Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained and today we’re going to discuss the very
controversial topic of whether or not Steve Jobs was overrated.
Now last week I posted a poll asking your guys’ opinion and many of you left some
great replies in the comments that I want to investigate in more detail in this video.
And if you’re wondering how you can vote on polls like this one, just subscribe to
the channel and the polls should appear automatically in your mobile activity feed.
Now I don’t want this video to be strictly pro- or anti-Steve Jobs, so we’re going
to spend half the video covering different arguments from people who believe Steve Jobs
was not overrated, and then explore the reasons why people think he he was overrated.
And as you can see from the poll results, the majority of you guys thought Jobs was
not overrated, and I think this comment from CouchHobbit provides a good reason why.
He said “This man truly thought different.
The imac, iPod, ibook, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and all revolutionized modern technology and
the dude did it all because he tried harder than most people﻿.”
And I think that’s a very important point to remember when reflecting on Jobs legacy.
He didn’t just revolutionize one product category and quit.
He continued to revolutionize as many industries as he possibly could, something your typical
CEO would be lucky to achieve just once in their career.
Because if you look back at how long he actually served as Apple’s CEO and tally up the number
of product categories and industries he disrupted, you begin to understand just how impressive
his performance as CEO was.
He spent just 14 years as Apple’s CEO, and in that time managed to revolutionize computers,
music players, music stores, mobile phones, tablets, and even animated movies during his
time at PIXAR.
And that’s a resume that virtually no other entrepreneur has come close to matching.
So I think people who discount Jobs achievements are simply unaware of what exactly he accomplished,
or they overlook those accomplishments and focus instead on the negative aspects of his
personality, which we’ll cover later in the video.
Another trait that made Jobs so unique was his ability to predict what people wanted
before they even realized they wanted it.
And that’s exactly what Emiel333 Official brought up when he said “Steve Jobs understood
what people want.”
For example, if you had asked Apple II users what they wanted in their next computer, many
would’ve likely requested a wider variety of command prompts in the Applesoft Floating
Point Basic program.
Because no one could have ever imagined a computer like the Macintosh.
With a graphical user interface navigated by a pointing device called a mouse.
That’s why Jobs was fundamentally opposed to focus groups, which were commonly used
by tech companies in order to gauge what features and capabilities their next products should
include.
So instead of asking customers what they wanted, Jobs invented products that he knew they couldn’t
refuse, by using existing and emerging technology in ways very few could anticipate.
But he didn’t invent new and unexpected products for the sake of it, he only created
products that were vast improvements over the existing technology it replaced.
And that’s not only why he had such a big influence on so many industries, but also
why customers would look to Apple for the next big thing to surprise and delight them.
But there’s one more important reason why many people believe Steve Jobs deserves all
the praise and recognition he’s given.
And it has to do with his leadership skills.
Something Jose Hernandez mentioned, saying “One of the most important aspects of successful
businesses is having great leadership, people with true commitment, and belief in what they
do for a living.
That is what Steve Jobs brought to the table.
He was the force driving apple and in his belief he made the world a believer in the
brand…”
Because if you look at Apple’s biggest successes and their biggest failures, you’ll recognize
what drives the company to prosperity.
And it wasn’t Steve Jobs himself, but rather the culture he brought to the company.
He believed Apple had a moral purpose for existing beyond turning a profit.
He felt Apple was the only company integrating technology with the liberal arts, and that
combination is what made their products so accessible to everyday people.
And without that focus on the humanities, technology wouldn’t have played nearly as
big a role in the lives of so many people.
So Jobs really felt he was changing the world with every product Apple created, and this
culture he established at Apple is the reason why so many great people never left the company,
despite its downfall and near-bankruptcy in the 90s.
In fact, Steve Jobs had this to say when describing his return to Apple in 1997, “I had expected
that all of the good people would have left.
And I found these miraculous people…
I tried to ask this as tactfully as I could, “Why are you still here?”
And a lot of them had this little phrase, “Because I bleed in six colors.”
Which was the old six-color Apple logo.
And that was code for, “because I love what this place stands for.”
So it’s undeniable that Jobs brought a philosophy to Apple that inspired people to do their
best work, but it did more than that.
It gave the company a moral and creative blueprint to guide Apple’s products into the future,
even after Jobs death.
And that’s why Apple is still creating industry-leading products like the Apple Watch and AirPods
that continue to surprise and delight us.
