Inside Steve''''s Brain Business Lessons from Steve Jobs, the Man Who Saved Apple by Leander Kahney_8 pdf

Jobs does thesame thing: “Many times in an interview I will purposelyupset someone: I’ll criticize their prior work.. Sun is a good place, he said, but ‘Sun is no Apple.’ He said he woul

founder, without the charisma.”6

Some of it is pure show Jobs has chewed out underlings

in public for the effect it has on the rest of the organization.General George S Patton used to practice his “general’sface” in the mirror Reggie Lewis, an entrepreneur, alsoadmitted to perfecting a scowl in the mirror for use inhardball negotiations Contrived anger is common amongpoliticians, and has been called “porcupine anger,” Kramerreports

Jobs possesses a keen political intelligence, whatKramer calls “a distinctive and powerful form of leaderintelligence.” He’s a good judge of character He assessespeople, coolly and clinically, as instruments of action, ways

of getting things done Kramer described a job interviewconducted by Mike Ovitz, the fearsome Hollywood agentwho built the Creative Artists Agency into a powerhouse.Ovitz sat the interviewee in the blinding afternoon sunlightand kept calling in his secretary to give her instructions.Ovitz had set up the constant interruptions beforehand totest the interviewee He wanted to keep them on their toesand see how they handled distractions Jobs does thesame thing: “Many times in an interview I will purposelyupset someone: I’ll criticize their prior work I’ll do myhomework, find out what they worked on, and say, ‘God,that really turned out to be a bomb That really turned out to

be a bozo product Why did you work on that? ’ I want tosee what people are like under pressure I want to see ifthey just fold or if they have firm conviction, belief, and pride

in what they did.”7

One senior HR executive from Sun once described for

Upsidemagazine an interview with Jobs She’d alreadyendured more than ten weeks of interviews with seniorApple executives before reaching Jobs Immediately, Jobsput her on the spot: “He told me my background wasn’tsuitable for the position Sun is a good place, he said, but

‘Sun is no Apple.’ He said he would have eliminated me as

a candidate from the start.”

Jobs asked the woman if she had any questions, so shequeried him about corporate strategy Jobs dismissed thequestion: “We’re only disclosing our strategy on a ‘need-to-know’ basis,” he told her So she asked him why he wanted

an HR executive Big mistake Jobs replied: “I’ve never metone of you who didn’t suck I’ve never known an HR personwho had anything but a mediocre mentality.” Then he took atelephone call, and the woman left a wreck.8 If she hadstuck up for herself, she would have fared much better

Take, for example, an Apple saleswoman who received

a public tongue lashing from Jobs at one of the company’sannual sales meetings Every year, several hundred ofApple’s sales reps gather for a few days, typically atApple’s Cupertino HQ In 2000, about 180 reps were sitting

in Apple’s Town Hall auditorium waiting for a pep talk fromtheir leader Apple had just announced its first loss in threeyears Immediately, Jobs threatened to fire the entire salesteam Everyone He repeated the threat at least four times

during the hour-long talk He also singled out the femalesales executive who dealt with Pixar— his other company

at the time—and in front of everyone he laid into her: “Youare not doing a good job,” he bellowed Over at Pixar, hisother job, he had just signed a $2 million sales order withHewlett-Packard, one of Apple’s rivals, he said The Applerep had been competing for the contract, but lost out “Hecalled this woman out in front of everyone,” Eigermanrecalled But the saleswoman stood up for herself Shestarted yelling back “I was very impressed with her,”Eigerman said “She was furious She defended herself but

he would not hear her out He told her to sit down Thesaleswoman is still at Apple, and she is doing very well It’s the asshole/hero rollercoaster.”

Perhaps most significantly, the public humiliation of theunfortunate rep put the fear of God into all the other salesreps It sent a clear message that everybody at Apple isheld personally accountable

Two years later at the annual sales meeting, Jobs wasextremely pleasant and courteous (He skipped the 2001sales meeting, which was held off-site.) Jobs thanked allthe sales reps for doing a great job and took questions forhalf an hour He was genuinely very nice Like otherintimidators, Jobs can be immensely charming when heneeds to be Robert McNamara had a reputation for beingcold and distant, but he could turn on a dazzling spotlight ofcharm when he wanted to “Great intimidators can also begreat ingratiators,” Kramer writes

Jobs is famous for his reality distortion field—a ring ofcharisma so strong that it bends reality for anyone under itsinfluence Andy Hertzfeld encountered it soon after joiningthe Mac development team: “The reality distortion field was

a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, anindomitable will, and an eagerness to bend any fact to fitthe purpose at hand If one line of argument failed topersuade, he would deftly switch to another Sometimes, hewould throw you off balance by suddenly adopting yourposition as his own, without acknowledging that he everthought differently Amazingly, the reality distortion fieldseemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it,although the effects would fade after Steve departed Wewould often discuss potential techniques for grounding it,but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force

of nature.”

