Jobs as Einstein

The first thing “i" thought of when I heard that Steve Jobs died last night was that this as the end of an era. I’m not sure what the era will be defined as, but the passing of a guy that has affected the world this dramatically is the societal equivalent of seismic plates shifting underfoot.

Then this morning Carol said he was a genius, like Einstein. Like Einstein?! My first response was NFW, and not just as a knee jerk reaction because my wife said it ;-) Einstein “the brand” is hallowed ground. But the more I thought about it, what other single person has done so much over the last 25 years to change the way people live their lives? To change the way companies do business? If you go back to the advent of the personal computer he’s there with Bill Gates, and then Jobs pulls away.

He starts by creating the iPod, which becomes the standard in size, shape and ease of use for all handheld devices (remember Motorola flip phone?), and revolutionizes the music industry in the process. Then he adds a phone to it and creates the first all-in-one that actually works (think TV/VCR, or those TV/Cassette/FM radios you used to get when you opened a bank account). And on his way out he blows this up in size, like putting it on steroids, and cracks the code on the tablet. Even as we speak, companies, whole industries, are becoming completely portable, transforming the speed and efficiency of business around the world. And that efficiency translates into another reason why unemployment is where it’s at that gets overlooked, companies simply don’t need as many people to do the same amount of work. And along the way he’s changed our vocabulary, putting a one letter prefix in front of every word implies it’s technologically savvy (I thought of putting an i in front of every word in this but you get the point).

So once I got my head around all his tangible successes, I started to reflect on some of his intangible achievements;

- Beauty: who’s done a better job of marrying technology and modern design? Unless you fly to Copenhagen where else do you see that? To have any additional beauty in the world is a great thing.

- Leadership: where else have you seen one man shape something so large and so directly? As the book is written about him over time it’ll be interesting to see who actually did what, but at the end of the day it was his name on the line. Often you hear of leaders who are great visionaries, but to be great at execution as well (save the occasional prototype left in a restaurant) is rare. And to do it consistently over such a long time span…who does that? You kinda wonder what would happen if he was President? Of course he could never have that level of autonomy which is probably a big reason why he and others like him didn’t/don’t go into politics…

- Loyalty: for somebody that famous and that ill to be able to keep that level of privacy. The fact that no one leaked to the media that he was on his death bed when there’s so much focus on him, that respect is real proof of great leadership.

- Mortality: he was 56 years old. I’m 53. To be able to do what he did? You can’t help on some level to think from a career perspective, “what the f&%k have I accomplished?” Of course you can’t look at it that way, you’ve just gotta have gratitude for what he created, appreciate all that he accomplished, and use that as fuel to go out and live your dreams, as he apparently did his.

So yes, I guess he’s an Einstein, only instead of changing the way we look at the world, he changed the way we live in it daily. A guy who created a legendary brand has become the new “brand” for genius. What he accomplished was“Jobsian”.