So since we’ve discussed some reasons why Steve Jobs was not overrated, let’s hear
from other people who believe he was.
And one of those people is Aidan S. Who said, “He was an amazing visionary, yes, but he
was also stubborn, ungrateful, and mean to the people in his circle.”
I think that statement is absolutely true and a major reason why so many people despise
Jobs.
Stories about his tyrannical outbursts and emotional abuse have been told and retold
so many times that they’re impossible to ignore.
For example, back when the Bondi Blue iMac was about to be revealed in 1998, Jobs had
a problem with the way it appeared in printed advertisements.
So he called up his good friend and ad partner Lee Clow, and let him know exactly what he
thought the problem was.
Saying, “You guys don't know what you're doing.
I'm going to get someone else to do the ads because this is f–ed up.”
Clow eventually met with Jobs in person and showed him how the iMac looked in the print
ads compared to the original photos, and proved that the were in fact identical.
Which meant Jobs blew up on Clow over the phone for no reason.
Another, more popular story of Jobs being heartless to those closest to him, has to
do with his daughter Lisa.
Who was born to Chrisann Brennan when Jobs was just 23.
Jobs denied paternity of Lisa and refused to provide any financial support to her or
her mother Chrisann.
And considering Jobs was making millions from Apple at the time, it definitely makes him
look like a complete jerk.
Now Jobs eventually did end up giving them money, but the fact that he let his daughter
live in poverty for so long without helping out is pretty appalling.
And being reminded of this dark side of Jobs makes it difficult to appreciate the positive
impact he had in other areas.
Another common reason people think Jobs is overrated is because he doesn’t actually
make the products himself.
Brendan Smith left a comment saying, “It seems like he was just the face of the company.
He didn't really design much from what I've been told.”
And I’ve heard this sentiment repeated multiple times by people who despise Jobs.
They claim he simply had some ideas that he forced people beneath him to actually engineer
and create, while Jobs took all the credit.
And while this may sound accurate, it’s actually not how Apple works at all.
Because it was Jobs who said you should surround yourself with people who are better than you
and challenge each others ideas in order to figure out how to make the very best product.
Jobs knew he wasn’t the most talented designer or engineer.
But he did understand project management.
He knew how to foster a productive environment so that every designer and engineer could
work to their full potential.
And we know this to be true since Apple designer Jonathan Ive said it himself.
When he worked for Apple while Steve Jobs was absent in the late 80’s and early 90s,
he admitted the management wasn’t interested in giving him the resources needed to create
his best work.
Rather, they gave him limitations to ensure his designs were as cheap and easy to mass
produce as possible.
And that’s why Apple’s products were lifeless and uninspired during that period despite
the fact that Jonathan Ive, one of the most talented designers of our time, was designing
them.
It might be easier to compare Jobs to a movie director.
Because they don’t actually act, move the camera, play the music, or edit the entire
movie themselves.
But the success of the movie is almost entirely on their shoulders since it’s their responsibility
to make sure the process of creating the movie is efficient and yields the best results possible.
Now there is one other comment I want to feature that said, “He was just a sales person.”
And this idea in particular is commonly used to dismiss Jobs accomplishments.
People claim he wasn’t actually a tech visionary, he just knew how to market his products effectively.
But this argument doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Because Jobs wasn’t actually in charge of marketing, Chiat Day was.
And Apple continued to use this ad agency through Job’s absence from the company.
But good marketing alone wasn’t enough to sell products, that’s why Apple eventually
almost went bankrupt in the 90s.
So in Apple’s case, it doesn’t matter how much marketing you pump into a product.
If it’s crappy, it won’t sell.
But on the other hand, if you invest in great marketing campaigns that showcase an incredibly
great product, it can help boost sales since more people are familiar with it.
But being a good salesperson isn’t what builds trillion dollar companies.
Great products do.
So I understand that people have differing opinions on whether Steve Jobs was overrated
or not.
But I think it’s important to differentiate how Jobs behaved in certain situations, and
what he managed to contribute to the world through the products he made.
Because I can still watch a movie and enjoy it even if the director might’ve acted like
a jerk at some point the production process.
It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
I can feel resentfulness toward Jobs for the way he treated his daughter, while at the
same time respecting the work he produced while serving as CEO at Apple.
So that was a quick look at some reasons why Jobs was or was not overrated, and if you
want to vote and give your own thoughts on future topics like this one, don’t forget
to subscribe.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time!