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Steve Jobs' Time with Pixar

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My recent reading includes BECOMING STEVE JOBS by Brent Schlender and Rich Tetzeli.

I am struck by the following passage, from a discussion of Jobs' time with Pixar. A power struggle had forced him out at Apple, and Pixar was his corporate Elba. Or one of them.

The first-person pronoun "I" in this book generally refers to Brent Schlender, due to the long personal relationship with Jobs.. That said, I'll let the following speak for itself.

 When people list the many industries that Steve is said to have revolutionized, they often include the movies, since Pixar brought a whole new art form to the big screen. I'm not of that mind. John Lasseter and Ed Carmull are the men who brought 3-D computer graphics to the movies, and revived the art of animated storytelling.

 That said, Steve did play a  critical role in Pixar's success. His influence was constrained, because Carmull and Lasseter were the ones shaping Pixar, not he. But that constraint, ironically, freed him up to do what only he could do best, and he did it brilliantly....These are the years where his negotiating style gained a new subtlety -- without losing its ballsy brashness. This is when he first started understanding the meaning of teamwork as something that's far more complicated than simply rallying small groups -- without losing his capacity to lead and inspire. And this is where he started to develop patience -- without losing any of his memorable, and motivating, edge.


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