But have you ever wondered why a man who could afford to by himself literally any item of clothing that he wanted always opted to wear the same black jumper?
Did Jobs come up with his best creative ideas while wearing the ensemble, or perhaps he was a man of superstition who believed the future of Apple’s success relied solely on the familiar turtleneck?
You may not be able to see it but the famous jumper is in this photo (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The story behind Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck
Much has been written about Jobs’ clothing choices over the years, with all of his shirts coming from Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake.
Miyake had designed the uniforms for Sony employees in 1981 to celebrate the brand’s 35th anniversary. The sleek and simplistic designs captured the attention of Jobs, who had taken over the development of Macintosh computers that year.
The anecdote was revealed in Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography Steve Jobs, with the tech mogul believing that having all of his employees in the same uniform would allow for ‘corporate bonding’.
Jobs subsequently opted to have Miyake create something similar for Apple employees. However, the idea didn’t go down well amongst staff at the time, in-fact it was so poorly received that Jobs was allegedly ‘booed off the stage’ during the announcement.
He refused to be put off by disgruntled employees and instead adapted the idea to become his own one man uniform.
It was at this point that a legend was made.
A rare image of Jobs pre-turtleneck (Marilyn K. Yee/New York Times Co./Getty Images)
“I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them,” Jobs explained to Isaacson (via Forbes).
According to the biographer, Jobs then opened up his wardrobe to reveal numerous identical copies of the same shirt.
He didn’t stop at wearing the same shirt (well, various copies of same shirt) everyday either, with the businessman also having a soft spot for Levi’s jeans and New Balance trainers.
Which is a pretty straightforward costume idea to utilise next Halloween.
The simplistic clothing decision had benefits beyond making it very easy to pick an outfit in the morning. The look made Jobs instantly recognisable and was even copied by Elizabeth Holmes when she launched her short-lived company Theranos.
Miyake would even retire the design after Jobs’ death in honour as an homage to the former Apple CEO, however, the brand does have a number of similar styles available on their website.
Should you fancy taking a leaf out of Jobs’ book and donning a Issey Miyake shirt you can pick a similar one from the brand’s website – for a small £490.
Hey, we said dressing like a tech CEO was simple, not cheap.
Featured Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Topics: Steve Jobs, Apple, Technology
Even from beyond the grave, Steve Jobs is still setting an example of how to be an absolute boss in business.
It’s cutthroat in the corporate world, as we all know, and that even still applies to those at the top of the food chain.
So when the late Apple CEO found out that a rival company was poaching some of his employees, he needed a mic-drop moment – and by God, did he deliver.
Forget his infamous ‘beer test’, as this beef with one of his competitors takes the absolute biscuit.
After reportedly getting wind that software giant Adobe were attempting to recruit a number of his workers, Jobs decided to cut out the middle man and go straight to the gaffer about it.
And back in 2005 – when the scathing message was sent – it was American businessman Bruce Chizen who was in the hot seat, as he served as the firm’s CEO from 2000 to 2007.
As two tech guys would, they decided to converse over email.
Steve Jobs got straight to the point in his scathing email to Bruce Chizen (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
It seems that Jobs was keen to p*ss on his competitors cornflakes on the morning of 26 May, 2005, as just after 9.30am, he sent a no-nonsense email to Chizen to iron out the alleged poaching problem.
The subject line of the blunt correspondence simply said: “Recruiting.”
The email to Chizen is said to have read: “Bruce, Adobe is recruiting from Apple.
“They have hired one person already and are calling lots more. I have a standing policy with our recruiters that we don’t recruit from Adobe. It seems you have a different policy.
“One of us must change our policy. Please let me know who. Steve.”
Like I said – a mic-drop moment.
According to reports, it took Chizen until almost the end of the working day to come up with a retort to Jobs’ impressive email – but he gave as good as he got.
