Steve Jobs: The guru behind Apple -- Independent Online, 2005-10-29

[Andrew]

Steve Jobs: The guru behind Apple -- Independent Online, 2005-10-29

Alan Deutschmann, a journalist who researched Jobs's middle years for a biography called The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, believes he displays two personalities in his dealings with people: Good Steve and Bad Steve. The Good side is charming, and can make people believe almost anything; that's the side on public view at the rock-star product launches. He's been said to have a "reality distortion field" - by a mixture of charm and exaggeration, he can make you believe pretty much anything. But once he's walked away, you're sometimes left thinking "Huh?" Or as Bud Tribble, another of the early Macintosh employees, described it: "In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything." But, he added, "It wears off when he's not around." (Tribble, too, still works at Apple.)

When the Good Steve system hasn't worked, or isn't needed, there's Bad Steve. He can get furiously angry, an emotion reserved for private moments with staff or those he thinks have been disloyal or useless. And his relationship with the media has its ups and downs, too. While he loves hobnobbing with celebrities, he hates being treated like one, and Apple's relationship with the press reflects that.

Note: The article is mirrored at MirrorDot, because the original site has taken it down.