Assignment 13- Reading Reflection No. 1

1) Steve Jobs

• What surprised you the most?
• It surprised me most that Steve Jobs was a college dropout. During his adoption, his biological parents insisted on having college graduates adopt Jobs. His adopted parents did not graduate college, and Jobs went to college but did not finish.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I admire Steve Jobs' determination and drive. Even when he had all signs pointing him to give up, he kept going. His competitiveness kept him in the game and allowed him to create one of the most successful brands in the world.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• I understand that Jobs was a hippie, and at the time he did not want to undergo the "normal" cancer treatment. At first, he chose to go vegan and use acupuncture, and then after some time, he finally gave in to have the surgery. Pancreatic cancer is very aggressive, and for someone who is stem-based, it surprises me that he did not take into consideration the severity of his condition from the start.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• Yes, in 1985, Steve Jobs was pushed out of Apple, his own company. At first, he was bummed and discouraged, but it gave him a chance to experiment with his creative side. He later purchased the animation studio known as Pixar. This was just one of the many struggles that he faced in his lifetime.

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

• Jobs was determined, creative, innovative, experimental, and futuristic. He was good at leading his business and communicating his ideas to his team. It seems like Steve Jobs was always five steps ahead. 

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

• The part of the reading that confused me the most was Steve Jobs denying that he had a daughter named Lisa Brennan. He then accepted her as his kid, but it doesn't make sense to deny that she existed at the time. After denying that she was his child, he named a computer the Apple Lisa and claimed Lisa stood for something else.

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

• Why do you think that everyone should experiment with psychedelics?
• What was the constant motivation that guided you through your career path?

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

• I think that Jobs' opinion of hard work was to work hard at what interest you and what made you feel alive. Jobs did not like school and did not finish, but he never stopped learning about what interested him. I also think that success is stemmed from passion; if you're not passionate about something then you will never succeed.