Steve Jobs Biography

Yesterday I finished reading Steve Job's biography and I must say that it is the best biography I have ever read.  I found the initial part of the book very very interesting. The really liked the way the book discusses Steve Jobs thought through, his adoption, his inspirations from the counter culture, dropping out of college with a firm belief to do something better, his dislike for authority, the cross over from a hacker to a business man, the work in garage and his passion for perfection. I felt exhilarated while reading the start-up story. It is really the small-small things that make such a huge difference in perception of a company- something that Steve and Apple excelled at. One thing that is very striking in the book is the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Silicon Valley in particular and the US in general. Form getting industrial designs to getting a precision work done in a factory, things just fall in place so fast in the US!! Wonder when such a thing would come to India!!

Steve's style of leadership, his passion for work-often mistaken as arrogance and his outburst at times reminded me of my father's style of working. Perhaps the harshness brings out the best in people and is very much required especially when the company is young and growing.

One of my biggest takeaways from the book is the reinforcement of my belief of the relevance of creativity/imagination in business or rather as Steve Jobs calls it - the marriage of liberal art and technology.

In the end I agree with what Steve Jobs says- starting a company just to earn money or to get rich is not the way real and lasting businesses are created. The focus has to be on the product or service- that is the core of the company, because creating such a company takes a lot of effort and time. Only when you have gone through the whole journey you will create something valuable - as valuable as Apple perhaps. An I believe that this is the real foundation for a great company.