Preface

Even before the March 2015 publication of Becoming Steve Jobs , the press anticipated that last year would be “the battle for the identity of Steve Jobs.” Our book, the opening salvo of this supposed battle, became a national bestseller. A documentary on Jobs was released in sixty-eight theaters in September, and later broadcast on CNN in January 2016. But the most expensive effort was Paramount’s theatrical movie, Steve Jobs , which stars Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet and premiered in October 2015 to generally positive reviews.

The movie, to the surprise of many, bombed. How could a movie about the world’s most famous business leader and visionary, featuring an all-star cast, an estimated $35 million publicity campaign, a 2,047-theater launch, and a script by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin, tank? (The film grossed less than $30 million worldwide before it was yanked from theaters three weeks after its release. By contrast, The Martian , which was released at the same time, had a global box office topping $300 million during that same period.) What went wrong?

For one thing, even Apple fans are tired of hearing so much noise about whether Steve Jobs was a “good” or a “bad” person. The Sorkin movie reinforced the classic stereotype of Steve Jobs as a tortured genius incapable of empathy, who berated people mercilessly into delivering the best work of their lives. Its three acts hammered this home in fictionalized backstage accounts of the launch of three products: the Mac, the NeXT computer, and the iMac. The acting is brilliant, and the dialogue snappy. But (perhaps because of its claustrophobic setting) the movie provides no answer to the fundamental question about Jobs: if he remained the quasi-sociopath portrayed in the movie throughout his life, how did he manage to succeed so brilliantly at Apple, creating breakthrough after breakthrough, and permanently changing the way we interact with one another, after failing to do so in his early years at Apple? Human stories are about change, and the Steve Jobs of Aaron Sorkin does not change. The man we follow in Steve Jobs could never have created what became the most valuable and, for many Apple fans, the most beloved company on the planet.

We wrote this book with the goal of showing how Jobs changed, and how that change affected his performance as a leader, innovator, and businessman. The fact is, Jobs, due to a host of influences, matured and even, arguably, mellowed a little over time. He didn’t care if the world at large recognized this change. He himself never spoke of it. But colleagues and friends who knew him over the decades witnessed it, and we have tried to chronicle that slow but profound evolution and education.

Over the course of his life, Jobs became more patient, more considerate, and more loving, particularly to those in his small inner circle. This gradual transformation is one aspect of why he was so successful in reviving Apple when he returned to the company in 1997. He was wiser, a better strategist, and more capable of focusing on what mattered. Always whip smart, he remained an autodidact, a perpetual learner. He also developed remarkable peripheral vision, which helped him lead Apple into new industries like music and telecommunications. His maturation was slow and complicated, with many hiccups along the way, moments where he remained as belligerent and stubborn and awkward and slighting as ever. Jobs, famously, didn’t look back. He moved as fast as he could into the future, with the kind of speed that guarantees some rough passages.

Jobs launched the personal computing era, and the mobile computing world that still defines our technological experience today. He is a figure of lasting historical importance. As the years go by, the idiosyncrasies of his personality will become less interesting. What will matter is what we can learn from the way he saved Apple and transformed computing not once, but twice. That story, a tale of insight, collaboration, risk, and the way personal change can alter business success, is the account we try to chronicle here.