Rich On Money

Steve Jobs, the most successful entrepreneur of his generation

God bless the security analysts. They always seem to get it wrong in the end. Recently Steve Jobs resigned as the Chairman of Apple for medical reasons. Jobs has had perhaps the most extraordinary business career of his generation. It will take time and distance to properly assess his contributions, but if we harken back to previous generations, the comparisons are there. I am going to talk about a few comparisons, but first think about this. 

Jobs basically created the personal computer, then participated in dominating the marketing of it, and created the most elegant operating system to this day. On top of it all he managed to co-own Pixar the animation people who obsoleted everything Disney did to such an extent that Disney had to buy the entire company to make up for lost ground. He then comes back with the iPod, iPad 10 inch tablet, iPhone, and revolutionizes communications and media in this country. In the process he amasses an $8 billion personal net worth, and manages to live a highly private personal life. 

Perhaps unknown to most admirers, Jobs was forced out of Apple, the company he founded. Back in 1985 the Board backed John Scully as the boss after Jobs had brought Scully into Apple. Scully essentially stabbed Jobs in the back, which is not unusual in terms of corporate politics. What’s interesting is that most corporate types would not have survived the departure. For Jobs however, it was really the beginning of the next phase of his career. Most of his achievements came after he left Apple for the first time. Now for the comparisons with others like Jobs. 

Howard Hughes – Both men did it their way, with complete disregard for what the rest of us were thinking at the time. Both were impervious to public opinion or even public tastes. Jobs did however have an uncanny feel for public tastes and the future. Both became fabulously wealthy as a result of their pursuits.