What we could learn from Jobs
Steve Jobs, the former Apple CEO who was responsible for the company’s renaissance died after a quiet and long struggle with cancer. As a disclaimer I must admit I have been in a long standing monogamous relationship with Apple for about 7 years now and I am absolutely obsessed. Whenever I am having a bad day I will go to the stores, stand there, and look at all the products with amazement. After a few minutes with a sparkling new IPad I feel better, it is so bad that I go play with products that I already own but always in amazement. So it was no surprise that I ran out to get a copy of the new Walter Isaacson biography “Steve Jobs.” After finishing it I am still digesting it, but throughout the book I could not stray to far from the question would America have given Steve Jobs the opportunity if he was black and as a black man is Jobs’s success relevant to me?
I don’t in any way suggest that Steve Jobs was less brilliant because he was white, but the question that bothers me is can a Black man be as obstinate and callous and still be given the same opportunities in corporate America.
I was surprised after reading the biography at the genius of Jobs, but equally startling was his complete insanity. He was allowed to double cross friends, steal ideas, blatantly lie or as his friends call it fall into his “reality distortion zone.” Jobs would rarely give credit yet he always asked for more from his employees and yet that was considered apart of his brilliance.
I try to imagine an African American crying to other executives when things are not going their way, or stealing the credit away from their chief designer. Would a group of white men and women allow me, an African American, no matter how brilliant to fire them and replace them with my own friends who would give me carte blanche? I don’t think so. Would they even let me be a CEO after finding out that I denied my first child and then later tried to name a computer after the child before I claimed her as my own?
As an African American I wonder what leadership advice I should take from the book, since in all likely hood I couldn’t lead the same way. My answer is vision. If you have a business, be it a product or service you should learn to perfect it. Be obstinate. Never let the imperfections slide, your customers deserve the very best product at the very best price. If you find perfection unpleasant and you don’t want to do the hard work then you are in the wrong business.
With Jobs perfection was the standard, if you are a small Black business owner like myself perfection should also be our standard. It is unlikely even in the Obama era that African Americans will be allowed to be completely unruly to board members given our race, but we can control what reaches our consumers and create products and provide services that can be amazing.
