Steve Jobs was a brilliant entrepreneur best known for co-founding Apple, one of the most valuable companies in the world.
But what many easily forget is the rocky road Jobs took to get Apple to the top. Although Jobs had unique vision and the ability to inspire, he could also be overbearing, impatient, and downright rude. By 1985, things had gotten so bad between Jobs and Apple’s board of directors that the group had stripped him of power.
Jobs felt betrayed, in disbelief that the company he helped build was being taken away from him. He left Apple that summer to form NeXT, a new startup focused on building higher-level computer hardware (and eventually software) for the education industry. Despite Jobs’s reputation for being stubborn and demanding, several Apple employees followed their boss to his new venture.
What happened next was extraordinary.
After just three months, Jobs orchestrated a company retreat for his 11 employees, where they discussed in detail their strategy for the next 18 months.
The following video shows excerpts of the retreat, and it’s captivating:
MacDailyNews Take: And we all know what happened NeXT:
Jobs brought with him many NeXT executives, who replaced their Apple counterparts. In effect, NeXT was paid to take over Apple while keeping the Apple name. — MacDailyNews, February 4, 2006