CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 6:16
Laurene Powell Jobs's Introduction and Making Something Wonderful
David Senra opens by reading the introduction by Laurene Powell Jobs to the free book Make Something Wonderful. He ties it to Steve's 2007 idea that making something with care and love is a way of expressing appreciation to humanity, and contrasts it with Steve's disdain for Microsoft's soulless products.
- •The Steve Jobs Archive offers the book free online
- •Steve in 2007: making something with care and love transmits appreciation to the rest of humanity
- •In the Lost Interview Steve called Microsoft's products third-rate and compared them to McDonald's
- •Steve was not motivated by money
- 6:16 – 12:08
Intro Themes: Edwin Land, Self-Imposed Rigor, and the Rainbow
Senra goes line by line through the introduction. He links arts-and-technology to Edwin Land, rigor imposed on oneself to Kobe Bryant, and 'how things ought to be' to Dee Hock, and he notes the value of reading biographies that show people stumbling.
- •Steve learned the arts-and-technology idea from Edwin Land
- •Kobe Bryant: others' expectations will never be higher than his own
- •Steve's rainbow quote on life's brevity
- •Dee Hock's advice to design for how things ought to be
- •Marc Andreessen on the world being malleable
- 12:08 – 17:41
Growing Up: Workbench, Ham Radio, and Dropping Out
The book begins with Steve's childhood in the Bay Area. Senra reads about his father's workbench, the electronics lessons from a neighbor, his early love of reading, and his difficulty with school and college.
- •His father gave him a section of the workbench at five or six
- •Heathkits taught him that things around us are human creations, not mysteries
- •His mother taught him to read before school
- •Authority at school nearly beat the curiosity out of him
- •At 19 he said he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life
- 17:41 – 24:47
Early Apple and the Macintosh Vision
Senra covers Leslie Berlin's overview of the 1976–1985 period and Steve's own account of the Apple I, selling his VW bus, the Byte Shop order, and being turned down by HP and Atari. He also covers how the Macintosh was seen as a form of love.
- •Steve and Woz were part of a new generation building small, cheap machines
- •They funded the company by selling a calculator and a VW bus
- •The Byte Shop order of 50 assembled computers
- •HP and Atari both declined
- •Steve described the Mac team's work as a form of love
- 24:47 – 31:36
Young Steve's Communication and the Aspen Design Speech
Senra reads Steve's first national press appearance at 22 and his 1983 Aspen speech. In it, Steve spots a market full of second-rate products and argues that computers deserve the design attention given to cars, as society and computers are out on a first date.
- •At 22 Steve explained personal computers by analogy to the camera
- •Steve spotted markets full of second-rate products
- •People would spend more time with computers than with cars
- •Books let him read Aristotle and Plato without intermediaries
- •He closes the book with a note about putting something back into the pool of human experience
- 31:36 – 35:37
Studying History and the Macintosh as the Telephone
Senra shows how Steve exposed himself to the best of human work and borrowed freely. He read the Macintosh through the telegraph-versus-telephone analogy, placing his products in historical perspective.
- •Good artists copy, great artists steal
- •Steve studied Bell, Ford, and others
- •Telegraph required about 40 hours of Morse code to learn
- •The Mac was the first telephone of the industry
- •Repetition is persuasive
- 35:37 – 40:38
Getting Pushed Out of Apple and Choosing to Keep Building
Senra covers Michael Moritz's views and the 1984 interview on aesthetics and mistakes, plus Steve's Newsweek reflections after being forced out. Despite having a fortune, Steve said he wanted to build things with talented people.
- •Moritz says Steve effectively founded Apple twice
- •Quality takes little more money, just time and persistence
- •Steve hoped to weave in and out of Apple over his life
- •He chose to keep making things rather than retire
- •His yardstick was that future computers be as good as the Mac
- 40:38 – 46:37
NeXT, Pixar, and the Decade of Difficulty
Senra covers part two of the book, 1985–1996. Steve started NeXT, bought Pixar, funded it for years, streamlined both companies, and saw overnight successes arrive after long struggles. He also reads a NeXT headcount memo and Steve's 1991 Reed College talk on character built in bad times.
- •Both NeXT and Pixar ran into trouble
- •Steve invested about $60 million of his own money in Pixar
- •Toy Story and the NeXT sale to Apple for $427 million
- •Memo urging fewer people so staff remain doers
- •Character is built in bad times
- 46:37 – 51:31
The Andy Grove Email Exchange
Senra walks through the email exchange in which Steve demanded payment from Intel for Pixar's secrets. Andy Grove pushed back on friendship and reciprocity, and Steve reversed his position 180 degrees.
