1.
- What surprised you the most? Having never really researched or listened to much about Steve Jobs, I was really surprised to read about his early life. I never knew that Steve was put up for adoption because of the parents of his biological mother not approving of his biological father. However, what I think is most interesting about this is that his new adoptive parents are probably the earliest driving factor of how he became so successful. His father was an engineer and introduced Steve to engineering design and mechanics at an early age.
- What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I found that I actually admired Steve Jobs' entrepreneurial spirit and motivation the most. When Steve and his partner, Steve Wozniak, creating the idea for the combination of a computer, keyboard, and screen all in one- Wozniak wanted to give the idea away for free, yet the entrepreneur in Steve pressed that they could make money off of it -and they did.
- What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? What I least admire about Steve Jobs was his selfishness. Of course it a good to be a little selfish, like in the admiration I wrote above- it made him money and started one of the most successful companies, but there is a fine line to cross. When the girl that Steve Jobs was dating on and off got pregnant, he refused to recognize it as his own. I think this was a signal that he was getting to caught up in chasing his dreams that he wanted absolutely nothing to get in the way. He also continued to display selfishness, when he first was seeing success in profit- Jobs refused to give away any stocks to employees while his parter, Wozniak gave away most of his. He also berated employees for being stupid because he saw the world in black and white- people were either smart or they were idiots.
- Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? I found so many example of Steve Jobs overcoming adversity and failure in the book. His abandonment in early life, having ideas stolen from him at gunpoint, his betrayal by Bill Gates, competition from IBM and Microsoft- and so much more. Steve Jobs powered through them all, he just kept going. I think it was his obsession with perfectionism that allowed him to pursue his goals relentlessly despite adversity and failure.
2.
- What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? I think the biggest competency that Steve Jobs had was his actual mind. Steve Jobs was a visionary, and had the ability to see, create, and pursue like few others have ever had in the history of entrepreneurship.
3.
- Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. While reading the biography, I was quite confused on why Steve Jobs kept hiring people above him. The book says that he felt he was too immature to run a company well, but that is so contradictory to the behavior of him. Jobs not only had more maturity above his years, but like I said before- he was selfish. I'm confused as to how a man so selfish and success driven was able to swallow the pride to hire somebody above him.
4.
- If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would they be? If I was able to, I would ask Steve Jobs at what point, if there was a point, did he realize he was meant to fully invest himself in entrepreneurship? I would also ask him if he thinks the entrepreneurial drive and motivation he had could be taught? I would ask these questions because with failure practically being a synonym to entrepreneur, I find it interesting to see what point you just decide you are going to go for it, and never stop when failure comes. I also would be interested in knowing if the characteristics of an entrepreneur could be taught, because so many people, myself included, could benefit from this.
5
- What do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I think Steve Jobs is one of the best examples of hard work, and therefore I believe that he would be a total advocate for working your hardest. However, I think Steve Jobs would hold the opinion that you should only work hard where you think it matters, hence him dropping out of college despite his extreme intelligence. I agree with the first part, hard work will lead you to success, but I have an obsession with perfectionism and competition that does not allow me to pick and choose where I work hard.
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