Assignment 13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

1) You read about an entrepreneur: Steve Jobs

·       What surprised you the most?

• The part about Job’s biography that surprised me the most was how he dropped out of college after spending only six months at Reed College.

·       What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

• The part I admire most about Steve Jobs is that he created something out of nothing in a garage. Creating one object expanded his life and career more than anything. He became one of the most affluent people to walk on this planet.

·       What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

• Steve had a very difficult time and relationship with his children, especially his first-born Lisa. He denied being her father for the longest time and distanced himself until she was seven years-old. This showed that he would not take full responsibility for his actions and dismissed his daughter for a period of time in his life.

·       Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

• Jobs definitely encountered adversity and failure when he left his job with Atari and moved to India. At the time, he wanted to find his spirit, travel, and experiment with drugs. This was a huge downfall in his life.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

            Jobs was able to make something spectacular out of nothing. Creating the Apple computer out of Job’s family garage is an inspiring story to young entrepreneurs around the world. His life has been forever changed ever since that day.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

            Something that was confusing to me was his role in Pixar. Throughout my entire life, I never realized that Jobs purchased Pixar and made billions of dollars. My entire childhood was based off of Pixar animation movies, so hearing this for the first time was very shocking and confusing.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

            If I could ask Steve Jobs two questions, they would be: (a) did you ever think you were going to be this successful in life? And (b) if you could change one thing in your previous life, what would it be? These questions are pretty generic, but they usually allow you to connect with the person on a different level.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

            I personally do not believe that Jobs had a strong opinion of hard work. He seemed very relaxed but very intelligent at the same time. It’s almost as if he didn’t have to try to create Apple. I completely disagree with his opinion of hard work. Hard work is shown through time, dedication, and commitment.