Steve Jobs makes Time top 100 most influential people
TIME Magazine has included Apple CEO and Mac cult leader Steve Jobs in its list of 2008’s top 100 most influential people. The list is compiled of names submitted by guest contributors to TIME magazine, and includes such luminaries as the Dalai Lama, Barack Obama, Brad and Angelina Pitt-Jolie, Peter Gabriel (getting his nod from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, no less), Randy Pausch, and other luminaries in various fields.
The mini biographies of each person chosen are written by other people in the public eye for their influential status or accomplishments in their field. The mini biography on Steve Jobs varied in tone somewhat than the rest, focusing on his identity as part of his business, rather than as an individual. Looking back on the last twenty years or more, that seems apropos to the focus Jobs has for his brainchild.
Throughout the mini biography, the author stresses impersonal traits and qualities like a head for business or marketing skill. At one point she notices that he markets to those that spend the most with Apple, not to the idea of gaining market share. That may very well be the secret of the recent success of Apple, but it is isn’t the most telling aspect of the mini biography. That point came when the writer said that Jobs never broke character, or in her words: “He is always in character and always on message”.
Steve Jobs is in fact incredibly influential (would the mock turtleneck still be made if he wasn’t there to resurrect a fashion statement that saw its best day in the 80s?) in his field and elsewhere. Does he deserve to be on the list? Strictly as an icon for a company – no, I don’t think so. Perhaps personally, for his inroads into the computer age with Steve Wozniak, as well as his personal vision, he should have made the list a few from now, letting this CEO age and mature like fine wine.
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