The Steve Jobs We Don’t Remember
Much has been said in recent days of Steve Jobs and his legacy on Apple, the technology world, and American culture in general. However, the life of Steve Jobs was not without its flaws. Without question, Jobs was a one-of-a-kind innovator, motivator, a technological whiz, and a genius of his time. On the other hand, though, Jobs was not always the most virtuous and fair leader.
Possibly the most well-known and most notorious aspect of the company has been its airtight secrecy. Apple had consistently stated that Jobs was “fine” and not in failing health. In fact, Jobs himself once stepped on stage after taking a leave of absence, saying that “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. While there was nothing wrong with keeping Jobs’ personal life in private, lying to, or censoring, the general public was probably not their best idea. Some of the more extreme instances of this aggressive control have cropped up in recent years.
In 2005 Apple sued an independent blogger for accurately posting information about the as-yet unreleased Mac Mini and would only relent when he agreed to shut down his site for life. The most recent, and disturbing, incident involved a lost iPhone 5, in which a California man named Sergio Calderon, was thought to have possessed an iPhone 5 prototype. Apple representatives, accompanied by some plainclothes police officers who in actuality were just Apple representatives giving the impression they were law enforcement officers, raided his house and threatened him with immigration trouble if he did not comply (he was not found to be in possession of the prototype and denied ever having it). It’s lucky that the impression was only implied, as a declared impersonation of a police officer is generally considered a misdemeanor and can be a felony in some cases.
Of course, others have had their memories largely overshadowed by Jobs passing. The very same day that Steve Jobs died, an African-American civil rights leader, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Martin Luther King’s right hand man and one of the founding members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, died. Mr. Shuttlesworth was bombed and beaten by police during the protests in Birmingham in the early 1960s and still managed to change the world. Perhaps Huffington Post writer Keli Goff said it best when she said:
“Steve Jobs definitely made my life better. But Fred Shuttlesworth made my life possible. Without him you probably wouldn’t be reading this piece because I would not have grown up in the Southern neighborhood that I did and therefore would not have had the educational opportunities I had or the job opportunities I’ve enjoyed.”
Where was the attention towards Shuttlesworth’s death? Surely he had as great an impact, if not greater, on the landscape of the world? People around the world and around the social networking universe were quick to jump with their reaction to Jobs’ death; the outpour for Shuttlesworth’s death amongst campus and around the media was far less. Yet it can be argued that his impact was no less important.
Then there was the very dark side to Apple’s operations under Jobs—its work conditions. Sliding under the radar amongst the hype of Apple’s product line was the fact that Apple condemned its own factory conditions in 2011 after finding 91 workers under the age of sixteen working its factories in China. One of its factories reported eleven suicides due to sub-par working conditions, a factory called Foxconn that employs 420,000 Apple workers [although it must be said that China’s suicide rate predicts around 80 for such a large amount of people –ed]. The plant is open 24/7 to meet Apple’s high demand; every morning the Chinese national anthem is played and employees must sleep three high in the bunks, and it doesn’t stop there: “With other company slogans painted on workshop walls – including exhortations to ‘achieve goals unless the sun no longer rises’ and to ‘gather all of the elite and Foxconn will get stronger and stronger’ – the employees work up to 15-hour shifts.” The full article, posted here, chronicles the atrocities that were present in the Chinese factories.
Despite the budding controversy surrounding Jobs , there is no denying his genius. He was certainly a ruthless leader, but he was also a genius innovator and a marketing genius; the fact that he received such an outpouring of sympathy is a testament to that. Perhaps President Obama said it best when he said that “there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” Case in point: I learned about his death on my iPhone and am writing this article on my MacBook. There is no doubt that he was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in recent history. The question, instead, becomes: will his behavior, good and bad, act as a template for future success at Apple?
About Jack Hopper
Jack Hopper covers finance and politics for NBR. Besides NBR, he is also Internal Affairs Chair at Ayers CCI.
How interesting to read an unbiased, fact based report on one of the less well known innovators of our time. It is refreshing to see facts and opinions not found in regular reporting.