Former Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was one of the most well-known figures in technology.
A visionary and innovator with groundbreaking ideas about the design and development of technological products, Steve Jobs has forever left his name in history.
Apple employees still remember him for his speeches, during which he tried to motivate them to work harder and be ready at all times.
According to David Black, who worked for the company for almost 12 years in the early 2000s, Steve Jobs believed that these elements were very important.
He had taken on various roles, from senior engineering consultant in Java and WebObjects, in the Strategic Education Solutions department in China, head of Apple's Education Marketing department in Asia, etc.
As reported by Business Insider, Black may not have interacted with Steve Jobs much, but he was often around him to be able to understand how his presence affected the company's employees.
When he sat outside on the patio for lunch, for example, employees would finish their meals within 15 to 20 minutes of him showing up.
“Nobody would sit next to him. And that’s because you had to be absolutely ready for a moment like this,” he said.
One of the first things you learn when you come to Apple is that you have to be ready to answer the question, “What are you working on right now?”
Black told Business Insider about a few stories he’d heard from employees and HR while he was at the company.
One involved a sales rep who got on the same elevator as Jobs. At one point, Jobs asked him what he was doing that day, and the sales rep replied that he’d been selling software all day.
Another time—again in an elevator—Jobs asked an intern what he was working on. The intern replied that he was doing a quality check on a product. And then Jobs said, “Why are you going downstairs? You should be going upstairs to work.”
“The kid turned completely white, and Steve said he was kidding,” Black added.
“It was one of those little things he used to do, to see how people would react. I think it had a little bit to do with power,” he added.
Apple’s human resources department had confided in him another story, which involved another intern who was in an elevator with Steve Jobs.
When Apple’s then-CEO asked her what she was working on, he asked her to give him a presentation at that moment.
“That’s why nobody wanted to be anywhere near Steve. Because there was always the possibility that he would ask you to give a presentation at that moment,” he concluded.
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