Inside Steve's Brain

Paradoxically, Steve Jobs continues to be one of the best known and yet least understood CEOs in recent business history. It is probably true that most of those who once worked or who now work at Apple Computer will learn more about Jobs as they read Leander Kahney's book than they knew previously. For years, they and others shared the opinions expressed in this brief excerpt from the Introduction: "Jobs is a control extraordinaire. He's also a perfectionist, an elitist, and a taskmaster to employees. By most accounts, Jobs is a borderline loony. He is portrayed as a basket case who fires people in elevators, manipulates partners, and takes credit for others' achievements. [Alan Deutschman, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Pages 59, 197, 239, 243, 254, 294-95 and Jeffrey S. Young, icon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, Pages 212, 213, and 254]. Recent biographies paint an unflattering portrait of a sociopath motivated by the basest desires - to control, to abuse, to dominate. Most books about Jobs are depressing reads. They're dismissive, little more than catalogs of tantrums and abuse. No wonder he's called them `hatchet jobs.' Where's the genius?" All or at least some of this is may be true and yet.... He is a "control freak" and yet "throughout his career, Jobs has struck up a long string of productive partnerships - both personal and corporate. Jobs's success has depended on attracting great people to do great work for him. He's always chosen great collaborators [as well as] "forged (mostly) harmonious relationships with some of the world's top brands - Disney, Pepsi, and the big record labels." Kahney also points out that "through judicious use of both the carrot and the stick, Jobs has managed to retain and motivate lots of top-shelf talent...and then given them the freedom to be creative and shielded them from the growing bureaucracy at Apple." As Jobs sees it, "My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay." I was especially interested in the material in Chapter 6 ("Inventive Spirit: Where Does the Innovation Come From?") because in dozens of recently published books about innovation, their authors' opinions vary (sometimes significantly) in terms of what it is and isn't, to what extent (if any) people can learn how to think innovatively, and whether or not innovation can be institutionalized. I was curious to know what Kahney's research (especially various interviews with Jobs and others) revealed about a company that is annually ranked among the most innovative companies in the world. For example, what's the system? Jobs once explained to BusinessWeek, "The system is that there is no system." When asked by Rob Walker (a New York Times reporter) if he ever consciously thinks about innovation, Jobs responded: "No. We consciously think about making great products. We don't think `Let's be innovative! Let's take a class! Here are the five rules of innov

Inside Steve's Brain was a fun and fast read. Author Leander Kahney did a fantastic job summarizing the thought processes Apple CEO Steve Jobs has gone through over the years. Whether it was the start-up period with Woz, when Jobs got tossed out of his own company, his time building NeXT and his subsequent return to Apple, it's all covered here. This is particularly remarkable given the small size of this book (less than 300 pages). I'm not an Apple fan but this is the second Jobs-related book I've read in the past several months. The other one was Option$, the parody by Fake Steve Jobs. While Option$ was more entertaining, of course, Kahney's book is quite engaging as well. His writing style makes you feel you were right there in the garage, the office or the boardroom setting he's currently describing. Here are a few of my favorite excerpts: British comedian Charlie Booker said..."If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that 'says something' about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe -- but not a personality." Regarding Apple employees...Despite the zeal, employees are distinctly un-cultish. They consciously avoid the cultish types. At a job interview, the worst thing a prospective employee can say is: "I've always wanted to work at Apple," or "I've always been a big fan." To explain why employees and coworkers put up with him (Jobs), critics invoke the Stockholm Syndrome. His employees are captives who have fallen in love with their captor. The (Apple) stores are insanely profitable. One Apple store can make as much money as six other stores in the same mall combined -- and can pull in almost the same revenue as a big Best Buy store, but with only 10% of the floor space. "We said, we want our stores to create an ownership experience for the customer," explained (Apple's Ron) Johnson. The store should be about the lifetime of the product, not the moment of the transaction.

If you're interesting in knowing more about how Steve Jobs has been managing Apple or Pixar, this book is for you! This book is NOT about Steve's crazy, nasty habits like always parking in handicapped spaces (although the book does mention some of his excesses). As a matter of fact, the author is a bit biased about Apple, but that doesn't impact on the reading (it's not like he tries to hide Steve's flaws either). This book is about how has Steve's personality had an impact on Apple's culture. How did he manage to orchestrate Apple's turnaround when he came back in 1997. How does he unleash innovation at Apple. As an added bonus the book contains a lot of tidbits about Apple / Pixar / NeXT history. A great read!

Most books about Steve Jobs ask: Genius or jerk? This book is different. Yes, you do get a fast-moving insider account of Jobs's impressive accomplishments, and learn fascinating facts about the development of Apple's signature products, including the ipod. But the focus here is on how Jobs does it. The author not only cracks that code, he translates it into practical tools that will be useful to anyone who manages people. Highly recommended.