The decade Steve Jobs spent away from Apple, which the press has dubbed his “wilderness years,” may actually have been the most pivotal part of his life, according to a new report.
After Jobs was ousted from Apple, he founded technology company NeXT, headed up Pixar and learned the skills necessary to lead Apple to new heights upon his return, Fast Company explains in an extensive feature. Writer Brent Schlender listened to lost tapes of interviews he recorded with the late Apple CEO over the past 25 years and found that the interviews from Jobs’ “wilderness period” were the most enlightening.
Schlender says that during Jobs’ time running NeXT and Pixar, he learned how to make the most of partnerships, successfully negotiate and manage creative talent. Plus, he developed an adaptability that was critical to Apple’s success upon his return.
Jobs created NeXT after he was ousted from Apple in an attempt to enact revenge upon those who’d exiled him from the company he founded. However, Jobs made several mistakes, including devoting massive resources to creating a pricey computer that never commanded a serious market. Jobs was forced to layoff most of NeXT’s staff and shifted its focus from hardware to software. With this new objective, NeXT engineered a development environment called WebObjects that became its best-selling program and would later prove instrumental in building Apple and iTunes’ online stores.
Indeed, in 1996, when Apple was struggling, NeXT had a powerful, modern operating system, and Jobs convinced Apple’s then-CEO to buy NeXT for $400 million. With this money, Jobs paid off NeXT’s early investors, and he ultimately put himself back on top at Apple.
At Pixar, again Jobs was forced to adapt after his initial plan for the company did not turn out to be as commercially successful as he’d hoped it would be. Instead, after John Lasseter and Ed Catmull told Jobs they could make a business of creating computer animated commercials, Jobs saw the opportunity to use computers to upend the hand-drawn animation business. Again, he fired most of the staff and shifted the company in a new direction: content.
With Pixar, Jobs also tried to focus on one opportunity at a time and created the organizational structure to deliver a series of hits.
He made sure Pixar’s animators were as valued as its software experts, and vice versa. And, he negotiated a $26-million marketing distribution deal with Disney that gave Pixar the capital to make a full-length, computer-animated motion picture.
Jobs argued that this partnership saved Pixar, calling it “the biggest thing” he’d done for the company. His experience with Disney also helped him learn how to manage a successful business relationship.
“There was a certain amount of fear and trepidation, but what always happened was that making a great movie was the focal point of everybody’s concerns,” Jobs said. “One way to drive fear out of a relationship is to realize that your partner’s values are the same as yours, that what you care about is exactly what they care about. In my opinion, that drives fear out and makes for a great partnership, whether it’s a corporate partnership or a marriage.”
Jobs also strengthened his personal relationships during this time, getting married and having a family. This also enabled him to view his companies from a customer’s perspective, which made him most effective as a marketer and business leader.