Flawed Genius

STEVE JOBS'S IMPRESSIVE, MESSY CAREER

- Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan

January 9, 2007. San Francisco, California. Steve Jobs walked onto the stage in front of a cheering crowd. Wearing his signature black turtleneck and blue jeans, he waited for quiet. The crowd held its breath.

“We’re going to make some history together today,” he said. Then he introduced the iPhone.

Two Sides to the Story

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) was a hero of the tech world. But it wasn’t always this way.

Jobs, the designer of some of the world’s most popular products, made serious mistakes, too. Jobs’s career spanned three decades. He changed the way people do business and connect with family and friends. But he also hurt people close to him. He cofounded Apple. It’s responsible for iPhones plus iMacs, MacBooks, and iPads, among other things. But he also lived the nightmare of being fired from his own company.

Karen Blumenthal (1959–2020) was a writer and editor who examined the life and career of Jobs in her 2012 book, Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Through research and interviews, she learned that some people considered Jobs to be confident and creative. Others saw him as stubborn and deceptive.

“A lot of people who are successful have this two-sided personality,” Blumenthal told us in 2018. “Their positives are also negatives. They are so determined they will stick with something too long. But they also keep pushing until they get it right.” Do Jobs’s successes outweigh his mistakes and failings?

Key Characteristics