their operating systems for other manufacturers, Microsoft’s operating system, Windows, became the industry standard for every personal computer not produced by the other two companies.

Returning to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs put the company back on track.

So the release of Toy Story put Jobs back in the spotlight. Nonetheless, NeXT was still struggling. The company’s products weren’t selling and Jobs’s dream that the company would produce the world’s next great computer was toast. It was by far the low point of his career.

Things were so bad that Jobs shut down production entirely, shifting the company’s focus to software development, specifically its operating system, NeXTSTEP, which at least brought in a small profit.

With the development of iTunes and the iPod, Apple entered the mass-market and rebuilt itself.

So Jobs succeeded in transforming Apple from a deeply troubled company into a soaring business, but how exactly?

First, he trimmed the firm down to a size that was appropriate to its resources. In the process, thousands of employees were laid off, but Jobs was able to inspire those who stayed to buckle down and create a whole new line of incredible products.

While Steve Jobs fought cancer, Apple continued to soar.

In his forty-nine years, Jobs had never experienced a serious medical condition. But then, in 2003, he was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. Luckily, the tumor turned out to be slow-growing and more treatable than was first thought.

However, while the Stanford doctors that Jobs enlisted told him he needed immediate surgery, Jobs himself wasn’t so sure. Ignoring their advice, he opted first for an alternative, less invasive treatment: an augmented diet.

The release of the iPhone changed technology forever.

In 2007, there already existed devices that were being described as “smartphones,” like the BlackBerry and the Palm Treo. All of them were fine for checking email, finding a contact in your address book or checking your calendar. But when the iPhone first hit shelves that summer, it clearly offered something different.

In many ways, it was the world’s first truly smart phone.

The iPad and the MacBook Air were Steve Jobs’s final accomplishments.

So Apple was doing better than ever, but the same couldn’t be said of Jobs. His cancer never went away, and his health was declining. But, despite this fact, his illness also never overshadowed the daily business of Apple. While the board of directors began to discuss succession plans, for most people at Apple, Jobs’s declining health was a total mystery.

After all, even as his health deteriorated and he knew time was running out, Jobs refused to give up. Because of his dedication, the company released the MacBook Air in 2008 and, two years later, the iPad. At the time, the former product was Apple’s new “it” device. It was thinner than any previous laptop – effectively the computer equivalent of a supermodel.

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What is Becoming Steve Jobs about?

Becoming Steve Jobs (2015) tells the story of the life and work of this tech genius. These blinks offer an inside look at the history of Apple, chronicle Jobs’s personal development, explore his early successes, as well as his failures, and lay out how his drive and innovation gave birth to revolutionary products, such as the iPhone.

Becoming Steve Jobs Review

Becoming Steve Jobs (2015) delves into the remarkable journey of Apple's iconic co-founder and CEO. Here's why this book is a worthwhile read:

Featuring exclusive interviews and in-depth research, it provides deep insights into Jobs' life, career, and the evolution of Apple.
The book offers a balanced perspective, dispelling common stereotypes and presenting a more nuanced portrayal of Jobs' personality and leadership style.
With its rich storytelling and behind-the-scenes anecdotes, it offers a captivating narrative that goes beyond the typical biography, keeping readers engrossed and entertained.

Who should read Becoming Steve Jobs?

Apple fans and admirers of Steve Jobs
Computer lovers everywhere
Business leaders seeking a better understanding of a historical entrepreneur

About the Author

Brent Schlender covered Steve Jobs for the Wall Street Journal and Fortune for over two decades. One of the main chroniclers of the personal-computer revolution, he interviewed Jobs on many occasions.

Rick Tetzeli has written about technology for more than twenty years. He’s currently executive director of Fast Company, the editor of Entertainment Weekly and the former deputy editor of Fortune.

Categories with Becoming Steve Jobs

Biography & Memoir Career & Success

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