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There are a lot of words being spilled about Steve Jobs. From effusive praise, to gratitude, to speculation about why and what and how, there is a great bloodletting of emotion underway. And while I am grateful for Steve Jobs, I believe we have yet to learn the most important lessons he may have to teach us. It won’t be until we gain the benefit of time and perspective, and of Steve letting us in one way or another, to know for sure. But this is my hope.
One of the things I love to do is read biographies. Churchill, Carnegie, Hearst, Welch, Iacocca, Jordan, Roosevelt. I love reading them because, if they’re any good, they get past the veil and the persona that we perceive during their heydays to the actual person. And with enough perspective they tell a story that is far more fascinating and human than the person in their prime ever was. This is what I hope for Steve Jobs. That time will reveal him to be far more interesting and dimensional than he ever would want us to know – that it will reveal him as a man, with faults and shortcomings and idiosyncrasies that make him more, us. And, in turn, us more him.
Every generation has great men that are celebrated and lauded by society and mourned when they step out of their accustomed role. We have a tendency to reduce these men into their most visible parts, to create a caricature of them that fits with how we’ve known them for so long. It’s a lie we tell ourselves to reinforce the emotion we’ve put into believing and championing these people. And frankly, it’s boring. Far more interesting are the complete, fallible figures that are the actual men behind the personas. This is what biographies get at, and where we really can learn from these great figures.
Take any of the above men, and their story upon first retirement is rather simple and one-dimensional. Whether it’s Churchill and World War II, Carnegie and the rail roads, Hearst and a media empire, Welch’s ruthless business acumen, Jordan’s athleticism or Roosevelt’s personality and leadership, the story is simplistic and attached to who we think these men are, not who they really turned out to be. And with time, they all come back to earth, their imperfections appear and their stories become far more richer and instructive.
Welch goes from being “the last great CEO,” a hero of scorched-earth wannabes trying to imitate his practice, to a man who sacrificed his relationship with his kids, made some dubious bets on unsustainable business units and frequently let his ego get in the way, in the name of growing GE. Jordan goes from a perfect athlete to a man crushed by the loss of his father with a gambling problem. And on and on. The true man is always more interesting than the idealized persona. Just like our fictional super heroes, it is not their crime-fighting alter ego that is interesting, it’s the mortal man behind the mask that holds the intrigue. Iron Man is boring after a few battles. Tony Starck is where the real interest and opportunity to learn lies.
The same is true for all of our historical ‘super heroes’, Hearst, Carnegie, Churchill, Roosevelt, Iacocca. Those who we think are perfect are more human than we can ever realize at the time – it’s only with perspective that we learn who they really are, and when they do their greatest teaching.
And so that is my hope for Steve Jobs. That when the hubbub dies down. When the spilling of words ceases and when the benefits of time and perspective are finally on our side, that we will learn who Steve Jobs truly is and understand his life and those lessons in a way that he would never conceive or approve. That we will be able to see him as the human that he is, and take his incredible gifts with his shortcomings, and use them to learn more about ourselves. That he will teach us, like the biographies of the other greats before and those yet to come, that the persona is not the man, that in the end he is fallible, he is mortal, and he is not perfect, just like us. And yet. And yet. He is Steve Jobs. I wish him well. I look forward to learning from him for a long time.
