The more I read about Steve Jobs, the less I admire him.
Yes, he spoke inspirationally to millions, believed in himself more than pretty much any other entrepreneur in history, blazed the trail for numerous new industries, brought beauty to consumer electronics, and helped us see life in simpler terms.
But he had a well documented dark side. It scares and disappoints me that his tactics of employee intimidation, questionable labor ethics, and dishonesty will undoubtedly be used by some future business leaders excusing themselves with quotes like this:
“If it’s good enough for Steve Jobs, it’s good enough for me. It’s just business, after all. You gotta do what you gotta do to succeed.”
Yes, Steve Jobs certainly did some great things, but that will never erase the fact he acted like an immoral jerk.
Here are a few examples that give some insight into the poor morals of Steve Jobs
- This story will give you some insight into Jobs’ character. It’s about the time he ripped off his close friend and business partner when he was involved in improving Atari’s game, Breakout. The story, as confirmed by Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak in his biography, told of Jobs hiring him to improve the game. The deal was they would split the $750 compensation. After Wozniak worked tirelessly with little sleep for four days straight and was able to hit the deadline, greatly improving the efficiency of the game, Atari excitedly awarded the team a bonus of $5,000. Jobs kept the bonus secret from Wozniak, only paying him $375, keeping the remainder for himself. Wozniak didn’t find out about this until years later. If he could do this to his friend so early in the game, it’s not surprising to discover the other distasteful facts that have begun to surface.
- Or what about the time he hired horrendously treated, overworked, Chinese laborers to build all of Apple’s iPhones and iPads? Oh yeah, that still happens. If you delve into the details, it’s really pretty sick and twisted. It reads like a movie script, complete with a fake workforce that is put onboard when regulators come in for a visit. There’s been plenty of injuries, sicknesses, and worker suicides. This has been known for years. If Jobs had a shred of morality, he would have made a change and set a precedent across the industry.
- Did you hear about how he would go up to employees who failed at a project and publicly humiliate them or fire them in front of his peers? Many Apple employees have testified of this.
- I could go on, but I won’t. Because frankly I don’t like all the negativity this post is causing me from the guilt I have for owning a slew of Apple products.
And before you ask, yes, I typed this blog post on a Mac Book Pro and I consider my iPhone my most indispensable business tool. And no, I’m not planning to boycott Apple products. I’m hopeful things will improve with new leadership if consumers demand it:
According to recent media coverage, it would seem Apple is interested in developing a new vision, one which includes corporate social responsibility (CSR). Jobs never showed much interest in public ‘do-gooding’. He always maintained that equipping the public with the best technology was worth more than cash grants to charities. But Cook recently announced that Apple would embrace a new corporate charity matching programme, using a model much like those of other major companies – a dollar for dollar match for employee donations of up to $10,000 a year.
Cook clearly wants to send the message that Apple is evolving in the way it perceives CSR, a major differentiating factor between himself and the charismatic Jobs. “That Vision Thing” - Times of India
My challenge to the future business leaders of the world
Before you look to the great Steve Jobs as your coveted no-questions-asked role model, please be aware of the full spectrum of the man. Admire his vision. Admire his fortitude. Admire his audacity. But please don’t dismiss his misguided moral and ethical faults. It would be a shameful step backward amid positive corporate responsibility progress. Here’s my challenge to you. Don’t strive to be like Steve Jobs. Strive to be better.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Related posts:
Twitter Updates
The Washington Post had an article on the lack of public charitable giving from Steve Jobs: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/record-thin-on-steve-jobss-philanthropy/2011/10/06/gIQA3YKKRL_story.html With Bill Gates being such an outspoken philanthropist, I wonder why the media didn’t scrutinize Jobs’ charitable choices while he was alive.
I’m glad you kept this post about Steve Jobs’ professional life, because unfortunately, his personal life was also full of ethical missteps.
Jillian, thanks for chiming in and posting the link. Really interesting article. I hope the mainstream press doesn’t shy away from being critical of the guy. It’s important to be aware so that we can make sure society is moving in the right direction.
iSorry, But Steve Jobs Was a Dick
http://www.pointsincase.com/columns/andrei-trostel/steve-jobs-was-dick
My dad told me one time that I was using a mouse before I knew how to talk. This mouse was connected to a macintosh plus. My career, interests, and the money in my wallet would be completely different if that mouse did not wind up in my slobbery hand.
To think that Jobs was a saint is naive. You need to think of him as a celebrity. Try making some of the most beautiful and wanted objects in the world and remain a normal person humbly bumbling along when you know that your actions will be judged by millions. Add on to that the fact that he got fired from his own company and his valuable ideas were stolen right from under him. I certainly would not be acting like a saint. I would be pissed and bloodthirsty.
As for the CSR thing, philanthropy is not a scale that weighs people’s character, despite what the car bumpers and ribbons of hope have to say.
Jobs most likely was an asshole, but I owe him quite a bit of who I am now. He’s not a sinner or a saint. Nothing to cry about, nothing to rejoice about. He is just another face in history that changed things up a bit.
I completely agree with your challenge to the future business leaders. We can and will be better.
I’m glad someone has said this about Steve Jobs. The stories about him that have always grabbed my attention have been his over the top and imbalanced attention to the smallest of details: Calling the CEO of Google at his home on Sunday to complain about the color of the Google Logo on the iPhone app, and holding up a release of iTunes because one of the fonts in the menus wasn’t to his satisfaction.
In my mind, and having worked with a number of entrepreneurs and innovators, my intuition is that there is probably more than a casual relationship between this type of behavior and the creation of a company as large, successful, and wealthy as Apple is. I think that if we looked closely at other self-made billionaires, we would find a similar focus on perfection at any costs, including the sacrifice of everything, including health and family, in pursuit of their vision. I don’t think that type of wealth creation or company success is possible without being that kind of relentless. See also, Steve Jobs died early of a disease that is linked to stress.
I’m not really making a case to justify his behavior, in fact, quite the opposite. David, I support your challenge. My only intent by writing is that to truly emulate Steve Jobs is to embrace the sort of imbalanced life focus, orders of magnitude outside the norm, in order to achieve results that are similarly imbalanced (becoming a billionaire).
To achieve those sorts of innovations, costs must be paid, and the question that I ask myself is what costs are we as entrepreneurs willing to pay? I’m personally in it for the balance of my life and living it. But I suspect that for many, including Steve Jobs, his balance was his success on the terms he defined and then asked everyone around him to live up to. I suspect that he was harder on himself than he was of anyone he worked with.
wow, that blog got 318 comments. thx for the link!
Austin, “costs must be paid…what costs are we as entrepreneurs willing to pay?” it’s a curious question on morality. and a scary one at that.
Micah, Thanks for providing the perspective of looking to Jobs as a celebrity. Thinking of him in that way is a pill that is much easier to swallow. But as a billionaire, celebrity or business man, or whatever, he still really missed the boat on seeing what impact he could have made as a humanitarian if he dipped his toe in the water. Jobs could have been someone much different rather than “just another face in history that changed things up a bit.” I certainly don’t think it’s anyone’s role to force someone to go a certain route in life. Perhaps, though, if Jobs had an even bigger vision he could have realized an even greater potential.
Why does society insist that just because men do great things, that somehow excuses them from any moral standard? We are all human, but it is for that very reason that we strive to become more humane. If you think that just because your a mover and a shaker that excuses you from any reprehensible acts toward other people, your are very sadly mistaken. I once admired Steven Jobs, now I have mostly contempt for him. He could have been a great man as well.