Business Leaders

I have read the biographies or auto-biographies of many business leaderes such as Jack Welch, Ray Kroc, Sam Walton, Thomas J. Watson Jr., Thomas J. Watson Sr., Alfred P. Sloan, Tony Hsieh, William C. Durant, Lee Iacocca, Robert Noyce, Chester Carlson, Gordon Bethune, Lou Gerstner, etc., etc.  From most of them I obtain tons of ideas that I many times steal shamelessly and apply in my corporate position.

However, even before begining to read Steve Job's biography I knew this time it was going to be different.  And it was.  His biography is as, or maybe even more, interesting than any of the others, BUT the takeaway is very meager because the others were outstanding business leaders but not geniuses.  Steve, on the other hand was a GENIUS like the business world had never seen and will (probably) never see again.

The only (sort of) exception I've ever encountered is precisely one of Steve's business heroes: Edwin Land.  His most comprenhensive biography is not surprisingly titled: Insisting on the Impossible.  And yes, I have to concede Land achieved the impossible one or two times but he doesn't even come close to Steve.