Alan Deutschman, a Jobs biographer, fell under Jobs’sspell at their first meeting “He uses your first name veryoften He looks directly in your eyes with that laser-likestare He has these movie-star eyes that are very hypnotic.But what really gets you is the way he talks—there’ssomething about the rhythm of his speech and theincredible enthusiasm he conveys for whatever it is he’stalking about that is just infectious At the end of myinterview with him, I said to myself, ‘I have to write an articleabout this guy just to be around him more—it’s so muchfun!’ When Steve wants to be charming and seductive, noone is more charming.”9

Working with Jobs: There’s Only One

Steve

Thanks to his fearsome reputation, many staffers try toavoid Jobs Several employees, past and present, toldessentially the same story: keep your head down “Likemany people, I tried to avoid him as much as possible,”said one former employee “You want to stay below hisradar and avoid him getting mad at you.” Even executivestry to stay out of Jobs’s way David Sobotta, a formerdirector of Apple’s federal sales, describes how he oncewent to the executive floor to pick up a vice president for abriefing “He quickly suggested a route off the floor thatdidn’t go in front of Steve’s office,” Sobotta wrote on hiswebsite “He explained the choice by saying it was safer.”10

In return, Jobs keeps a distance from rank-and-fileemployees Except with other executives, he is fairly private

at Apple’s campus Kramer writes that remaining aloofinstills a mixture of fear and paranoia that keepsemployees on their toes Staff are always working hard toplease him, and it also allows him to reverse decisionswithout losing credibility

But it’s not always easy to avoid Jobs He has a habit ofdropping in on different departments unannounced andasking people what they’re working on Every now and thenJobs praises employees He doesn’t do it too often, and he

doesn’t go overboard His approval is measured andthoughtful, which amplifies the effect because it is rare “Itreally goes to your head because it’s so hard to get it out ofhim,” said one employee “He’s very good at getting topeople’s egos.”

Of course, the desire to avoid Jobs is not universal.There are plenty of employees at Apple only too eager toget Jobs’s attention Apple has its full share of aggressive,ambitious staffers keen to get noticed and promoted

Jobs is often the center of workplace conversation Thesubject of Steve comes up a lot He gets credit foreverything that goes right at Apple, but he also gets blamedfor everything that goes wrong Everyone’s got a story.Employees love to discuss his outbursts and his occasionalquirks

Like the Texan billionaire Ross Perot, who bannedbeards among his employees, Jobs has someidiosyncrasies One former manager who had regularmeetings in Jobs’s office kept a pair of canvas sneakersunder his desk Whenever he was called for a meeting withJobs, he’d take off his leather shoes and put on thesneakers “Steve is a militant vegan,” the source explained.Inside the company, Jobs is known simply as “Steve” or

"S.J.” Anyone else whose name is Steve is known by theirfirst and last names At Apple, there is only one Steve

There are also F.O.S.—Friends Of Steve—persons ofimportance who are to be treated with respect and

sometimes caution: you never know what might getreported Staffers warn each other about F.O.S.s to becareful around Friends Of Steve are not necessarily inApple’s upper management tier—sometimes they arefellow programmers or engineers who have a connection.

Under Jobs, Apple is a very flat organization There arefew levels of management Jobs has an exceptionally wide-ranging knowledge of the organization—who does whatand where Though he has a small executive managementteam—just ten officers—he knows hundreds of the keyprogrammers, designers, and engineers in theorganization

Jobs is quite meritocratic: he’s not concerned with formaljob titles or hierarchy If he wants something done, hegenerally knows whom to go to and he contacts themdirectly, not through their manager He’s the boss, ofcourse, and can do things like that, but it shows his disdainfor hierarchies and formalities He’ll just pick up the phoneand call

Critics have compared Jobs to a sociopath withoutempathy or compassion Staff are inhuman objects, meretools to get things done To explain why employees andcoworkers put up with him, critics invoke the StockholmSyndrome His employees are captives who have fallen inlove with their captor “Those who know anything muchabout his management style know he works by winnowingout the chaff—defined as those both not smart enough andnot psychologically strong enough to bear repeated

demands to produce something impossible (such as amusic player where you can access any piece of musicwithin three clicks) and then be told that their solution is

‘shit.’ And then hear it suggested back to them a few dayslater,” wrote Charles Arthur in The Register “That’s not howmost people like to work, or be treated So in truth, SteveJobs isn’t an icon to any managers, apart from thesociopathic ones.”

