So I’ve been following Isaacsons Biography on Steve Jobs. Im reading the part where they are developing the Macintosh. I had also just recently read a report on Narcissism. In the book, there are so many cases of him getting angry at people that as a joke, the company made a “Stand up to Steve Jobs award”. The guy clearly did not take criticism well. He isn’t smitten with himself as actual Narcissists are but he would take other peoples ideas and give them 0 credit for it. As a matter of fact, he made a quote we hear a lot on it, “Good artists copy, Great artists steal”.

But you have to say this, Steve Jobs was dedicated to what he did. He loved what he did. He believed in what he did and he didn’t want other people changing what he thought was right. If people loved him, he’d like them back. But if someone didn’t like him, they were fired and yelled at. People who told him how amazingly great his products are, are called narcissist supply and those who didn’t are narcissist abuse. He deemed these people useless and he publicly bashed them. This bashing caused him to look better.

However, this surprisingly wasn’t bad for Jobs, it was what made Apple. If someone from the non-rebellious business world came and took Apple from Jobs without him caring, Apple would have died years ago (and it almost did exactly because of this). But he was a fighter and made two more companies before returning again to Apple to save it. If someone had built something outside of Jobs standards we wouldn’t have had the products we have today. If he hadn’t hardened his crew to be afraid of him and have them do everything he said, Apple, again, would have flopped. He built the company the way it is today, because he scared people into making the future even if it wasn’t how they saw it. Steve Jobs, of course, isn’t a bad guy. He couldn’t have been if millions around the world love him. He wasn’t, he was a control freak. He correctly saw the future, he knew the future and he was just harsh on those who went against what he saw. He predicted 30 odd years ago, we would have computers that were small enough to be the size of books in your lap. That’s right he correctly guessed there would be laptops. He made it so that they were made.

Apple being a hierarchy like it was allowed it to grow. They had a tough leader, and they became insanely great because of his harshness, his need for perfection. Apple, for the future years to come, will follow his ideals. This will ensure their future, him being a narcissist isn’t all bad, he hardened his crew to make the best products in the world.
Thanks for reading,
Joe