Jobs way of 'inspiring' people to achieve has become a mantra for some, however, Isaacson feels that some are missing the point somewhat. "People have written about this book being a guide for managers. People tell me, 'I'm like Steve! I push people to perfection. But you don't need to push people to be like Steve, you need know how to be a genius at creating things, not just driving people crazy."
Isaacson clarified the point again later: "If you are going to do that truly understand what Steve's magic was. It wasn't just barking. It's easy to be a jerk".
Regarding those who think they can learn management technique from the book, Isaacson points out that: "The book shows that there a number of sides to Steve, this is not Steve Jobs the saint packaged for your emulation, he wasn't a philanthropist, he wasn't concerned about working conditions in China, and that's why the book shows the multiple sides of Steve and why people shouldn't just read it and say this is a recipe for success."
"There are all sorts of lessons from Steve, but I'll leave you with the one which I think is also the most important. Almost everybody who has spoke in this room from Kepler to Newton has used the phrase: Nature loves simplicity. It's absolutely clear why nature would love simplicity. Einstein said: 'Any damn fool can make a problem more complex, it takes a genius to make it more simple.' Well Steve believed that simplicity was the ultimate sophistication (which is Leonardo Da Vinci line). That simplicity is part of the beauty of a product. That was his way of connecting engineering to beauty. So that everything worked in a magical, simple way. It was almost spiritual for him."
Isaacson noted that Jobs may have got the idea that things needed to be simple from working on games at Atari, because: "They had to be simple enough that stoned freshmen could play them," he joked. To illustrate Jobs' quest for simplicity, Isaacson used the example of Jobs questioning the validity of the on-off button on the iPod, and how eventually the team realised: "You don't need an on/off button".
