Page 47 - The Apple Experience

Jobs’s top executives understood that they had to treat Jobs with respect
but that they were also expected to push back on his ideas and argue their

points. “I realized very early that if you didn’t voice your opinion, he would

mow you down,” Tim Cook told Isaacson when he was still Apple’s chief
2
operating officer. “He [Jobs] takes contrary positions to create more

discussion, because it may lead to a better result. So if you don’t feel

comfortable disagreeing, then you’ll never survive.”

Although Jobs could be sharp in his criticism, his behavior was oddly
inspiring because in many cases with his team, he wasn’t being mean to be

mean. He was challenging them to push beyond their self-perceived limits.

Jobs believed that by expecting people to do great things, they would do great

things. If a person was calm and confident and Jobs could see that the person

was passionately devoted to the user experience, he would respect that team

member and his or her opinions.

In one YouTube video that recently surfaced, Jobs is seen holding an
internal meeting with employees at NeXT, the computer company he built

after leaving Apple in 1985. He talked about the importance of “reiterating”
3
the vision, which he did a lot. Again, we see why all inspiring

communications begin with the passionate pursuit of a bold, intoxicating

vision. During the meeting, one employee took Jobs to task for a punishing

production schedule. The meeting took place in 1986, and Jobs was

concerned that a failure to deliver the product in the spring of 1987, eighteen

months away, could lead to the company’s failure. The employee argued that

compromising the quality of the product to meet a subjective deadline didn’t
make sense. The woman was strong, forceful, articulate, and knowledgeable.

Jobs looked at her, nodded, and had a comeback. The conversation grew

heated but gave others the confidence to voice their opinions as well. By the