Steve Jobs is an entrepreneur. And that is how history will long remember him. Not primarily as a fiduciary or an institution builder or an administrator, but rather as an individual who relentlessly pursued new opportunities. (1)From the first Apple computers to the breakthrough innovations of the past eight years, he has chased new possibilities without being discouraged by whatever obstacle he encountered. Over and over again he has turned his eye and his energy-and at times, it has seemed, his entire being-to what might be gained by creating a new offering or taking an unorthodox strategic path.
(2)That puts him in the company of great entrepreneurs of the past two centuries, each of whom-and especially Steve Jobs has been defined by the intense drive, tireless curiosity, and keen commercial imagination. That has allowed them to see products and industries and possibilities that might be . (3)Each of these individuals has also been extremely hardworking, demanding of themselves and others. All have been compelled more by the significance of their own vision than by their doubts. (4)Jobs came of age in a moment of far-reaching economic, social, and technological change that we now call the Information Revolution. He has had a sense-analytic and intuitive-that in a time of great transformation, a lot is up for grabs. Imbued with a perception of his own importance on a stage where everything from telephony to music distribution to consumers’ relationships with technology is being disrupted, Jobs felt there was simply no time to lose.
(5)This understanding has fueled the rapid-fire pace of his actions and his obsession with “What’s nest” in products, which may have also fed his often harsh, dictatorial, and somehow still-inspiring management style.
Jobs came of age in a moment of far-reaching economic, social, and technological change that we now call the Information Revolution. He has had a sense-analytic and intuitive-that in a time of great transformation, a lot is up for grabs.