Steve Jobs, at 26, gifted a Jaguar to his secretary after she was late due to car trouble. This act, recounted by former Apple Director of Quality Ron Givens, highlights Jobs's blend of demanding leadership and surprising generosity.
Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple Inc., was often known as much for his demanding leadership style as for his moments of unexpected generosity. Ron Givens, Apple's Director of Quality from 1981 to 1986, offered a tale that brought to light one such case, which dates back to the early 1980s. Givens remembered the unexpected gesture Jobs made to a secretary who had been late for work in a 2011 interview with WRAL.
Steve Jobs gifted Jaguar to his secretary: Here's what happened
According to Givens, the young CEO, then just 26-years-old, noticed a secretary entering the office late and immediately enquired about the delay. “She explained her car had broken down,” said Givens. “That afternoon, he walks into her office, tosses a set of keys to a brand-new Jaguar and says, ‘Here, don't be late anymore.’”
When adjusted for inflation, the Jaguar XJ's price at the time was about $35,000, or $123,000 now (more than Rs 1 crore). Givens claims that the incident perfectly encapsulated Jobs' conflicted mentality. He stated, "He could inspire you to no end." "He has the ability to both inspire and intimidate you." Much of Jobs' early leadership at Apple was characterised by this erratic mix of pressure and inspiration.
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Jobs was known for his relentless and fierce leadership style, which also had the ability to inspire everyone around him. He was infamous for pacing the Apple offices hallways, asking engineers about design details one minute, and then giving them ostentatious, inexplicable presents the next. Givens, who was two decades older than Jobs, recalled being gifted a $1,000 Steuben-glass apple—without any explanation. These moments of extravagance, delivered with little fanfare, underscored Jobs’ unconventional and often paradoxical leadership style.
