Twentysomething Steve Jobs Was A Total Twunt

I thought I knew all the anecdotes about Steve Jobs back when he was the hottest rock star in the Valley. I was wrong. How did I miss this great scolding by former Intel chairman and CEO Andy Grove?

Some of us from Silicon Valley were invited to a dinner in Palo Alto. It was 1983. At one point during the meal, Steve stands up and yells: “Nobody over 30 can possibly understand what computing is all about.”

I pulled him aside, waved my finger, and lectured him, telling him, “You’re incredibly arrogant. You don’t know what you don’t know.” His response was, “Teach me. Tell me what I should know.”

Yes, a total twunt, but you have to admire how he turned it around, nonchalantly. Mr. Grove says that they later had lunch together, talking mostly about personal stuff. He thinks that he didn’t teach him a single thing. Instead time has, as he points out the irony of Steve’s words during that dinner:

He was wrong when he singled a generation out. How old was Steve when the iPod came out — 46?

Indeed. Read the rest of the anecdotes from the rest of the eight business stars talking about el Señor Esteban in [Fortune]