27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

The book I read was Steve Jobs, by Walter Issacson.

1.     The thing that surprised me most about Steve Jobs is that he didn’t make the majority of his money from Apple. Surprisingly, he made the largest percentage of his money from his investments in the company, Pixar. His initial $5 million investment eventually became worth about $50 million.

·       The thing I most admire about Steve Jobs is his unwillingness to ever give up. Even after being forced to resign as Apple’s CEO in 1985, Jobs didn’t quit. He went on to work with a company called NeXT and later on, he worked with Pixar. Finally, in 1997, Jobs was renamed CEO of Apple.

·       The thing I least admire about Steve Jobs is his harsh personality. Jobs was not the best people person. He always knew what he wanted and he never wanted to let anyone get in his way. Steve Jobs was known as being someone who was very hard to work with. He always wanted everything his way and never wanted to compromise.

·       Steve Jobs definitely encountered adversity and failure. After being forced to resign as CEO of Apple, Jobs had to pull himself together and figure out what to do next. If not for his work with NeXT and Pixar, job might never have regained his position as Apple’s CEO. Everyone admired his work at these other companies, especially people over at Apple. They admired him so much that they wanted him back.

·       Steve Jobs was extremely smart and hardworking. He wasn’t afraid of failing and he was never afraid of pushing people out of his way in order to be successful. While jobs was viewed as someone with a harsh personality, it definitely played a role in his eventual success. 

2.     The one part of the reading that was confusing to me was the part about his investment with Pixar. The book never really mentioned where Steve Jobs got the $5 million from that he invested into the company. I didn’t realize Jobs made that much money from his position at Apple. I thought he used a lot of his money to create Apple in the first place.

3.     If I could ask Steve Jobs two questions, I would ask him if he could do it all over again would he, and I would ask him what he thinks the future might hold for Apple. I would ask him these two questions because I believe they are both very interesting questions. Would he want to go through the rollercoaster all over again? Where does he see Apple in 10 years? Unfortunately, we will never get his answers.

4.     I believe Steve Jobs thought hard work was the most important thing in life. Job worked extremely hard at everything he did in his life. He failed many times throughout his life, but he kept working hard and it eventually paid off. I definitely agree with his opinion because I also believe I must work hard for everything I want in life.