13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?

I was surprised the most on the background of Steve Jobs being raised by adopted parents, not finishing college, and not exactly knowing where the company of Apple was going to go in terms of progress.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I admire Steve Jobs the most by his ability to think outside of the box, but still stay true to the human emotion and make advances that made people feel comfortable using computers, like calligraphy, color schemes, and most importantly the GUI.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I didn't admire that he had a child with his girlfriend of few years and refused to accept that he had a illegitimate child and just named a series of Apple computers after her.

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

Steve Jobs encounters several adversities and failures throughout his career, but most specifically when he was kicked out of the company by his Board of Directors of the company. He left Apple and used his talents of graphic art and design to start a new company, one that would now be called Pixar.

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

Other competencies that I noticed the entrepreneur exhibited were his ability to convince people to buy his products and his foresight of how computers were going to influence our lives forever. 

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

One part of this reading that did confuse me a bit was how Steve Wozniak left the company and separated from Steve Jobs within Apple. I'm sure if the two stayed together, Apple would be an even bigger company than it is today.

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

I would first ask him which markets in today's world have high potential for growth and change because he always had a good sense of what was innovative and what people were ready to use in their daily lives. I would continue to ask him if he wanted to ever compete with Apple with a separate company when he got kicked out of his own because that is crazy to enter a separate industry and make it unique.

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 based on how Walter Isaacson illustrated it was learning about how a concept makes you feel and being able to make sure you were passionate about making a difference in someone's life with what you had created. I do share this opinion because I want to make an impact throughout the world.