The former Adobe CEO was reportedly beefing with Jobs back in May 2005 (THOMAS LOHNES/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)
The 69-year-old, who later stepped down from his position as Adobe’s CEO to be replaced by Shantanu Narayen, responded: “I thought we agreed not to recruit any senior level employees (at Adobe this is Sr. Director/VP and represents about 2% of the population).
“I am pretty sure your recruiters have approached more junior ones. I would propose we keep it this way. Open to discuss. It would be good to agree.”
Jobs wasn’t too pleased with this reply and sniped back that if that’s the case, he would inform his recruiters that ‘they are free to approach any Adobe employee who is not a Sr. Director or VP’.
But Chizen wasn’t cool with this – and he tried to settle the stalemate by suggesting they both agree ‘NOT to actively solicit any employee from either company’.
“If employee proactively approaches then it’s acceptable,” he added. “If you are in agreement I will let my folks know.”
Neither of these fellas commented on this supposed email beef publicly, but the emails were made public in court documents surrounding a 2010 antitrust lawsuit over several tech companies supposed agreements not to cold call each other’s employees for recruitment purposes.
Steve Jobs does not mess around (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
After reading the exchange, many people pointed out that Apple devices don’t support Flash Players – which some people reckon ‘basically killed that portion of Adobe’s business’.
One social media user said of the email exchange: “Love this. Steve said ‘play with someone else cause I could take all your employees’.”
Another wrote: “Steve just being the goat as always.”
A third added: “Always say less then necessary. Ultimate flex.”
While a fourth commented: “Epic management style.”
Others pointed out that it is against the law in the US ‘to collude with other companies’ about hiring – and ‘no-poach agreements’ aren’t exactly above board.
And Adobe, Apple, Google and Intel ended up paying out $415 million to settle the 2010 lawsuit.
Besides that though, Jobs certainly had some cool comebacks. Hats off.
Featured Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Topics: Steve Jobs, Apple, Business, Viral, Technology, US News, Jobs
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Tense footage shows the moment a mega-yacht owned by the late Apple owner Steve Jobs crashed into the side of a Mexican businessman’s boat.
The pricey $200 million (£157 million) Lady Moura yacht, owned by businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, was sailing off the coast of Naples, Italy when a gust of wind sent Jobs’ $140 million (£110 million) Venus yacht on a collision course with his.
In footage shared by Salinas on Instagram, crew members on his yacht can be seen scrambling to get the attention of the Venus’ crew as it drifted dangerously close.
The collision occurred of the coast of Naples, Italy. (Instagram/@ricardosalinas)
The two boats then bounced off of each other before Jobs’ futuristic looking yacht floated backwards.
It’s understood that neither Salinas or Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs – who currently owns the Venus – were onboard at the time of the crash.
Salinas later clarified on social media that no major damage had happened to his yacht, other than a ‘big scratch’ which he expected would cause a small fortune to fix.
“You won’t believe this, but our yacht was hit while we were in Naples,” he wrote in a lengthy caption alongside the clip.
“I’d like to know what the captain and crew were doing that they didn’t see a yacht the size of mine in front of them. The good thing is that nothing more than a scratch happened, but it’s a big scratch that’s going to cost a lot to fix ha ha ha.
He went on to claim that the crew of the Venus were at fault, before concluding the post by stating that he had chosen to upload the video to show ‘how important it is to have a responsible and attentive captain in command’.
An update on the situation has since been issued via Boat International, with the outlet saying the collision was caused by the wind changing ‘very quickly’.
“On 22 July while at anchor, Venus came into contact with Lady Moura, which was also anchored,” the statement read.
“No family was on board, only crew. The wind changed very suddenly, picking up from a breeze to 55 knots over the course of a few minutes.
Neither Salinas or Jobs’ widow were onboard at the time of the collision. (Instagram/@ricardosalinas)
“Neither boat dragged anchor, though the other boat was on a chain double the length expected in the depth of water they were in. Both captains were in discussion immediately following the incident about minor repairs needed.”
