Less than one month after I started university, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died of cancer. What followed this news though was the publication of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs.
In my first year of study I spent a lot of time meeting business people, going to talks by entrepreneurs and different leaders, but I can safely say that no other single book or experience made such an impact on me. It’s effect may have been so prolific as I am studying business and computing, almost exactly the skill set required by Jobs in his early years.
No other resources or manual was so successful in describing the complete story behind such a huge success. Too often we just read small snippets about success on blogs (like this one) and fail to get the complete picture.
Because of this, and his success, I believe Jobs’ biography should be compulsory reading for all business or design students, or simply anyone with any entrepreneurial inklings. It’s magnificent completeness explained the fantastic thinker that jobs was, along with his rather large imperfections and vices.
I was going to go as far as to suggest every student in relevant courses should do an assignment as a book review, but that may be a step too far, especially considering my university’s library doesn’t have a single copy of the book. It may be unrealistic to think every student should be handed the biography like some form of Hitler Youth Handbook, but if you are student or involved in any form of management, leadership, creativity or business, you should put this book to the top of your reading list.
I could go through the main lessons I learned from Steve Jobs journey, from drug use in India, to running Disney and Apple Computers, but then that would just waste time that you could be spending reading the book!