Steve Jobs: Silicon Valley's Babe Ruth - Fortune's "CEO of the Decade"
When I first met Steve Jobs in the mid-80s he was already hailed as a "visionary." I wasn't that impressed.
It wasn't until he had come back to Apple and reinvented the company time and again, and taken risks and failed at some things that I began to appreciate him.
While it is possible to get "lucky" in Silicon Valley, it is very rare to be able to continue being able to build new businesses and continue being successful. Steve Jobs has done that time and again. And he has built incredible shareholder value.
For example, the New York Post, Oct 21, 2009 reported:
Money invested in Apple on the day of Google's IPO would have returned far more profit. And the company continues to beat Wall Street expectations nearly every quarter.
Do we have to mention Pixar? The studio hasn't had a single flop - what other movie studio can say that?
You might not like Apple's marketing or the legions of obnoxious fan boys, and you probably wouldn't enjoy working with Steve Jobs because of his notorious micro-management style but you have to give credit where credit is due. Steve Jobs is Silicon Valley's Babe Ruth - he continues to hit them out of the ball park.
Here is Chris Foresman at Ars Technica:
Fortune Magazine: