Steve Jobs: was he really that great?

 Steve Jobs: was he really that great?

I have to confess to having fallen into a trap last week. It’s a trap that I constantly dig my clients out of at the very start of my work with them….as it’s a very damaging trap. The trap is the whole ‘don’t speak ill of the dead’ malarchy.  And I did this in my blog about Steve Jobs, mentioning only what an inspiration and amazing person he had been.

Then I was reminded of this trap by an article I read (which you can see here if you like) called ‘What everyone is too polite to say about Steve Jobs’.   It talks about his flaws, failings, and negative impact on the world – actually with quite a list – and includes this passage:

But a great man’s reputation can withstand a full accounting. And, truth be told, Jobs could be terrible to people, and his impact on the world was not uniformly positive.

The article was enlightening.  And you know what – as much good as he did, he also did some pretty rotten things too.  So I climbed back out of the trap…and maybe I can give you a hand up too.

Now the reason people get uncomfortable with this sort of thing is that we think it is disrespectful to talk about the bad in them once they have died.  I would like to challenge that by saying, on the contrary, that being honest about them is the best way to honour them. For two very good reasons:

1.  So he can be remembered as he really was

We have this real tendency to want to see only the good or the bad in others. As an extreme example we don’t want to admit that Hitler ever did a single good thing in his life, as if to do so is to forgive any of the bad. We would rather believe that his entire life from birth to death was one long catalogue of evil, with not one good deed in sight. Consider for a second how incredibly unrealistic that is. Likewise we would like to imagine Gandhi did only angelic deeds, every second of every day, from the second he was born.  I mean seriously…only good or bad? Impossible.

Here’s the thing. We all have a good side and a bad side.  Start with the easiest person for you to understand – yourself.  You know there are wonderful things about you.  You also know there are some pretty dark things about you.  The bad stuff we do our best to hide, hoping that others can’t see it. I’ve got news for you though – you aren’t hiding it that well. We do see it. We still love you. (So relax).

Steve Jobs is the same. As much as he was a creator, a world-changer, an inspiration, I bet he also had it in him to be one heck of a piece of work. Don’t we all?  He will be loved by some. And loathed by others.  Check it out – he’s human. Who knew?!

To want to ignore the fact that he may have been a brutal boss who was hell to work for, exploited workers in poor countries, etc, etc, etc, is to suggest that we have to forget these things to love and remember him. In fact it totally dishonours him by suggesting that we need to change him into some superhero figure who did nothing but good, rather than who he really was, for him to be able to leave an amazing legacy. Sheesh, give the man a break already.

Honour him and the work he has done and the foundations he has laid by being open to the good and the bad he did in the world. Because he did both. Just like you do. Just like I do.

2.  Do it for the next generation

There is so much talk about how much Jobs has inspired millions and will continue to inspire millions.

If you want him to be able to inspire the next generation then let them see that he is no different from them. How can they be inspired to be like someone who is not made of the same stuff as them? If they cannot see his flaws, his failings, his mistakes, the damage he did…but they can see all this in themselves…how will they ever be able to believe they can achieve such greatness?

We aren’t so inspired to be like Superman because he is inherently different to us (literally alien)…so it can’t be done.  And he is imaginary.  Much like your picture-perfect-never-did-a-bad-deed Jobs.

Let today’s and tomorrow’s youth see that Steve Jobs was human – just like they are. So they know that they can achieve great change in this world – just like he did – even though they aren’t always perfect, inspiring, caring, and positive  – just like he wasn’t.

Let them see all the best of the best of Steve Jobs…as well as the worst of the worst….so they know he was an ordinary-extraordinary human too.  Just like them.

Tagged as: Steve Jobs, steve jobs negatives