The debates
How he treated colleagues
His own biographer said he “could be very, very mean to people at times.” He was known as a demanding perfectionist. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell called him difficult but valuable. Accounts of his rough edges dominated coverage after his death.
He told Isaacson he wanted to work with people who demand perfection and that his team was brutally honest. Isaacson argues the rough edges were integral to how he worked. Tim Cook said the Isaacson book did him a disservice. Becoming Steve Jobs argues he matured into a better leader.
CBS 60 Minutes: Steve Jobs revelations (23 October 2011) · Wikipedia: Steve Jobs · Harvard Business Review: The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs (April 2012) · Macworld: Apple gives stamp of approval to new Jobs biography (23 March 2015) · Wikipedia: Becoming Steve Jobs
Denying his daughter Lisa
Lisa Brennan was born on 17 May 1978. He publicly denied he was her father and refused support until the courts stepped in. A DNA test established paternity and he was ordered to pay $385 a month. In 1983 he told Time that 28 percent of American men could be the father.
After leaving Apple he acknowledged Lisa and apologised to her and her mother. He admitted the Apple Lisa was named after her. Near the end of his life he told her “I owe you one.” In her 2018 memoir Small Fry she says she has forgiven him. His widow and sister said they read it with sadness.
Wikipedia: Lisa Brennan-Jobs · CBS 60 Minutes: Steve Jobs revelations (23 October 2011) · MacRumors: Lisa Brennan-Jobs on Small Fry (23 August 2018) · CBS San Francisco: Family statement on Small Fry (28 August 2018)
Foxconn and supplier labour
A cluster of worker suicides hit Foxconn’s plants in China in 2010. Foxconn was a key iPhone maker. A 2012 audit by the Fair Labor Association found average weeks above 60 hours at peak and some unpaid overtime. It found 64 percent of workers said pay did not meet basic needs.
In 2010 he wrote that Foxconn’s suicide rate was below the Chinese average and “We are all over this.” In January 2012 Apple became the first technology company to join the Fair Labor Association. It said it had run more than 200 supplier audits. Apple backed the audit’s recommendations and Foxconn agreed to cut hours to legal limits while protecting pay.
Wikipedia: Foxconn suicides · Fortune: Steve Jobs on Foxconn suicides (1 June 2010) · IndustryWeek: Apple opens doors to labour monitors (13 January 2012) · NPR: Auditor finds serious issues at Foxconn (29 March 2012)
The stock-options backdating inquiry
In 2006 an Apple board inquiry found option grants on 15 dates between 1997 and 2002 that appeared to precede their approval. It said he was aware of or recommended some favourable grant dates. One 7.5 million-option grant to him was misdated. In 2007 the SEC charged the former general counsel and settled with the former CFO.
He apologised for problems “which happened on my watch”. The inquiry found he did not benefit and did not appreciate the accounting implications. He had surrendered the misdated grant. The SEC took no action against Apple because of its cooperation and did not charge him.
Al Jazeera: Apple sorry for stock scandal (5 October 2006) · PlanSponsor: Apple CEO aware of some stock option grants (29 December 2006) · The Spokesman-Review / AP: Jobs cleared over options (30 December 2006) · SEC press release 2007-70 (24 April 2007)
The no-poach agreements
Emails showed him pressing Google not to recruit Apple engineers. In 2007 he asked Eric Schmidt to stop Google’s recruiters and Google said the recruiter would be fired. In 2010 Apple, Google, Adobe, Intel, Intuit and Pixar settled a Justice Department probe. A class action for about 64,600 workers ended in a $415 million settlement approved in September 2015.
The defendants denied wrongdoing. They said the deals were bilateral and protected collaboration and that there was no overarching conspiracy. Apple declined to comment. He died in 2011 before the case reached trial.
NBC News: Jobs told Google to stop poaching workers · NBC Bay Area: Google and Apple settle tech workers’ lawsuit (24 April 2014) · Insurance Journal / Reuters: Judge approves $415m settlement (4 September 2015)
Overview · Life · Ideas · Books · Videos · Debates · People I learn from