Steve Jobs: The Spiritual Side of Apple

Steve Jobs is well-known as the mastermind behind the amazing success of Apple and its technology. But did you know that following a spiritual retreat to India, he converted to Buddhism? According to a report by CNN.com, Jobs’ favorite musical acts were the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and he was known to walk around his neighborhood – and the office – barefoot.

“I believe life is an intelligent thing, that things aren’t random,” CNN.com quotes Jobs as saying in a 1997 interview with Time.

Jobs wanted to change the world and make a difference, and his company was based on this principle. “Apple is about people who think ‘outside the box,’ people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done,” CNN.com quoted Jobs as saying in the Time interview.

When hiring John Scullye, the PepsiCo president to run Apple, he reportedly said, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

“What makes Steve’s methodology different from everyone else’s is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do, but the things you decide not to do,” Sculley said in a 2010 interview with Businessweek, according to the CNN.com report. “He’s a minimalist. I remember going into Steve’s house, and he had almost no furniture in it. He just had a picture of Einstein, whom he admired greatly, and he had a Tiffany lamp and a chair and a bed. He just didn’t believe in having lots of things around, but he was incredibly careful in what he selected.”

In 1998, Jobs told Businessweek that one of his mantras was focus and simplicity. “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains,” he said.

Six years later, the publication quoted him as saying: “It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”

For the entire article, visit CNN.com.

There is also a biography authorized by Jobs coming out Oct. 24 called “Steve Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson.