I don't hate anyone. In fact, I respect Steve a whole lot for pursuing his passion and vision for technology. I just hate the lies people believe. Shipping involves more than any one individual. It's an ongoing collaborative process. Read up:
Well, I shouldn't. But I'm gonna bite this one anyway. Who recognized Jonny Ive's talent and gave him a promotion?
Anyway, I think the reality distortion field you previously referred is in fact a hyperbole machine created by the media outlets. I don't like it too as it only serves to increases the distance between us and real facts just for the sake of getting some viewers.
The real reality distortion field [0][1] was born as a complement and caution, referring to Steve's epic focus, indomitable will, and eagerness to get things done. When well applied, it can be an incredible tool to shift paradigms.
>"Reality Distortion Field" is a modern day cop out. A tool used by men that lack the intellectual curiosity to explain the world, and can deploy at will to explain excitement or success in the market place. Invoking this magical super power saves the writer from doing actual work and research. It is a con perpetuated against the readers.
>...
>The biography has some interesting anecdotes, but fails to answer any of these questions. The biographer was not really interested in understanding or explaining Steve Jobs. He collected a bunch of anecdotes, stringed them together in chronological order, had the text edited and cashed out.
>Whenever the story gets close to an interesting historical event, or starts exploring a big unknown of Steve's work, we are condescendingly told that "Steve Activated the Reality Distortion Field".
>Every. Single. Time.
>Not once did the biographer try to uncover what made people listen to Steve. Not once did he try to understand the world in which Steve operated. The breakthroughs of his work are described with the same passion as a Reuters news feed: an enumeration of his achievements glued with anecdotes to glue the thing together.
>...
>The "Reality Distortion Field" is not really a Steve Jobs super-power, it is a special super power that the technical press uses every time they are too lazy to do research.
I'm not an SJ lover, but this is one case where we can see Apple with and without Jobs. Apple was nearly out of business when he took back the helm. To ignore that the leader has a huge amount to do with the success of any group is to ignore human history. You're also ignoring the stories of SJ who by all accounts was obsessive compulsive with shipping over all else. Do you really think that his attitude towards shipping didn't permeate through the entire organization?
Likewise.
Who do you think built and rebuilt the aforementioned company?
The thousands of people who worked on Apple producs acknowledge that Jobs was fundamental because of is hyper focus and vision.
If you stop hating the man you might learn a thing or two.