Steve Jobs

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar.

"We started out to get a computer in the hands of everyday people, and we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."-Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is well-known as a successful and innovative Entrepreneur. But by his own definitive published statement, Jobs was both an Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur! Steve and Apple made new Technologies available for the masses was material improved by the creativity and innovation of Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s Chairman, was specifically helpful in popularizing the term “entrepreneurship.” In a September 30, 1985 “Newsweek” article Jobs said of Entrepreneurship within Apple,

“The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as entrepreneurship… a group of people going, in essence, back to the garage, but in a large company.”

                                                       

Earlier that year, the February 4, 1985 TIME Magazine’s article, “Here come the Entrepreneurs” discussed the entrepreneurial spirit. The article included the creation of Apple, Saturn within General Motors, as well as entrepreneurship ventures within AT&T, Data General, DuPont, and Texas Instruments.

As a side note, Apple Computer itself was potentially an entrepreneurial venture, as it was an outgrowth of two big corporation employees. Steve Jobs had worked at Atari and Steve Wozniak (“Woz”) worked at Hewlett Packard part-time when he and Steve Jobs were first experimented with creating “personal computer.” Because of his employment agreement with HP Wozniak actually had presented his prototype “personal computer” to an HP executive. Fortunately for “Woz” and Jobs the HP Executive unilaterally rejected the idea with a comment to the effect of “what would ordinary people do with a computer?” On hearing the good news of the HP rejection Jobs is reported to have said, “We’re on our way!”

Later, in the early 1980’s Steve Jobs and his handpicked group of twenty Apple Computer engineers separated themselves from the other Apple employees to innovatively and entrepreneurially create the Apple Macintosh Computer (the “Mac”). Some ay that this creative, entrepreneurial and very independent group of entrepreneurs verged on becoming a “cult” within Apple Computer.

The MAC group, under Steve Jobs’ personal leadership, operated totally independently and without interference from anyone at Apple. Some who were familiar with the situation commented that Jobs and his Band of Engineers were allowed to play “without adult supervision” to successfully and independently using entrepreneurship to create the Apple “Mac” Computer. (Hint: Apple’s, CEO, John Scully, and the Apple Board of Directors).

This separate Apple entrepreneurship venture would ultimately compete with Apple’s mainstay products. This competition was part of what ultimately led Apple’s CEO John Scully along with Apple Board Director venture capitalist Arthur Rock to become displeased with Jobs leadership style and his Entrepreneurial independence. Scully along with venture capitalist Arthur Rock later led the Board fight to fire Steve Jobs (which John Scully later admitted was mistake on his part). Fortunately, several years late Steve Jobs later returned to save Apple as its Chairman until his death 2012.

Entrepreneurship, sometime called Corporate Entrepreneurship, comes from the idea of using entrepreneurial ideas, innovation, and start-up business techniques within a large (or medium sized) organization.

To be a successful entrepreneur takes much more than just creativity or an idea. The successful entrepreneur has to be willing to take real risks at sharing and pushing a unique idea. An entrepreneur has to be willing to go into work focused on a mission and be willing to be fired at any moment in defense of their entrepreneurial objective. Steve Jobs clearly demonstrated that virtue.

  

“Entrepreneurship has been called the ‘secret weapon for success’. It has been used in high tech firms such as 3M, Anaconda-Ericsson, Apple Computer, AT&T, Corona Data Systems, Data General, DuPont, GE, Genentech, Lockheed, Prime Computer, Rubbermaid, Sony, Texas Instruments, Toyota, and other successful firms!” (quote from Dr. Haller’s 2009 published entrepreneurship book, “Entrepreneurship Success: A PR1ME Example”)

The term “Entrepreneurship” has become part of the business lexicon for the last thirty years. The TIME and Newsweek articles were both published in 1985. But three years earlier, Howard Edward Haller’s completed formal academic case study and Master’s Thesis documented the terms “entrepreneurship” and “corporate entrepreneurship.” Haller successfully defended his June 1982 Masters Thesis which was an Entrepreneurship Case study. He studied, researched, and wrote about the Super Mini Computer firm, PR1ME Computer Inc. (1977 to 1980). Haller’s Master’s Thesis research was published by the University in 1982. (Dr. Haller’s 1982 University published entrepreneurship academic research and case study is cited in Wikipedia.org’s History of Entrepreneurship.) Then three years later, the “Entrapreneuring” term was popularized by management consultant Gifford Pinchot III in his book “Entrapreneuring” which was published in 1985. Dr. Howard Haller’s recent 2009 published entrepreneurship book “Entrepreneurship Success” is additionally cited by Wikipedia.org in their History of Entrepreneurship.

Thanks to Steve Jobs, the Ultimate Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur, for a wonderful solid string of innovative products including, but not limited to: Apple Computer, Mac, iPod, iTune, iPad, iPhone, iCloud, Pixar and much more.