If you’re a fan of Steve Jobs and streaming Netflix documentaries, then you are in luck my friend.
You only have a few more days to check it out, but make sure you find some time to watch Steve Jobs: One Last Thing. This isn’t as detailed as some of the autobiographies or Jobs movie with Ashton Kutcher, but you will find candid recollections of his life from some of the people who knew him the best.
From childhood friends to key players in the entertainment industry, Jobs left an amazing impact during and even after his life.
Instead of focusing on certain statements or facts, I want to highlight a few things from the documentary that people may not know. Of course, when you watch One Last Thing you will learn even more, but this is just a little teaser to make sure you watch it before it leaves Netflix steaming.
1. Kicked Butt in Four Industries
“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” Steve Jobs
Jobs started off building computers, but it’s almost hard to digest how successful he was in so many other arenas. Now, we all knows Jobs wasn’t a guy who was necessarily in the trenches building computers or designing software. He knew bits and pieces, but his real talent was pushing people to reach things they would have never known they were capable of without his direction.
Some people liked how they could seamlessly send emails from a BlackBerry, and other people liked the keyboards on flip phones, but you just sort of went along with what was available and you could afford back in the day. That completely changed with the iPhone. People scoffed at the lack of a keyboard and just thought it was an iPod that could make calls, but Jobs and Apple completely revolutionized the cell phone market. I couldn’t imagine someone telling me in 2005 that people would spend days in line and pay $600 dollars for a phone. Yet….
Aside from dominating the computer, phone and movie market during his stint at Pixar, Jobs was also able to revolutionize the way we consume music. He realized the appeal of downloading music, but he also knew that he had to make sure that the artists were compensated. Jobs was able to get people to buy into downloading and paying for music and that was no small task.
It’s pretty amazing that a guy who started off his business in a garage was able to have such a reach and impact over so many different industries.
2. If You’re Going to be a Jerk, Produce Results!
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.” Steve Jobs
I think it’s well known from interviews and recounts of Apple employees that Jobs was not always the most pleasant person to work for. We also hear this in the movie, but it delves a littler deeper what it meant to really know Steve.
We hear that the major difference between Bill Gates and Jobs was that Gates was a better friend, but Jobs was more fun to hang out with. There are also tales of how Steve would seduce you to get what he wanted, and then he either spent the rest of the time ignoring people or screaming at them.
This does leave people wondering why anyone would willingly spend their time hanging around such a polarizing character. I think the answer is found in the fact that Jobs produced results. It’s one thing to talk the talk, but when you can actually showcase what all of your yelling and hard-headed ways were about with a successful product launch, people would buy into you.
It’s like dealing with sun on vacation. Sure, you may get a little sun burnt from time to time, but you are going to have an amazing trip and you will romanticize the good times. Soon enough, you’ll even forget that your skin started peeling off like a shedding snake.
Whether you are soft spoken or lead by screaming and yelling, Jobs proved that people are willing to follow you if you have a vision and match that with results.\
3. Bill Gates’ Involvement with Apple
“We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies. And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things — we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick.” Bill Gates
Some people don’t really know the history between Jobs and Gates, but this documentary actually provides a little glimpse into their relationship towards the end of Steve’s life.
Their joint interview is almost like watching two boxers at the end of their careers. The epic battles of the past are long gone, and each man isn’t afraid to say how tough his opponent really was. Jobs and Gates each compliment each other during the interview, and even though they may have still viewed each other as rivals, they each showed they had respect for one another.
While you won’t see the full history of how the path’s of Jobs and Gates intertwined, you will get to see how Gates was a key factor in success of Apple when Jobs returned to run the show.
Again, you aren’t going to get everything you ever wanted to know about the Apple guru out of this documentary, but it’s nice to see the people who knew him paint a blunt picture.
Catch Steve Jobs: One Last Thing before it’s gone on July 1st.
