Five years on: Five things about Steve Jobs, his life and his legacy
Steve Jobs is considered a visionary and a genius. He was the brains behind one of the biggest companies in the world, which once almost went bankrupt. Because not everything was always iPhone and sunshine. Steve Jobs' life was eventful and his influence can still be felt after his death.
Glasses, black turtleneck jumper, blue jeans, New Balance brand trainers. This is how the public knew Steve Jobs, the founder of the global corporation Apple. Five years ago, he succumbed to cancer. A lot has happened since then. Experts and those who consider themselves experts predicted Apple's demise. Despite the deceased's promises to the contrary, the iPad has been given a stylus and Ashton Kutcher played the man in a terrible film.
The man who left a lasting mark on the tech world didn't just bring joy, however. We take a look at his life's work Apple, his social commitment and - in the best journalistic tradition - dig up some dirt.
So here are five things about Steven Jobs, his life and his work that delight, amaze, disgust and annoy.
1. Steve Jobs and his outfit
Steve Jobs always wore the same things in public, with only a few exceptions. Anyone who wants to dress like Steve Jobs - for whatever reason - can do so. The recipe is simple
- New Balance trainers
- Blue jeans
- Black roll neck jumper
Experts agree that they have found the reason for the simplicity of the outfit. The effect is called decision fatigue. The theory goes like this: as soon as you get up in the morning, you start making decisions. What are you going to eat for breakfast? What are you going to wear? Which bus are you taking? Which song are you listening to?
All of this takes energy, if only a little. By the time you make the decisions that are relevant to your success, you have already made hundreds of small decisions and used up quite a lot of energy. Steve Jobs tried to use his decision-making energy where it made the most sense for Apple. Not just for altruistic reasons, of course.
One of his methods for simplification was to standardise his outfit. This eliminates the question "What am I wearing today?"
2. Steve Jobs lost the Game of Thrones at Apple
Apple is one of the largest companies in the world today. Apple is one of the most visionary companies in the world. At times, Apple was ruled by a tyrant called Steve Jobs. Before Apple brought design to the computer with the iMac, there was the Apple II. The device is probably the one on which many - perhaps you too - learnt to type back then. But behind the scenes, a bitter power struggle raged between Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the company's CEO, John Sculley.
Sculley championed devices such as the Apple II, which relied on open standards and were sold to small businesses, educational institutions and households. This was because IBM had a firm grip on the large corporate sector.
But Steve Jobs wanted to go on the attack. He wanted to displace IBM and focussed on closed architecture.
In 1985, things came to a head: Sculley reorganised Apple and wanted to position Steve Jobs in such a way that he was effectively powerless in the company. In return, Jobs developed a plan that would force Sculley out of the company. The plan blew up, Jobs announced that he would be leaving Apple.
On 17 September 1985, Steve Jobs handed in his notice at Apple. He founded the company NeXT Computer, which managed to survive for twelve years despite numerous flops.
3. Steve Jobs revealed his recipe for success
Towards the end of his life, Steve Jobs often spilled the beans and revealed his secrets. Essentially, he internalised five lessons. They are:
- Live without limits
- Don't work for your money
- Surround yourself with great people
- Critically evaluate your life daily
- Stay hungry! Stay childish!
A version of these lessons, explained and illustrated, can be seen in this video. Even if the biographical details in the video may be somewhat glossed over, Steve Jobs wasn't entirely wrong.
4. Steve Jobs was a micromanager and that never really went well
Is your boss one of those people who scrutinises your every move and knows everything better? If you get on with that type of person, then you would probably have got on with Steve Jobs too. Because hardly anything happened at Apple that didn't sooner or later cross Jobs' desk. Where other people in his position were content with strategic decisions, Steve Jobs was involved in the design of the glass staircases in Apple Stores, decided on the shuttle buses on the Apple campus and determined the food in the Apple cafeteria.
At Apple he was notorious for his management style, at NeXT he continued this and ran the company into the ground. Curiously, Steve Jobs founded another company during this time, but gave the executives there more freedom. The name of this company? Pixar.
So he could be sure that his vision would be realised, but he also made himself unpopular with employees. Because, let's be honest, who likes it when the boss is always talking? In the case of Steve Jobs, however, this still led to success. Hopefully the exception that proves the rule.
5th Steve Jobs' biggest imitator is probably a criminal
Steve Jobs was an inspiration for many a young entrepreneur during his lifetime. Among them is Elizabeth Holmes. Born in 1984, the woman whose company Theranos has twice made headlines around the world has modelled her business identity on Jobs'. She always wears a black turtleneck jumper, a black blazer and black trousers. "That's my uniform. It's easy because every day I just wear the same thing and don't have to think about it - one less thing to occupy my life. I'm completely focused on work," she tells Glamour.
With her company Theranos, she has become the youngest self-made female billionaire in the history of the United States. Her product is a device that strongly resembles the NeXT computer invented by Jobs. The Theranos machine promises that it can read a whole range of diseases and biodata from a few drops of blood.
The problem: according to accusations, the Theranos machine is a scam. All blood tests are created using equipment from the competition, says journalist John Carreyrou after his research. Along with the allegations, a number of other dubious business practices came to light, as well as a series of scientific missteps and outright falsehoods in the principles of Theranos technology. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.