Out of all the stories that were posted on “First time I met with Steve Jobs…” article on Fast Company, the following were awe-inspiring and hence wanted to share:
Mike Evangelist, former director of product marketing for applications at Apple:
I worked at Apple from 2000 to 2002. I had occasional interaction with Steve as part of my job. But this one event sticks out.
It was early on November 30th, 2001, and I was sitting at my desk in 1 Infinite Loop reading the news. I was stunned when I saw a headline saying the George Harrison had died. As with many others of my generation, his music had been an important part of my life for many years. It really hit me hard. I sat there in a dark contemplative mood for quite awhile, feeling quite alone in my grief. But then I realized I wasn’t alone; many of my colleagues at Apple were Harrison fans, and I was sure they’d also feel the need express some of their feelings at this moment. This gave me an idea…one that took considerable courage on my part: I would suggest to Steve that Apple put some sort of tribute on the home page. Up to this point, all my dealings with Steve had been strictly business, and I was afraid he’d think I was some kind of sentimental looney. But my feelings pushed me forward…I sent Steve this note:
Then I waited nervously.
Several hours passed with no response, so I concluded that he wasn’t interested and sort of put it out of my mind. But that wasn’t the end of it. Later that evening, I’m back at my desk and get a call from Tom McDonald (the Final Cut Pro product manager) who tells me he had just come from a meeting with the web design group and they were all working overtime tonight because of me. "What? What do you mean?" I asked. Turns out that Steve did not think it was a stupid idea, as I feared, but instead had put the web team to work on coming up with something suitable.
So, late that night, after a couple rounds back and forth with Steve to choose the best photos, the Apple home page became this:
It was one of my proudest moments at Apple: to be part of a company that lets its heart guide its actions. And the company is built that way because of Steve.
Jonathan Berger, Apple intern, via Blogspot:
Steve got to about his 4th question from the audience [at an Apple Town Hall in 2000] and by this point almost every single intern had their hand up. He gestured in my direction but I could tell he was actually looking at an intern in the row right in front of me. I got a bit aggressive and barged ahead with my question anyway before the other intern could begin. Steve smiled a bit in apology to the intern I had just trampled over but let me continue. I was nervous. "Steve, many years ago you left Apple to start Next. But recently you returned to Apple. Why did you come back to Apple?"
[Jobs answered:] "When I was trying to decide whether to come back to Apple or not I struggled. I talked to a lot of people and got a lot of opinions. And then there I was, late one night, struggling with this and I called up a friend of mine at 2am. I said, ‘Should I come back, should I not?’ and the friend replied, ‘Steve, look. I don’t give a fuck about Apple. Just make up your mind,’ and hung up. And it was in that moment that I realized I truly cared about Apple."
Mark Parker, president and CEO of Nike, via Fast Company‘s 30 Second MBA:
We had worked together on a Nike-Apple collaboration called Nike+. So we took what Apple knows and Nike knows, and brought new technology to the market. Anyway, long story short, he said, "Congratulations. It’s great [that you've been named CEO]. You’re going to do a great job." I said, "Well, do you have any advice?"
He said, "No, no, you’re great." Then there was a pause. "Well, I do have some advice," he said. "Nike makes some of the best products in the world–products that you lust after, absolutely beautiful stunning products. But you also make a lot of crap."
He said, "Just get rid of the crappy stuff, and focus on the good stuff." And then I expected a little pause and a laugh. But there was a pause, and no laugh at the end.
Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering, via Google+:
One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said "Caller ID unknown". I choose to ignore…The message left was from Steve Jobs. "Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss" it said.
"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve. "I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject "Icon Ambulance". The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.
Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products…In the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.
Akshay Kothari, co-founder of Pulse:
About a year ago, my co-founder Ankit Gupta and I were graduate students at Stanford watching Steve Jobs’s WWDC keynote in a dorm room. Before releasing the brand new iPhone 4, he mentioned a few apps that he really liked. The first app he mentioned was Pulse, which he called a "wonderful reader if you haven’t seen it.” We were just two regular students who had been working on Pulse for a class project, and suddenly, our guru, our role model, gave us five seconds that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Besides building the most valuable technology company in the world, Steve Jobs has helped start hundreds of companies by giving them a phenomenal platform. Pulse is one of them, and we’re grateful for his support.
Thanks to Fast Company and the contributors for sharing those great stories.
ciao
mags
