Walter Isaacson Talks At Length About Steve Jobs’s Character & Management Style [Video]

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Walter Isaacson isn't in Jony Ive's good books.
Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve Jobs became an Amazon best seller within months. Photo by Patrice Gilbert.

Walter Isaacson took to the stage in Amsterdam for the John Adams Institute recently to talk about his biography based on Steve Jobs. During the 90-minute clip, Isaacson talks at length about Steve’s character and his management style, and he recounts a number of his favorite stories about Apple’s co-founder and former CEO.

Isaacson begins talking at around 10:30, telling stories about Steve’s “reality distortion field,” which he often used to achieve the seemingly impossible many times during the development of the first Macintosh, the iPhone, and the iPod. Many of the stories are featured in Isaacson’s book, but it’s great to hear them brought to life by Isaacson himself.

Isaacson also sits down to take questions, not only about Steve, but also about himself. When asked whether he “liked” Steve, Isaacson said:

That word, “like,” is such a… namby pamby word that is doesn’t begin to describe the kind of emotions you have when you’re around Steve Jobs.

I became deeply emotionally wrapped up with him… near the end it became clear.

He’s lying in bed and he’s wasting away and he’s not going to make it… I became deeply, emotionally inspired by him, I felt connected to him, I just felled awed by him… So to use the work “like” would be to use one of those words that just doesn’t do just justice to those complex emotions.

Isaacson also talks about the yacht that Steve was designed before he passed away, which is still in development in Amsterdam.

The full clip is well worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of Steve Jobs and Apple.

[via YourDailyMac]

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