STEVE JOBS & THE STUPID IDEA
Steve Jobs photographed by Doug Menuez, 1989
My assistant and I arrived at NeXT Computer, Inc., two hours ahead of our appointment to photograph CEO Steve Jobs for the cover of Fortune Magazine. I had planned to shoot Steve with the incredible floating cement staircase I.M. Pei designed for him in the lobby, a precursor to the clear glass version that later became famous in the Apple stores. We begin setting up lights and talking things over with Steve’s team.
Finally Steve came storming in, hours late due to traffic on his way down from Pixar, and in a terrible mood. He took one look at my set up and announced, “This is just stupid. We are not doing this.”
Stunned, I struggled for a response. No one spoke.
Steve moved closer, his face six inches from mine.
“This is the stupidest f***ing idea I’ve ever seen!” screamed Steve Jobs.
Everyone vanished, doors shutting all down the hall.
“I disagree, Steve, it’s a fantastic idea,” I replied, looking him right in the eye, my voice steady. He screamed again, “This is stupid!" and continued for another five or ten minutes, pacing up and down, returning to launch another close up attack. I was absolutely terrified. Despite having been shot at, kidnapped, and threatened at knife-point during my news career I felt as if I was ten years old.
Yet I kept my face steady and was interjecting quietly, “No Steve, you’re wrong,” and “Really, it’s a great idea,” or “I know what I’m doing, I’ve shot six covers of Fortune, you have to trust me,” as he raged on. I refused to back down. I’d seen what happened to anyone confronted by Steve who wavered. You had to stand up for your ideas and fight. That was the only way to gain his trust and respect.
Looking exasperated and furious he suddenly turned away began to walk away from me. He quickly spun back around and pointed at me and hissed “You just want to sell magazines.”
Ah. I knew I had him and waited a beat. I looked him in the eye and quietly said, “And you just want to sell computers.”
A pause. He smiled that great smile of his, threw his head back and laughed. He said, “OK, great. Where do you want me?”
The resulting picture ended up being a bestselling cover of Fortune that year. Later he told me it was a good picture but he wished he’d gotten his hair cut first. And that was the first and only time we ever disagreed or fought during my three years of documenting Steve Jobs and his team building the NeXT computer for LIFE Magazine.
Steve Jobs photographed for Fortune Magazine by Doug Menuez, 1989 - this signed copy recently sold for over $16,000 at auction ( Nate D. Sanders Auctions )
Steve Jobs photographed by Doug Menuez, 1989