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Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader

Brent Schlender, Rick Tetzeli, Marc Andreessen · 2 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader" by Brent Schlender, Rick Tetzeli, Marc Andreessen.
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Amazon Summary
The #1 New York Times bestselling biography of how Steve Jobs became the most visionary CEO in history. Becoming Steve Jobs breaks down the conventional, one-dimensional view of Steve Jobs that he was half-genius, half-jerk from youth, an irascible and selfish leader who slighted friends and family alike. Becoming Steve Jobs answers the central question about the life and career of the Apple cofounder and CEO: How did a young man so reckless and arrogant that he was exiled from the company he founded become the most effective visionary business leader of our time, ultimately transforming the daily life of billions of people? Drawing on incredible and sometimes exclusive access, Schlender and Tetzeli tell a different story of a real human being who wrestled with his failings and learned to maximize his strengths over time. Their rich, compelling narrative is filled with stories never told before from the people who knew Jobs best, including his family, former inner circle executives, and top people at Apple, Pixar and Disney, most notably Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, Robert Iger and many others. In addition, Schlender knew Jobs personally for 25 years and draws upon his many interviews with him, on and off the record, in writing the book. He and Tetzeli humanize the man and explain, rather than simply describe, his behavior. Along the way, the book provides rich context about the technology revolution we've all lived through, and the ways in which Jobs changed our world. A rich and revealing account, Becoming Steve Jobs shows us how one of the most colorful and compelling figures of our times was able to combine his unchanging, relentless passion with an evolution in management style to create one of the most valuable and beloved companies on the planet.
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
> the success of large businesses is more due to the value created by employees.

The obvious example is Steve Jobs. He turned around two floundering companies - Apple and Pixar - into immensely valuable companies, without changing the employees. You might argue that one was luck, but two? One right after the other? and the two were totally different businesses? You've got a lot of 'splaining to do about that.

See "The Making of Steve Jobs".

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Steve-Jobs-Evolution-Visiona...

In fact, read any history book that focuses on one person or business, and find one that became a billionaire by blundering about.

As for them not being self-made, why didn't their makers, if they were so smart and endowed with resources, become billionaires? Are they so generous?

I enjoyed Becoming Steve Jobs. Covered the period of Jobs' return to Apple and also his growth of Pixar. His more mature phase, where he was able to nurturr organizations and had less of the unhinged asshole side about him.

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Steve-Jobs-Evolution-Visiona...

Haven't read it, but I've heard there is a section of Creativity Inc where Ed Catmull talks about working with Steve and how they operated.

Finally, there's a site that occasionally surfaces here which had stories from the original Mac team. Folklore.org I think? That was a more raw period with more of a mix of immaturity in there.

But all of those have a variety of firsthand accounts.

⬐ machinecoffee
Folklore.org is an excellent site, I loved reading about the early days of the mac and gained a great respect for the first Macintosh team.

In my opinion they really moved the needle on ubiquitous computing for the masses, and did a great job on their first attempt.

⬐ jwdunne
I enjoyed that book. I recommend it. Details how the Steve Jobs that left Apple wasn't the same as the one that returned, along with the journey of how he got there.

The Pixar stuff in there was really interesting. Creativity Inc has been on my reading list because of that book.

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