I bet you did not know at least some of the following facts about Innovation Wizard Steve Jobs ( Source Unknown)
1) Nature versus Nurture. His sister is famous author Mona Simpson but he didn’t know it until he was an adult.. Her first novel,’ Anywhere but Here’, was about her relationship with her parents. Which, ironically, were Steve Jobs’ parents too. But since Steve Jobs was adopted they didn’t know they were brother-sister until the 90s when he tracked her down. It’s proof (to an extent) of the nature versus nurture argument. Two kids, without knowing they were brother and sister, both having a unique sensibility of life on this planet to become among the best artists in the world in completely different endeavors.
2) His father’s name is Abdulfattah Jandali. Steve Jobs biologically was half Syrian Muslim. Steve Jobs' biological mother gave him up for adoption one week after giving birth. She was unmarried and was also in graduate school. He was adopted by an Armenian couple, Paul and Clara Hagopian. The one requirement his biological parents had was that he be adopted by two college educated people. But the couple that adopted him lied at first and turned out not to be college educated (the mom was not a high school graduate) so the deal almost fell through until they promised to send Steve to college. A promise they couldn’t keep .So despite many layers of lies and promises broken, it all worked out in the end.
3) He made the game “Breakout”.
4) He denied paternity on his first child, He fathered a child with a woman named Chrisann Brennan but denied paternity, claiming he was sterile. Eventually Jobs became a good father. Lisa computer (the “Apple III”) was named after this first child.
5) He’s a pescetarian. He ate fish but no other meat.
6) He didn’t give any money to charity. And when he became Apple’s CEO he stopped all of their philanthropic programs. He said, “wait until we are profitable”. And even when they became profitable, there was no corporate philanthropy.He would have been in good company in India where corporate philanthropy is used to siphon off money from the company by the promoters.
7)He lied to Steve Wozniak. When they made Breakout for Atari, Wozniak and Jobs were going to split the pay 50-50. Atari gave Jobs $5000 to do the job. He told Wozniak he got $700 so Wozniak took home $350.This is also common attribute of Indian CEOs; they cheat the shareholders, employees and the Government (of taxes).
8) He was a Zen Buddhist. He was such a hardcore Zen Buddhist that he almost thought about joining a monastery and becoming a monk. He was married in a Buddhist tradition by a Zen monk who was his own personal guru. After dropping out of college, Jobs traveled to India in 1974, became a Buddhist. He was totally disillusioned after his visit to this country and raised the question of how a country with such a distressing poverty with starving millions can claim to be spiritualistic which he dismissed as 'utter fraud'. He never came back to India after his first visit but respected and revered Mahatma Gandhi and of course the Tibetan Dalai Lama. He later insisted that Apple pull out their miniscule R&D activities from India and in the process of doing so, sacked tens of employees . There was no rationale in pulling out from India when the entire Silicon Valley were examining how to set up a research centre here.
9) He didn’t go to college. Steve Jobs went to Reed College for one semester and then dropped out.
10) Psychedelics. He enjoyed LSD: After dropping out of college, Jobs traveled to India in 1974, became a Buddhist, and experimented with the psychedelic drug LSD. Steve describes his LSD experiences as "one of the two or three most important things he has done in his life."
11) Apple is one of many inventions: Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 338 US patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.
12) He dated Dianne Keaton and Joan Baez: Before marrying his wife Laurene Powell in 1991, Steve dated Diane and Joan Baez
13) He was fired from Apple: Steve created Apple at the age of 20 out of his parents' garage with his friend Steve Wozniak. He and Steve had a falling out as he turned 30 and he was fired. Jobs said it was the best thing to ever happen to him. "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again," he once said.
14) Dyslexic : He was Dyslexic like some other greats such as Einstein, Graham Bell and Henry Ford
15) He was declared dead once before in 2008 when Bloomberg had announced his death
16) Forever in Blue Jeans : He owned more than 100 pair of Levi Blue Jeans which was part of his daily uniform
17) Number Zero : His employee number in Apple was 0. He was originally assigned No 2 behind co-founder Steve Wozniak. Job protested and settled only for ‘0’ because ‘0’comes before 1 which proved the fact that he had a 'mountain of an ego' in him despite claiming that as a Buddhist he had overcome 'ego' once and for all time.
May his soul rest in peace.
