A new unauthorized Steve Jobs biography, clearly sanctioned by close friends and colleagues, strives to illustrate who Steve Jobs was as a young entrepreneur and who Steve Jobs was as co-founder of Apple and the visionary he became in his later years.
The tome is written by two tech journalists who spent years covering Apple and interacting with Jobs, one of which had a close social relationship with Jobs. The book is focused on providing greater insight about Jobs' warmer side as to compared to an earlier biography, published shortly after Jobs' death in 2011. That initial biography, written by author Walter Isaacson, has come under fire as critics claim it only shows the nasty, obnoxious and control-hungry Jobs.
"Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader," illustrates a more personal, and as some would say, a gentler kinder Jobs.
Thanks to the input from many close friends, colleagues, and even industry competitors, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates, it offers up some data points many likely have never heard about, unless they happen to be in Jobs' inner circle of friends.
Here are just seven such insights from the newest biography as well as a few other sources relating to Jobs' tenure at Apple:
- Steve Jobs was a funny guy and a nice guy. That's according to book co-author Brent Schlender who spent over two decades covering Apple and its notable CEO and co-founder.
- Steve Jobs, once he had kids, wasn't so cold and impersonal when it came to having to fire staff.
- Steve Jobs wasn't as cool or cold as many may have believed. Co-author Rick Tetzeli sates he was "really surprised at the intensity" of Jobs' relationships.
- Current Apple CEO Tim Cook, a longtime confidant and Jobs' lieutenant, offered Jobs a piece of his own liver for treatment transplant, going as far as doing all the testing and blood work before suggesting it to Jobs, who died from pancreatic cancer. Jobs refused the offer.
- Jobs' favorite Beatle was John Lennon he reportedly named his company after Beatles' Apple Corps Record.
- The Steve Jobs who co-founded Apple and then left at a shaky time in its history was a much different Jobs, who ultimately returned after his exile period.
- He was an ardent perfectionist when it came to product launches. Jobs spent months, entire days at time, in rehearsals of one product announcement, controlling everything from lighting to the order of presentation slides. He would even run through potential presentation verbiage with journalists including Schlender weeks before an event.
That last tidbit actually is a dual insight into Jobs, as it shows his close relationship with national media reporters, including Schlender the book's co-author.
Schlender, a mainstream daily and national tech reporter at the time, was clearly getting insight on impending product news and Apple strategy weeks before a formal announcement. The shared insight reveals Jobs did cultivate, at times, press relationships despite his often-standoffish attitude with the media.
