Reality Distortion Field

I started reading for pleasure again. I hadn't read a book to entertain myself for about a year and a half. That's much too long.being a fan of Apple products it was inevitable that I would get around to reading The biography of Steve Jobs.

This isn't a book review.

There is no doubt the guy was a little crazy but he had a mission to make great products. He wanted them to look great, work great, and feel great. I think he succeeded most of the time. There can always be enhancements and as new technologies become affordable we will see more improvements but overall I think he did well in that regard.

Steve Jobs was a bit of a dreamer. He wouldn't have been successful if he didn't have Steve Wozniak by his side to make the dreams tangible. It was important that he had a very talented tech guy to make it happen in the beginning. Jobs could dream it up and figure out how to sell it. He demanded that it was built right and looked great. Woz figured out how to make it work. He was ahead of his time and could develop new products. Woz wasn't always there and wasn't a top level player very much but he helped. Ate the first product that launched it all, changed the world, and started the cash flow. Every great idea man needs a Woz to get him going.

I don't want to be Steve Jobs. He was brilliant and could get more out of people than they ever realized was possible. He could design products that people didn't know they needed. If he was going to do something he was going to do it right. These are all admirable but he was a bit of a tyrant, he would berate people and lacked basic social skills. That part I'm not so impressed with.

A big part of his magic was his reality distortion field. He could just make you believe the world was as he wanted it to be.

I don't think the Steve Jobs model will produce very many successful CEOs but I think it does prove that if you believe in yourself, are true to what you believe in and don't try to fit someone else's mold, you will be great in the world and a happy person.