The 12 Years that Changed Steve Jobs

About this episode

The episode explores the lessons Steve Jobs learned during his 12 years of failure after being ousted from Apple and how these experiences shaped his future success.

We all know the Steve Jobs who came back in the late 1990s and saved Apple from becoming a footnote. And we've all heard the story of how, in 1985, he was pushed out of the company he'd created. What we don't know is what happened in between. Geoffrey Cain spent years reconstructing the decade Jobs spent outside Apple. NeXT spent years losing money. His co-founders left. His investors lost faith. His fortune nearly disappeared. At one point, he was a weekend away from shutting the company down. Somewhere in those failures, Jobs learned how to become the leader Apple would eventually need. This is Steve Jobs before he became Steve Jobs. ------ Chapters: (0:51) Why Steve Jobs Was Pushed Out of Apple (3:04) Steve Jobs' Failed Coup Attempt to Oust CEO (4:33) The Failure of Macintosh II (8:27) Starting NeXT Computers (9:34) The Story Behind NeXT's Iconic Logo (11:38) A Perfect Cube: The Impossible Design of NeXTcube (13:50) What Movies Get Wrong About Steve Jobs (14:02) The Ultimate Trait Steve Jobs Looked For in Hiring (14:59) Decision Making By Intellectual Combat (16:40) Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field (17:25) The Flaw that Almost Destroyed Steve Jobs (21:25) How NeXT Software…

People in this episode

Host: Shane Parrish

Guest: Geoffrey Cain

Topics covered

• Steve Jobs
• failure
• leadership
• Apple
• NeXT
• innovation

Keywords

• Steve Jobs
• failure
• NeXT
• leadership
• Apple
• Pixar
• innovation
• business
• technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Apple, NeXT, Pixar, Macintosh II

Books & works: NeXTcube

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