About Apple.

While doing some research recently, I was reading Make Something Wonderful at the Steve Jobs Archive. It's a curated collection of interviews, speeches, and correspondence, organised into a neat timeline. While reading I came across a story that ends with Steve Jobs writing: I have changed my position 180 degrees.

Given the numerous stories about how difficult he could be this made me smile and I wanted to share it.

It was September 1995, just a couple of months before Toy Story would be released and Pixar would hold their IPO. Toy Story was the first computer generated feature length film and the first film released by Pixar.

In making Toy Story, Pixar's technical team had developed considerable expertise in computer graphics. Jobs had mentioned this to Intel CEO Andy Grove and offered to help Intel improve their graphics rendering.

When an engineer at Intel contacted Steve to set up a meeting however, Jobs pointed out how valuable their "secrets" were and that they weren't just going to give them away for free. The Intel engineer was polite but declined to provide any compensation to Pixar.

Andy, Maybe it's just me, but I find [Engineer 1]'s approach extremely arrogant, given Intel's (his?) dismal showing in understanding computer graphics architectural issues in the past…

Maybe this initial response is what we've come to expect from Steve, he doesn't hold back. Andy is firm in his support for his engineer though, and just as firm at pushing back.

Steve, I am firmly on [Engineer 1]'s side on this one. He is taking your offer to help us very seriously, rounded up the best technical people and was ready to go when you introduced a brand new element into the discussion: money. You may remember, that from time to time I offered suggestions that pertained to your business. Examples range from porting NextStep to the 486 - - which was in our interest too - - to my presentation to your staff on repositioning NextStep beyond that. I am not suggesting that these are comparable in value to your expertise in graphics, but I gave what I had, put some thought into the problem I saw you were facing - - and it never entered my mind to charge for it. In my view, that's what friendly companies (and friends) do for each other. In the long run, these things balance out. I am sorry you don't feel that way. We will be worse off as a result, and so will the industry.

Jobs clearly reflected on the exchange and took Grove’s words to heart. Just four days later, he replied that he had changed his position 180 degrees.

Andy, I have many faults, but one of them is not ingratitude. And, I do agree with you that "In the long run, these things balance out." Therefore, I have changed my position 180 degrees - - we will freely help [Engineer 1] make his processors much better for 3D graphics. Please ask [Engineer 1] to call me, and we will arrange for a meeting as soon as the appropriate Pixar technical folks can be freed up from the film. Thanks for the clearer perspective. Steve

It's a great example of his ability to self-reflect and his willingness to change course when necessary.

You can read the full text of all the email correspondence in Make Something Wonderful. Use the timeline on the right hand side to jump to 1985-1996.