A Self-Marketing Genius—Steve Jobs
A Self-Marketing Genius—Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs turned launching a product into an art form—and into a powerful instrument for self-marketing.GETTY IMAGES
Hardly anyone knew Steve Jobs as well as the software engineer Andy Hertzfeld, who was a leading member of the original Apple development team.
As he puts it, Steve Jobs was convinced he was special, one of the chosen ones: “He thinks there are a few people who are special—people like Einstein and Gandhi and the gurus he met in India—and he’s one of them.”
Rebel And Guru
On several occasions, Jobs stressed, “I never wanted to be a businessman, because all the businessmen I knew I didn’t want to be like.” He saw himself primarily as an artist, a rebel and a guru.
“As every day passes, the work fifty people are doing here is going to send a giant ripple through the universe”—it was with words such as these that he motivated his team of developers.
He inspired his employees by instilling in them the idea that they weren’t just working for any old company, designing and producing useful products for consumers, but that they were part of a greater mission.
The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, ended up as one of Jobs’ fiercest rivals, although they did collaborate closely for a number of years.
Gates once observed, “Steve was in ultimate pied piper mode, proclaiming how the Mac will change the world and overworking people like mad, with incredible tensions and complex personal relationships.”
Jobs uttered one of his most legendary sentences in 1983, when he succeeded in convincing John Sculley, president of the Pepsi-Cola division of PepsiCo, to become Apple’s new CEO.
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” Jobs asked.
Making A Dent In The Universe
