13A- Reading Reflection (Steve Jobs)

··       What surprised you the most?

The constructive use of drugs by Steve Jobs. This came as a surprise to me, as I wasn't expecting to learn so much about Jobs’ extracurricular activities. 

·       What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

His hard work ethic and willingness to learn. I also admire his willingness to try new things and find inner peace through the use of psychedelic drugs. 

·       What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

Although, it is admirable that Steve Jobs was able to accomplish all these things after consuming psychedelic drugs, this is not a good precedent for people with anger issues, such as Jobs’. Jobs was removed from Apple for a period of time to work on his anger and how to manage this, motivating Jobs to find a way to use this as fuel for his career and company aspirations. 

·       Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Steve Jobs did not struggle with Apple, but he did struggle with managing his anger. Steve Jobs was a very violent and highly angered man, which would come at the expense of his employees. If things were not done exactly the way Steve wanted them done, he would show his dissatisfaction with his employee’s work, throwing objects, screaming and breaking things around the office. Jobs was removed from his position shortly after, leaving his #2 guy in charge of the company's most important role. 

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

·       Steve Jobs showed a few entrepreneurial competencies that everyone who wants to succeed in business should show. Steve Jobs was as hardworking as they come, he wanted to achieve greatness in his field and knew that hard work was the only way to get there. Steve Jobs was simplistic, yet innovative. Steve believed that simplicity was essential. When creating his Apple products, he wanted to ensure that his products would be simple to use, and easy to learn. Finally, Steve Jobs was a perfectionist. Jobs showed this through his uncontrollable anger. This showed his passion and desire for his product to be the best.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

·       Identifying the period when “Macintosh” became “Apple.”  In the reading about Jobs, there was nothing that was really hard to understand or interpret, but this time period between when the company transformed from Macintosh to Apple is a bit confusing. 

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

·       “What did you learn most about yourself during your failures? And which failure in particular fueled your future success?”

·       “What advice would you give a hard working college student and hopeful entrepreneur that doesn't know what exactly he would like to do just yet?”

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

·       I believe Steve Jobs’ opinion of hard work would be doing something well enough and doing it enough times to get it perfect. I believe Steve Jobs was a genius in his own respect, and although he struggled with anger issues and a lack of restraint, he was passionate about his company and products. Most people will tell you, a lot of geniuses are crazy, Steve Jobs does not fall outside of this. Steve Jobs created a different 21st century for us all, and for the better I believe.