Smithsonian Institution Oral History Interview with Steve Jobs (1995)

Some interesting quotes from the interview...

"The Macintosh will die in another few years and it's really sad. The problem is this: no one at Apple has a clue as to how to create the next Macintosh because no one running any part of Apple was there when the Macintosh was made--or any other product at Apple. They've just been living off that one thing now for over a decade..."

and

"Apple could have lived forever and kept shipping great products forever. Apple was for a while like Sony. It was the place that made the coolest stuff."

So Jobs had essentially given up on Apple's ability to succeed, since there was apparently no drive to create great new products after Sculley took over.

I've seen plenty of organizations grow stale. And whether or not greed is the factor, the result is the same: the people who were truly passionate just leave, and what's left is an empty shell with clueless people in charge.

Fast-forward to 2009, and it's clear why people are worrying that Steve's not at the helm, because Steve is good at this kind of "push" for progress. Still, he's not the only one who is. As long as Apple leadership doesn't start to "live off" the success of the iPhone, etc., they will survive and attract good people.

I find the onslaught of posts with historical Steve Jobs interviews to be a bit morbid, the guy is alive and fighting can we please avoid a postmortem.

If you are interested in what he has to say about education, you might also like the writings of John Taylor Gatto:

* http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm

* http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

I really appreciate his idea on the responsibility of power/success: "I don't think that people have special responsibilities just because they've done something that other people like or don't like. I think the work speaks for itself." Pretty honest. Really implies the responsibility is in the achieving of the success itself. Which I guess contrasts with achieving success in less than responsible ways, and then feeling compelled to be responsible about it after the fact. Very unique approach, something I haven't really considered. I think it makes sense.