[maxxxxx]

That seems to be the case with a lot of super charismatic leaders. Somehow these people can instill an extreme level of loyalty in people they meet.

I don't want to compare Jobs to Hitler but when you read accounts from people who worked with Hitler they also had this sense of loyalty they couldn't overcome even while knowing that something was going wrong. Reagan may be another case.

[r00fus]

Did you ever meet Jobs? Maybe he was just really really good. He comes off that way in most of his interviews/keynotes.

Good, laser-focused, demanding.

[maxxxxx]

I think he was very good. But from whatever I have read he was also a big jerk and could be very cruel to people.

[sjwright]

I haven't read anything that suggests that Steve was cruel or a jerk for the sake of it.

[maxxxxx]

He told Wozniak that they had made $500 on a sale but in reality it was 5000 and he kept the rest. He refused to recognize his daughter for along time. He refused to give stock options to a lot of very early employees. Wozniak then made a up for it.

He was a jerk. Especially the story about his daughter is plain evil. At some point you have to take responsibility for your actions.

[pinewurst]

His daughter recently published a memoir portraying Steve and his wife as creepy in the extreme. There's a number of excerpts out there as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Fry-Lisa-Brennan-Jobs/dp/080212...

[reaperducer]

I read his biography, and in it he came off like a jerk. Not a cruel person. But yes, a jerk. I liked Steve Jobs a lot more before I read his bio.

[sjwright]

The Isaacson bio was a joke. Made countless basic factual errors. Wouldn't trust it on anything.

[rchaud]

Because the majority of the coverage about him has been praiseworthy, given his business success. Now that he's dead, criticism of him will come off as axe-grinding and bitter.

[maxxxxx]

I think it's good show all facets of famous people, especially their dark sides. There is a tendency to glorify them and then think they are great people in all areas. Most times they aren't.

[bryanrasmussen]

there are also cruel jerks who are incompetent idiots.

[simonh]

Is it really impossible that someone is so good that they have earned and deserve that kind of loyalty?