Assignment 13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson

1. About your Entreprenuer

What surprised me the most aboute Steve Jobs was that he was very involved in a lot of the desiging process, the idea/development process, and even would throw himself into the advertising process if he felt he could improve it. That was also one of the things I admired most about him, was that he wasnt just one of those CEOs who just sit back and hire people to do all of the work for them, he was involved because he had a personal stake in the outcome of every product Apple was producing. One thing I did not admire about Jobs was that on page 499, it mentioned him getting into a fight and yelling with one of his advertising people James Vincent, telling him his ads sucked and yelled at him over the phone while he was on vacation with his family. I did not admire this becuase I feel that someone as professional as Jobs should be able to articulate what he wants as opposed to just saying something sucks without giving an alternative solution. Jobs and Apple did encounter some setbacks with designs and competition from other technology companies, just one example was the development of the Ipad. Jobs had the idea for "multi-touch" technology but decided to use it on the first IPhone instead. And then four years later he and his team decided again to try and test the waters to see if this was soemthing people would respond to, and it was. It just took them prioritiizing what the consumer market wanted and was ready for at the time. 

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

The main skill I noticed he was most competent in was his vison. Jobs always had a certain vision for each of his products and how they could transform into something a lot larger than themselves. An example of this would be the IPad. The IPad started as a new type of computer that was focused on building the App empire into what it is today. But once Jobs saw the success fo that, he turned his attention to another problem, textbooks. "He believed it was a $8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction." He took his new and innovative product and set his sights on disrupting a completely different industry that could help so many students and teachers, and potentially change the way people learn forever.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
One part of the reading that was not so much confusing, but perplexing to me, was that Jobs held a "town-hall" meeting with all of his employees where he spent most of the rime just bashing Google for entering the phone market with their android. The book went on to say that it could have been a personal issue too becuase the people on the Google team had previously wokred for Apple of they had been like a mentor to Jobs. The part I was perplexed at was that he took over the whole town-hall meeting to basically rant about how mad he was, but in a world of so many technological advancements, I am suprprised that he was so shocked that someone would try and copy Apples design because it did so well with consumers. 

4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
If I were able to ask two questions to Steve Jobs, the first one would be how to handle all the fame and success and attention he recieved. With Apple being one of the main innovators in foward-thinking technology, he and his company were recieving a lot of attention back then and that exposure is still growing to this day. The second question I would ask him is if he flet pressure to make the next best thing all the time. If he felt the need to always be ahead of the game. 

5.  For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think Steve Jobs opinion of hard work was that he never settled. He was always looking for the next best thing, the next great idea. He never dwelled on the accomplishments he and his company had, becuase he knew they woudn't last forever. One of my favorite quotes by steve jobs sums this up very well, "I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you shoudl go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out whats next." I think I can share that opinion. I believe that you should celebrate your successes but not get complacent becuase that is when someone else can come up and take your spot.