8 stars speak out on Steve Jobs

Eight people who rarely speak publicly about Jobs explain what makes him one of the best business minds of our time.

1 of 8
BACKNEXT
Andy Grove
Andy Grove
Former chairman and CEO, Intel

When you talk about Steve, you need to distinguish between Jobs 1, the young man who started Apple, and Jobs 2, the guy who came back to Apple and turned it around.

During the Jobs 1 era, some of us from Silicon Valley were invited to a dinner in Palo Alto. It was 1983. At one point during the meal, Steve stands up and yells, "Nobody over 30 can possibly understand what computing is all about."

I pulled him aside, waved my finger, and lectured him, telling him, "You're incredibly arrogant. You don't know what you don't know." His response was, "Teach me. Tell me what I should know."

We had lunch and talked, mostly about personal stuff. I don't think I taught him anything. But he was wrong when he singled a generation out. How old was Steve when the iPod came out -- 46?

As Jobs 2 he became the turnaround artist of the decade. There's no other company in technology that's started with a strong core business and developed another very strong one. The rest of us are lucky, or good, [if we're] right once.

-- Interview by Michael V. Copeland

NEXT: Andrea Jung
Last updated November 06 2009: 12:11 PM ET
Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
Why Steve Jobs? He revived Apple and remade entire industries, defying the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression -- and his own serious health problems. More
Timeline: Steve Jobs' greatest hits See his early struggles and recent victories, and how investing in Apple stock has paid off. More
Celebrities' favorite iPhone apps Stars from Rachael Ray to Neil Patrick Harris reveal the apps they love to use. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.