Steve Jobs

Like many, I was touched by the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was about my age. Like me, he also spent many years in Silicon Valley. He was adopted and I adopted a child. He was a marketing guy and so am I. He was a billionaire and I am not. OK, I guess that is about all we had in common.

I met Steve about 25 years ago. After my Silicon Valley days, I took a tour on Wall Street with a company that helped other firms raise money in the capital markets. As it turns out, Steve's company, Pixar, was our client. Steve was there.

True to form, Steve was an arrogant perfectionist who demanded (i.e. screamed loudly for) "new" dry erase markers when he went to the whiteboard. He bullied my staff relentlessly and made some of them cry. He seemed to enjoy their misery. The IPO was successful and propelled Steve to billionaire status. For many years, our firm would brag about our role in the success of Pixar. Such is business.

Yet, I choose to remember as he really was. He was a jerk he who treated others poorly. Per his official biographer, Steve treated many people or, maybe, most people this way. He rationalized his arrogant and mean behavior because of his intense desire to make things better.

Or, maybe he was just a jerk.

John Bradley Jackson

Top Dog

The BirdDog Group