Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs biography is a very engaging book. I am reading it slowly because it's the kind of read where I find it necessary to put the book down, then I ruminate with that hint of a smile in my eyes as I try to reflect, because for some unexplainable reason, I find there's some resonance. And you ask: Like what? Well, I'm talking about missed opportunities.

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple, there were a lot of people who would be millionaires now had they taken Jobs seriously when he went around asking for a loan so he could package and market Apple II and in return he offered a stake in his newly hatched company. Though Nolan Bushnell was already rich, (being the founder of Atari) he still remembers the missed opportunity when he didn't give Jobs the 50k he wanted to borrow, with a promise to give Bushnell a third of the company. With humor Bushnell says: "I was so smart, I said no. It's kind of fun to think about that, when I'm not crying."

Well, who would take Steve Jobs seriously when he was always walking barefoot and smelled foul? They literally had to put him out the door and tell him to take a shower. Mike Markkula, the 3rd man in the company and the number 1 investor, was averse to confrontation, so he brought in a president whose main duty was to reign in Jobs hygiene and attitude problem. But Jobs was focused, he knew what he wanted and most of all, he had the foresight to give us something we didn't know we need.

I can't wait to get to the part about his wife. And I can't wait to find out if Steve learned to shower after all. But let me tell you, I don't think I'd mind bathing Steve Jobs.