You know, just the other day I was watching a documentary. Its title was ‘Inside The Mind of Adolf Hitler.’
Amongst other things, it listed down the personality traits that made Hitler… well, Hitler. It seems that the man was anal-retentive, immensely demanding, and fiercely opinionated. He also believed himself to be some sort of saviour.
All of this got me thinking, “Great, I’m already set on the right path to triggering another World War myself.”
Then I read this article today: Wired - How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong.
Having pondered through Steve Jobs’ character, I felt enlightened. And somewhat delighted too, seeing that I share the personality traits of a tech-industry leader, especially one whose oral spits are weighed in gold and whose corporate moves are shadowed down to the nanometer.
Plus, as a CEO, I’ve always admired him. (I’d put him right next to Larry Ellison. Sorry, Bill.)
The Fruity (And Allegedly Evil) Soothsayer
What’s great about him: Jobs’ would not stop at being a mere perfectionist, who “would scrutinize everything, down to the pixel level.”
No.
He simply transcends that level:
… his autocracy is balanced by his famous charisma — he can make the task of designing a power supply feel like a mission from God.
Imagine that.
Getting other people to feel all pious and righteous for doing something important that most people would never pay attention to. (I offer a more palatable analogy of the above for comparative purposes: “… he can make the task of feeding the cats feel as important as the dissemination of a prophetic message.”)
And the capacity to inspire other people to do their job with a “messianic zeal”? Whoa.
And I absolutely love this part, considering that I’ve been plastered with the label numerous times over the course of my life:
“Steve proves that it’s OK to be an asshole,” says Guy Kawasaki, Apple’s former chief evangelist. “I can’t relate to the way he does things, but it’s not his problem. It’s mine. He just has a different OS.”
Apparently, Steve Jobs is just like yours truly.
Conclusion
If things go the way they should, then in 10 year’s time, not only would I be an ultra-charismatic self-acclaimed messianic leader of a multi-racial army (whose soldiers each have injected into their ears a 1-terabyte zPod of my own make and direction), I’d also have triggered World War 3 and inspired several peace treaties.
Not bad, not bad.