Steve Jobs caught his then-girlfriend with another man. From this “meeting” developed an important friendship.
In the fall of 1972, Steve Jobs is said to have caught his then-girlfriend with another guy at Reed College. But it did not lead to a major scandal; instead, it developed into one of the most important friendships for Jobs from this incident.
Steve Jobs accidentally met perhaps his most important mentor
When Steve Jobs entered his apartment at college, he caught his then-girlfriend having fun with another man. Jobs was already preparing to apologize in surprise and leave when Robert Friedland asked him to stay.
Under the astonished gaze of the woman he had just slept with, he began chatting with Jobs. And Jobs was likely fascinated by Friedland’s charisma, which would greatly influence him. Much of what Jobs would later live by he owes to this moment.
Friedland was considered one of those people who could sell sand in the desert. His aura probably had a strong impact on Jobs. The fact that Apple was eventually called Apple, inspired by Friedland’s farm, is not the only way he was shaped.
Friedland probably had a strong influence on Jobs’s personal development
How great was Friedland’s influence on Jobs? The influence was apparently very significant. Daniel Kottke, a former study friend of Jobs and Friedland, stated that Friedland taught the young Jobs a lot: how to sell and above all, how to be more confident. Kottke said (via businessinsider.com):
Robert [Friedland] was a very open-minded, charismatic guy, a real salesman. When I first met Steve, he was shy and reserved, a very private guy. I believe Robert taught him a lot about selling, about how to come out of his shell, how to open up and take responsibility for a situation.
Friedland also advised Jobs to travel to India to discover his spiritual side and to read the book “Be Here Now” about meditation and the Yogi phenomenon, but above all, he taught him to be a leader whom everyone wanted to listen to.
What is Friedland doing today? Friedland later became mainly interested in mining. He became Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Mines and, in this context, became very wealthy: His personal fortune is estimated by Forbes to be 2 billion dollars.
Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are both considered tech pioneers in their field. However, a meeting between the two did not go well at the time. At least, that is what Elon Musk reports in a recap of that meeting. You can read more about it on MeinMMO: A “legendary” meeting between Elon Musk and Steve Jobs was over in a few moments because one of them was rude
