Steve Jobs is considered one of the most important figures at Apple. Above all, one piece of advice from his father shaped his work for years.
Parents can have a great influence on their children. Paul Jobs, Steve Jobs’ father, also had a significant influence on his son. For a simple piece of advice resonated with Steve Jobs and helped him develop many products for the company. He saved Apple from bankruptcy with his ideas.
A product must look good from all sides
What was the father’s advice? Father Paul taught his son how to build a fence around their house in Mountain View, California. He told his son Steve at the time (via cnbc.com):
You must make the back of the fence, which no one will see, look just as good as the front of the fence. Even if no one will see it, you will know it, and that will show that you are committed to perfecting something.
And Steve Jobs adhered strictly to this quality standard when developing his own company.
Walter Isaacson, the biographer of Steve Jobs, explained in an interview that Jobs always ensured that every detail was of the highest quality. Isaacson states: “He insisted that the interiors of the microchips looked beautiful and that every screw had an expensive coating”.
How important his father’s words were to him is also shown by an anecdote about Jobs. Steve Jobs once said, referencing his father’s words: “When you are a carpenter and build a beautiful dresser, you won’t use a piece of plywood on the back, even if it faces the wall.”
More about Steve Jobs: In January 2010, Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. He stated that this was the future and that this marked the post-PC era. But he was wrong, as computers are still very much in demand. Moreover, the iPad now also acts like a notebook:
Steve Jobs said 14 years ago that the computer would surely die – But he was quite off the mark
