13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

For this activity, I decided to read the book of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

• What surprised you the most?

One of the things that surprise me the most is the fact that Steve Jobs dropped out of college. I think this surprises me a lot because I was raised in an environment where I was told that if you did not finish college then you could not be successful. In Venezuela is really hard to succeed if you are not professional and it is an honor to have the opportunity to have a good education. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I think what I admired the most is his determination of ¨ knowing what he likes¨  I think he was pretty good to listen to his instincts and he was able to see opportunities. For example, when he was in college he just went to the classes that he was interested in, and he mentioned a calligraphy class that he liked a lot. He mentioned that this helped him to design multiple typefaces and fonts for the mac. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I think while I was reading the book some moments I felt that he was kind of rude to some people. I think his personality was a little bit strange maybe because all he was described to be an abandoned person. However, I think an entrepreneur and leader should be more empathetic especially because you are going to work with other people. Actually, in the book, I read that some people said that was impossible to work with him

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, in 1984 he the sales of two of his product ( Lisa and Macintosh) were really low almost none-existent. This was hard because in the past they have been successful. Therefore, what he did was decided to  make a combination of both ( Lisa and Macintosh) with the inventory  and create a new product named Macintosh XL

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

Steve was an independent person whos has a natural interest in electronics. I think as I mentioned before his determination of following what he likes lets him reach his success. Moreover, he could incorporate some of his artistic interest in his products, which means that he was an integral person.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Something that was pretty confusing was he I got to a chapter that was named Pixar. I had no idea that Steve Jobs was part of Pixard, and in my mind, I do not release his job with Pixar. I know that in some opportunity a read that he was interested in art and Pixar was kind of a mix of art and technology, but I do not see the similarities and it was confusing because I picture him in other kinds of companies.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

I would ask him

If you have the opportunity to go to college and finish a career would you do it? What career would you pursue?

I would ask him to see if he thinks that you can learn valuable knowledge at college after his success. 

Since you worked with Pixar what other company would you be interested to work with?

I would ask this because since he likes art it would be interesting to see his ideas in another field.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think Steve was pretty focused on being different and I think his opinion of working hard was to develop different things that were functional and simple. I do share it because to be successful you don't have to create something complicated. Maybe your product already exists, but you can innovate on it.