Leading Apple With Steve Jobs: Management Lessons From a Controversial Genius

Preface

Why I Wrote This Book

Like many others, I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news of Steve Jobs’ passing. A friend of mine called on my cell phone as I was driving my 15-year-old son home from high school. He said, “Did you hear the news? Steve just died.”

Immediately afterward, my phone rang again. This time it was a San Francisco radio station, wanting to interview me. I did the interview, but could hardly make it through. I was breaking up. After the call, I started sobbing and had to pull over to let my son drive. I hadn’t cried since my mother died.

I started thinking about first meeting Steve, this hippie-like guy who struck up a conversation with me in a restaurant and a few minutes later wanted me to be his vice president of human resources at Apple and, at the same time, a member of the original Mac development team. I remembered being almost overwhelmed trying to keep up with Steve while helping him run Apple. Observing Steve close up changed my entire outlook on how to run a business and how to energize people to their highest level of creativity.

In my previous book, The Steve Jobs Way, I outlined the powerful leadership skills Steve had and developed along the way at Apple, NeXT, Pixar, and back at Apple, and, just as important, his ability to bounce back from the major failures. That book, published in the United States and in 27 foreign countries, led to hundreds of responses and inquiries from around the world for more information. Those ...