- •Steve first asked what Intel would give Pixar for its secrets
- •Andy Grove said friendly companies help each other and it balances out
- •Steve changed his position and agreed to help Intel
- •Senra connects it to Michael Jordan on listening
- •Steve said he cared about being excellent, not right
- 51:31 – 58:45
1996 Interview: The Web, Failure, and Corporate Culture
Drawing on a 1996 interview, Steve predicted the web would become direct-to-consumer commerce and spoke of failing without fear. He diagnosed Apple's lost differentiation, described post-PC devices, and said ideas don't follow the organization's hierarchy.
- •Steve predicted the web would enable commerce and communities
- •Not being afraid to fail
- •Apple's problem was evaporated differentiation
- •Post-PC devices as a long-held idea
- •No hierarchy of ideas mapping onto the hierarchy of the organization
- •Work and life as the same thing
- 58:45 – 1:05:02
Palo Alto High School Speech: Don't Be a Career, Blaze Across the Sky
Steve's graduation speech urges creativity through diverse experiences, warns against 'career' thinking, and treats birth and death as the endpoints of the rainbow. Senra adds his own observation that founders often regret building companies they no longer enjoy.
- •Creativity is connecting previously unrelated experiences
- •Don't be a career
- •Founders often regret growing companies into things they dislike
- •The journey is the reward
- •Regrets are things you didn't do, unlike mistakes
- 1:05:02 – 1:09:13
Lessons from Disney and Steve's Hiring Philosophy
Steve discusses editing before making, as Walt Disney did, and the durability of storytelling. In the interview in In the Company of Giants he stresses recruiting great people, judging by results and potential, and pushing people to do better.
- •You must edit film before you make it
- •Storytelling outlasts technology
- •He spends 20% of his time recruiting
- •Judge experienced people by results and others by potential
- •He criticizes candidates' work to see who pushes back
- •The CEO's job is to get people to stretch beyond their best
- 1:09:13 – 1:25:25
Returning to Apple: Focus, Marketing, and the Hierarchy of Skepticism
Part three covers Steve's return in 1997. He tells how he decided to come back, cut the product line, defined marketing as values via Nike and Think Different, handled the Newton protest, and laid out his hierarchy of skepticism as Apple recovered.
- •Andy Grove's 'I don't give a shit about Apple' crystallized Steve's choice
- •Product roadmap cut by 70 percent
- •Marketing is about values; Apple believes passionate people change the world
- •Welcoming the Newton protesters with coffee
- •Apple's market cap rose from $1.8 billion to $4 billion
- •Apple's hierarchy of skepticism
- 1:25:25 – 1:28:26
Emails to Himself and Excellence as a Habit
Senra highlights Steve's notes to himself on Apple's reason for being and the Aristotle quote about excellence as a habit. He ties these to Steve's habit of moving on to the next thing after something works.
- •Apple as the bridge between mere mortals and high technology
- •Emails reveal the evolution of his thinking
- •Aristotle: we are what we repeatedly do
- •Steve's advice to do something else wonderful rather than dwell
- 1:28:26 – 1:43:43
Mentors and Management by Values
In a 2003 interview with Leslie Berlin, Steve talks about being mentored by Bob Noyce and calling Andy Grove and others for lunch. Senra reflects on the obligation to pass on knowledge, then covers Steve's Stanford talk on ambushing customers in retail, great people, and management by values.
- •Noyce mentored a young Steve and they became buddies
- •Steve asked older entrepreneurs for lunches and all said yes
- •Optimism and passion are central to innovation
- •Apple Stores were designed to ambush the other 95 percent
- •Management by values: agree on the destination, then argue about how to get there
- 1:43:43 – 1:55:41
Drafting the Stanford Commencement Address
Senra reads Steve's emails to himself and the Stanford address. They cover meeting Laurene, starting Apple with nothing to lose, remembering death, dropping out, calligraphy, connecting the dots, and loving your work.
- •You can't plan to meet the people who will change your life
- •Reading dead people's biographies removes the illusion of having something to lose
- •Looking in the mirror each morning and asking if today were the last day
- •Calligraphy class led to the Mac's typography
- •Keep looking and don't settle
- 1:55:41 – 2:00:45
iPhone, All Glory Is Fleeting, and Closing Letters
Senra covers Steve's 2007 talk on building the iPhone because everyone hated their phones, Bill Gates's remark about building products for yourself, and the 'All glory is fleeting' reply. The book ends with Steve's note on dependence on humanity and his resignation letter, and Senra closes with how to read the book.
- •The iPhone came from hating existing phones, not market research
- •Bill Gates says Steve builds products he wants to use
- •Reply to the Beethoven of business: All glory is fleeting
- •Note on dependence on other people's work
- •Resignation letter recommends Tim Cook
