Table of Contents
Step 1: Don’t be like Steve Jobs.
Down Memory Lane
The first iPhone came out in 2007. Whether or not you were part of the Apple ecosystem before, your tech life would never be the same. The iPhone forever changed the way we texted, talked, and interacted with our apps and with each other.
If you never used an iPhone, it still affected you for it irrevocably changed human-computer interaction. The QWERTY keyboard, for example, would all but disappear from mobile devices. Soon, people would expect to touch a screen to interact with a machine.
Ive’s Letter
Jony Ive’s WSJ article commemorating Steve Job’s 10th death anniversary was a reminder of how far we’ve come in the intervening 13 years. I would highly recommend reading it. Not only is it a masterclass in honest, vulnerable writing, but it is a unique insight into the relationship between two geniuses.
What Made Jobs Special
Many people like to quote Jobs, show how they or someone they know is like him, or more often than not how their products are out of a Jobs-ian playbook. They cherry-pick parts of his behavior, try and channel it themselves, and hope it will have the same outcome. The latter especially doesn’t work, and it never will.
Most conversations about Jobs revolve around copy-friendly quotes taken from Google, some flavor of “it worked for Steve Jobs, so it should work for us.” The suggestion is to follow the quoted advice, and you’ll be just as successful. Yet, as his exhaustive biographies and famous Stanford address show, Job’s success was anything but formulaic.
A few well-written books exist on specific aspects of his skills (and a funny TED talk on attempts to be like him), but the flip side of being a cultural icon is also to be profusely and poorly imitated. Imitations that show up on every social media feed promoting 8-second flash-thinking and not the deep thoughtfulness that his accomplishments encourage.
Jobs was always himself, and for his entire life, he tried to be a better version of himself. Like his products, it was his whole personality that made him a transformative figure. It was not a one-dimensional trait like the way he trained himself not to blink during conversations. That unblinking eye, for example, would be comical rather than soul-piercing if he didn’t back it up with active listening and a keen intellect.
Finally
So learn from Jobs, learn to be like him in his focus, attention, and work ethic, but don’t blindly imitate him. If nothing else, read Jony Ive’s piece to understand why that would be futile. Be yourself. That’s the best way to be like Steve.
