Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, the supermen who are credited for shaping this world of innovation as we know it today! But despite how much we praise, admire, and adore these people, they still are humans indeed! They also have some messed up parts in their life stories, which is expected from these insanely successful men. With no intention of malice or defamation, we’ll bring some crazy stories from each of these tech tycoon’s past life to humanize their personalities.
Elon Musk:
Musk’s flaws are highlighted in Ashlee Vance, a business columnist’s, comprehensive biography on Musk: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future.
He narrates how Musk can get ultra-obsessive about work and never takes NO for an answer. He has a history of giving extremely tough time to his employees. The most infamous example of this is Musk’s once devoted assistant Mary Beth Brown, who worked with Musk diligently and faithfully at the beginning of SpaceX. However, when she asked for a pay raise, Musk blatantly questioned her value to the company. He told her to take a few days off to see if the SpaceX can work without her. After two weeks, he called and fired her.
Beyond that, he is known to be extremely uncompromising and demanding while forcing his employees to work long hours. But since his companies’ goals are so alluring and meaningful, everyone puts up with his attitude. He never considers anyone equal to his level of intellect. As explained by his wife, Ashley Vance,
“Elon doesn’t have to listen to anyone in life. No one. He doesn’t have to listen to anything that doesn’t fit into his worldview. But he proved he would take s**t from me.”
Steve Jobs:
Oh boy, where to begin with this one! You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but here we go! For starters, he was a shameless idea-thief who stole and patented concepts and features at every opportunity he got.
One of the meanest act by Steve Jobs was to pull a phone prank to an Apple fanboy who applied for the position of Apple CEO. Steve Jobs told him that he had been chosen, only to get him arrested by the police when he showed up in Cupertino.
Another event vilifying the man was his act of refusing fatherhood of his daughter Lisa. He was 23 when he denied any part in Lisa’s birth, spending over two years while denying paternity. Jobs vouched that,
“He couldn’t be Lisa’s father because he was ‘sterile and infertile, and as a result thereof, did not have the physical capacity to procreate a child.’”
Steve Jobs refused child support for his daughter Lisa and her mother who used to live in a small apartment. He later improved the relationship and eventually, Lisa chose to live with Steve Jobs instead of her mother.
Who can forget the Breakout story, where he and his partner designed an Atari game Breakout, in exchange for half of what he was earning; $700. They worked day and night for four days. When they were done, Wozniak was given his due $350 cut as promised. But decades later, Wozniak got to know that Jobs was paid $5,000, and not $700! Upon hearing this, Wozniak reportedly broke down in tears.
You can read some of the craziest stories about Apple and Steve Jobs here.
Mark Zuckerberg:
Mark’s story has been revealed after the movie, “The Social Network,” which shows how he pretty much stole the idea of Facebook from his friends and got rid of them when they were no longer needed. He has been ordered again and again by the courts to pay huge sums to these people as settlements.
Zuckerberg is often quoted to have once said,
“You can be unethical and still be legal; that’s the way I live my life.”
This statement is his life mantra, as he has been accused of using Facebook login details to read private emails. He has also been charged with hacking a rival social network site to vandalize social profiles and break their searching tools.
“You don’t get to 5000 million friends without making a few enemies”, rightly said, Mr. Zuckerberg.
Don’t forget the eventual turning of Facebook from an open platform to a left wing puppet safe space where your opinion is censored, and data is sold off to the authorities, if you don’t conform to the CEO’s moral degradation.
Did we miss out something? Let us know in the comments’ section below.