As far as great sociopathic managers go, Jobs isrelatively mild, at least now that he’s entered middle age.Other intimidators, like moviemaker Harvey Weinstein, aremuch more abrasive Larry Summers, the former dean ofHarvard, who forced through a series of reforms at theuniversity, conducted infamous “get to know you sessions”with faculty and staff that started with confrontation,skepticism, and hard questioning, and went downhill fromthere Jobs is more like a demanding, hard-to-pleasefather It’s not just fear and intimidation Underlings workhard to get his attention and his approval A former Pixaremployee told Kramer that he dreaded letting Jobs down,the same way he dreaded disappointing his father

Many people who work for Jobs tend to burn out, but inhindsight they relish the experience During his research,Kramer said he was surprised that people who worked withgreat intimidators often found the experience “profoundlyeducational, even transformational.” Jobs works peoplehard and heaps on the stress, but they produce great work

“Did I enjoy working with Steve Jobs? I did,” Cordell

Ratzlaff, the Mac OS X designer, told me “It was probablythe best work I did It was exhilarating It was exciting.Sometimes it was difficult, but he has the ability to pull thebest out of people I learned a tremendous amount fromhim There were high points and there were low points but itwas an experience.” Ratzlaff worked directly with Jobs forabout eighteen months, and said it would have been hardstaying on any longer than that “Some people can stick itout for longer than that Avie Tevanian, Bertrand Serlet I’veseen him screaming at both of them, but they had someway of weathering that There have been cases, peoplewho have been with him for a very, very long time Hisadmin worked with him for many, many years One day, hefired her: ‘That’s it, you’re not working here anymore,’ ”Ratzlaff said.

After nine years working at Apple, the last few closelywith Jobs, programmer Peter Hoddie ended up quitting,somewhat acrimoniously Not because he was burned out,but because he wanted more control at Apple He was tired

of getting his orders from Jobs and wanted to have agreater say in the company’s plans and products They had

a fight, Hoddie quit, but later Jobs was contrite He tried totalk Hoddie out of leaving “You’re not going to get awaythat easy,” Jobs said to Hoddie “Let’s talk about this.” ButHoddie stuck to his guns On his last day, Jobs called himfrom his office across campus “Steve was charming to theend,” Hoddie said “He said good luck It wasn’t, ‘fuck you.’

Of course, there’s a degree of calculation in everything he

Lessons from Steve

• It’s OK to be an asshole, as long as you’re passionate about it. Jobs screams and shouts, but itcomes from his drive to change the world

• Find a passion for your work. Jobs has it, and it’sinfectious

• Use the carrot and the stick to get great work. Jobspraises and punishes as everyone rides thehero/asshole rollercoaster

• Put boot to ass to get things done.

• Celebrate accomplishments with unusual flair

• Insist on things that are seemingly impossible.

Jobs knows that eventually even the thorniestproblem is solvable

• Become a great intimidator. Inspire through fearand a desire to please

• Be a great ingratiator as well as an intimidator.

Jobs turns on the spotlight of charm when he needsto

• Work people hard. Jobs heaps on the stress, butstaffers produce great work

Chapter 6 Inventive Spirit: Where Does the Innovation Come From?

”Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D It’s not about money It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

—Steve Jobs, in Fortune, November 9, 1998

On July 3, 2001, Apple put its critically praised Power MacG4 Cube on ice Jobs had introduced the cube-shapedmachine just a year before, to critical raves An eight-inchcube of translucent plastic that popped CDs from its toplike a toaster, the Cube was a smash hit with critics The

Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg said it was “simplythe most gorgeous personal computer I’ve ever seen orused.” Jonathan Ive won several awards for its design But

it was not a hit with consumers It sold poorly Apple hadhoped for sales of 800,000 the first year, but shifted lessthan 100,000 units A year after its introduction, Jobssuspended production of the machine and issued anunusual press release.1 “The company said there is a smallchance it will reintroduce an upgraded model of the uniquecomputer in the future, but that there are no plans to do so

at this time,” the release said It appeared Jobs couldn’t

bear to discontinue the Cube officially, but he wasn’tprepared to sell any more either It was sent to a permanentproduct purgatory.

The Cube was Jobs’s baby: a beautifully designed,technically advanced machine that represented months,maybe years, of prototyping and experimentation TheCube packed a lot of powerful hardware into a very tightspace It was fast and capable, and dispensed completelywith one of Steve Jobs’s oldest pet peeves—an internalcooling fan But aside from a few design museums, fewwere interested in it At about $2,000, it was too expensivefor most consumers, who wanted a cheap monitor-lessMac like the Mac mini that succeeded it And those whocould afford it—creative professionals who worked ingraphics or design—needed a more powerful machine thatcould be easily upgraded with new graphics cards or extrahard drives They bought the cheaper Power Mac G4 towerinstead It was ugly, but it worked

Jobs had badly misjudged the market The Cube was thewrong machine at the wrong price In January 2001, Applereported a quarterly loss of $247 million, the first sinceJobs had returned to the company He was stung

The Cube was one of Jobs’s few missteps sincereturning to Apple, and he learned a valuable lesson from it.The Cube was one of the few products he’s overseen thatwas entirely design led It was an experiment in form overfunction The cube has always been one of Jobs’s favoriteforms The computer he sold at NeXT—the NeXT Cube—