Under the category of “Steves”, Jeopardy recently asked for contestants to name one of the Steves who co-founded Apple Computer. Most “pop culture” fans recognize Steve Jobs as the young visionary who started a successful computer company in his California garage. Jobs had the wisdom, and the persistence, to hire and cultivate talented people, even as Apple employee Number 1. (The other Steve, Steve Wozniak, is most credited with being the engineer behind Apple’s first computers, the Apple I and the Apple II. As Apple employee Number 2, “The Woz” admits that he is the guy that likes to build “cool things”, and credits Jobs with having the true business mind.)
As the head of Apple Computer, Jobs challenged the dominant players in the computer business. At a time when most computer companies were focusing on building computers for business and government contracts, Jobs saw a niche in the personal and educational markets. With innovations such as a sleek looking case, expansion slots and a price of just $1298, the Apple II became the first commercially successful personal computer. In a quest to build “insanely great” products, Apple developed a much different computer, the Macintosh, the first computer with radical design considerations such as a mouse and a graphical user interface (as opposed to text). “The Mac” was introduced to the public during the now famous “1984” Super Bowl ad; Jobs brought technology to the masses.
In the book Outliers, Gladwell suggests that individual success is often much more than we believe; Americans, in general, tend to like Horatio Alger “rags-to-riches” stories. Gladwell however, finds it more than an interesting coincidence that numerous Silicon Valley billionaires were born in the early 1950’s. For example, MicroSoft founders: Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer, along with the Apple co-founders: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were all born between 1950 and 1955. Was it simply Jobs’s good fortune to be born at a historically beneficial place and time, or was it his vision, persistence, enthusiasm and other traits that were the main contributors of his enormous success?
As the head of Apple Computer, Jobs challenged the dominant players in the computer business. At a time when most computer companies were focusing on building computers for business and government contracts, Jobs saw a niche in the personal and educational markets. With innovations such as a sleek looking case, expansion slots and a price of just $1298, the Apple II became the first commercially successful personal computer. In a quest to build “insanely great” products, Apple developed a much different computer, the Macintosh, the first computer with radical design considerations such as a mouse and a graphical user interface (as opposed to text). “The Mac” was introduced to the public during the now famous “1984” Super Bowl ad; Jobs brought technology to the masses.
In the book Outliers, Gladwell suggests that individual success is often much more than we believe; Americans, in general, tend to like Horatio Alger “rags-to-riches” stories. Gladwell however, finds it more than an interesting coincidence that numerous Silicon Valley billionaires were born in the early 1950’s. For example, MicroSoft founders: Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer, along with the Apple co-founders: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were all born between 1950 and 1955. Was it simply Jobs’s good fortune to be born at a historically beneficial place and time, or was it his vision, persistence, enthusiasm and other traits that were the main contributors of his enormous success?
References:
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The Story of Success. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
Young, J. & Simon, W. (2005). iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
