In How Steve Jobs’ Love of Simplicity Fueled A Design Revolution, Walter Isaacson shows how Jobs’ meticulous pursuit of the simple and sleek elevated the world of technology design out of its dark, industrial phase.

According to Isaacson, Jobs’ love for design was born from his fascination with his childhood home and eventually his passion for Eichler-style architecture. Influenced by his Buddhism practice, his work designing video games and the Bauhaus movement, Jobs committed Apple to a goal of simplicity. However, Jobs’ definition of simple is definitely not synonymous with easy. “It takes a lot of hard work,” he said, “to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.” Jobs was often relentless in his design vision, sometimes rejecting upwards of a dozen designs. In fact, Jobs’ design influence was so significant that despite not being a designer of the Apple case, he and the two designers were all credited on the design patent. Jobs’ commitment to detail, such as his passion for calligraphy born from a class he audited after dropping out of college, inspired the inclusion of fonts on personal computers. According to Isaacson, despite excess costs and delays Jobs’ faced “by indulging his artistic sensibilities,” Jobs remained passionate about design. Head of Apple’s design team Jonathan Ive said he was planning to quit until he heard Jobs speak. “‘I remember very clearly Steve announcing that our goal is not just to make money but to make great products,’ Ive recalled.” Jobs and Ive would go on to become a dynamic duo who altered the course of product design forever. 

Isaacson, who wrote Jobs’ biography, concluded the piece with “Jobs was, at times, very demanding, indeed a jerk. But the world is filled with demanding bosses and jerks, most of whom never amount to much. What made Jobs special, sometimes even a genius, was his fiery instinct for beauty, his talent for creating it and his conviction that mattered.” This description of Jobs makes me think about power dynamics in the technology industry. As a part of my internship last spring I helped produce a podcast about women in technology, and despite all of the guests being intelligent, capable women, nearly all of them spoke of some kind of imposter syndrome, if not blatant discrimination they faced in the industry. When I read about Jobs described as a jerk, I can’t help but think about how many women may have bitten their tongues for fear of appearing rude or bossy or too harsh. I wonder how many more women would be described as geniuses if they felt comfortable enough to be as demanding as Steve Jobs.