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Steve Jobs Got Fired From His Own Company. He Called It the Best Thing That Happened to Him.

By Steve Jobs · Leadership · 1 min read

Apple fired Jobs at 30. He came back at 42. He says it was not sweet revenge. It was life's circle.

Key Points

Jobs says his biggest weakness is arrogance - it 'knocks at the door whenever you're successful'
Getting fired from Apple led to Pixar
Coming back to Apple at 42 was not revenge - it was the 'circle of life'

We all need to be on guard against arrogance, which knocks at the door whenever you're successful.

The Door Arrogance Knocks On

An interviewer asked Steve Jobs his biggest weakness. He did not dodge the question.

'Arrogance. It knocks at the door whenever you are successful.'

Jobs lived this. He was not speaking in theory. He was confessing.

Arrogance knocks at the door whenever you are successful.

Fired at 30

Apple fired Steve Jobs when he was 30 years old. From his own company. The company he started in a garage.

The high of Apple's early success. Then competitors closed in. Things got sobering. Then the board pushed him out.

It crushed him. But he calls it 'maybe the best thing that ever happened to me.'

Fired from his own company at 30. He calls it the best thing.

The Pixar Bonus

Without getting fired, there would be no Pixar. Jobs says this directly.

The pain of exile created space for something new. Something that changed animation forever.

Life moved on. He learned. He built. Getting pushed out of the nest forced him to fly somewhere better.

No firing, no Pixar. Pain created space for something greater.

The Circle of Life

Apple invited Jobs back at 42. The interviewer asked: 'How sweet was it?'

Jobs surprised everyone. 'It was not sweet. It was the circle of life.'

No revenge. No gloating. Just wonder at how life surprises you. You never know what is around the next corner.

Not revenge. Not sweetness. Just wonder at life's surprises.