Steve Jobs on Getting Fired from Apple
What Jobs talks about
Jobs describes the power struggle that led to his ouster from Apple in 1985. He says the tensions with the board were too high, especially with John Sculley, and that the conflict centered on Apple’s direction and priorities.
He frames the experience as one of the hardest moments of his life, because he had devoted so much energy and creativity to the company. But he also presents it as a turning point that pushed him to reinvent himself.
Jobs says that setback led to new work at NeXT and Pixar, and later to his return to Apple in 1997. The story connects personal failure to later renewal and Apple’s eventual resurgence.
Jobs speaks throughout.
In his words
“In 1985, Apple, the company I had built a few years earlier, was taken away from me.”
“The tensions with the board of directors were too high”
“This was one of the most difficult moments of my life”
“I used this experience to reinvent myself”
“I eventually returned to Apple in 1997”
Key points
- Apple was taken away from him in 1985 after a board-level power struggle.
- He says his conflict with John Sculley was about ambition versus short-term profit.
- Losing Apple was one of the most difficult moments of his life.
- He used the experience to reinvent himself.
- That reinvention led to NeXT and Pixar.
- He later returned to Apple in 1997 and helped drive its renaissance.
Full transcript
In 1985, Apple, the company I had built a few years earlier, was taken away from me. The tensions with the board of directors were too high, particularly with John Scully, whom I had recruited myself to take on the responsibility of CEO. In fact, I was determined to pursue innovative and ambitious projects, while Scully was more focused on short term profits and profitability. Disagreements over the direction of the company led to a power struggle, which ultimately led to my departure. This was one of the most difficult moments of my life as I had devoted a great deal of my energy and creativity to Apple. However, I used this experience to reinvent myself and focus on new projects, including the creation of NeXT and the founding of Pixar Animation Studios.
I eventually returned to Apple in 1997, where I played a key role in the company's renaissance and the launch of iconic products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Steve Jobs, 2011.
Transcribed from the audio by speech recognition (Deepgram). Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.