Steve Jobs’ acolytes say Becoming Steve Jobs paints a more fitting picture of the Apple founder than Walter Isaacson’s “authorised” 2011 life. Most neutral readers who plough through another 435 pages of Jobsiana, will neither know nor care. But the battle of the bios will have been worth it if it sounds the death-knell for the worst of all management memes: the leadership lesson listicle.
In the short term, the new book, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, has reinvigorated the habit. You do not have to look far to find Five Surprising Insights About Steve Jobs’ Management Style (Fast Company), Six Leadership Lessons (Mashable), and Eight Lessons You Can Learn From Watching Young Steve Jobs Run a Meeting (Time), all culled from the new book.
Isaacson’s biography itself spawned Ten Leadership Tips from Steve Jobs (Forbes), Six Management Lessons (Globe and Mail) and 14 Real Leadership Lessons, drawn up by the biographer, who tried to reclaim the genre with a 2012 piece for Harvard Business Review.