The Venus yacht had been designed and created specifically for Jobs back in 2009, however production wasn’t completed until 2012, a year after the Apple co-founder’s death.
Meanwhile Salinas made his fortune as the founder and chairman of Group Salinas, which specialises in media and telecommunications.
Applicants are put through all sorts of tests by the people meant to be interviewing them so you can expect to be bombarded with questions, tripped up by hidden meanings or get stuck in a wobbly chair where if you didn’t ask for a better place to sit it’d cost you.
Lots of bosses have their own little tests which they believe reveals character in an interview, and Steve Jobs was no different.
The late Apple boss wanted to break applicants out of a rote process of going through memorised answers and basically reading a list of responses off a script.
Instead he preferred to keep it as casual as his outfit of a turtleneck and pair of jeans and that’s where the ‘beer test’ would come in.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
It’s pretty simple, he took potential Apple employees for a walk and went for a beer with them so he could have a more relaxed conversation.
The idea was that taking them on this walk would help to loosen them up a bit, getting them to chat a bit more honestly – that’s if they weren’t too starstruck about having a beer with the literal CEO of Apple.
Jobs would reportedly ask them questions ranging from the weighty ‘When was the last time you accomplished something?’ to a simple, ‘What did you do last summer?’
Almost sounds like a school homework assignment.
He didn’t exactly look for any right or wrong answers, he was just looking to get to know the candidate better.
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Getty Stock Photo
After all, it’s fine having a colleague who knows everything they’re doing. But if they’re an absolute nightmare to work alongside it’s not worth it. We can all admit to relating to that.
Jobs’ aim in interviewing candidates was to find the very best of the best, the ‘A-Players’ as he regarded those of the highest class of their game.
He previously explained: “I found that when you get enough A-players together, when you go through the incredible job of finding these A-players, they really like working with each other.
“Because they’ve never had the chance to do it before.”
As for whether the ‘beer test’ actually worked, Apple seemed to do pretty well while Jobs was in charge.
Additional words by Jess Battison.
Featured Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Stock Photo
Ricky Gervais has been wearing the same black t-shirt for 20 years – and you’d hope that he gives it a wash from time to time.
Whether he’s doing an on-stage set, appearing on a talk-show, or going to the gym, the comedian is always donning a black, often v-neck t-shirt.
Often, he’ll be a little more adventurous and opt for a long-sleeved version, but apart from that, he loves black t-shirts more than Steve Jobs loves turtlenecks.
With a reported net worth of $160 million (£127 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth, you’d think that he’d be able to afford to switch things up from time to time.
However, The Office star has ironically explained why he has always dressed the same.
Taking to Instagram with a picture of him wearing a black t-shirt (again) he wrote: “When I was really poor, I got so fed up having only t-shirts and old sweat pants to wear that I tried to make a suit out of curtains.
Oh look, Ricky Gervais is wearing a black t-shirt (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
“Now I can afford to wear anything I want. I could have suits made for me.
“But I decided I prefer t-shirts and old sweat pants.”
Commenting on the admission, one fan quipped: “I made a suit out of a pair of curtains too, sometimes you just need to pull yourself together.”
Many others went and thanked Gervais for what he does for animals, thinking it could explain why he appears to dress very sustainably.
Last year, the comedian donated £1.9 million to animal charities raised from ticket sales from his Armageddon world tour.
This comes after the stand-up has said, on many occasions, that he genuinely prefers animals to humans.
During a 2023 appearance on The One Show, he brought along his German Shepherd dog Anti, who appears in his emotional After Life Netflix series.
Gervais in a black t-shirt, again (Vera Anderson/WireImage)
“Honestly, nothing breaks my heart more than pets being separated from their owners,” he said.
“I can’t stand to think of an animal in discomfort, let alone hurt.
“Even the slightest bit of discomfort – I just can’t stand it. I want every animal to be as happy as Anti.”
“They’re just better than people. No offence,” he continued.
“They’re members of the family. They’ve got so much compassion. I mean, dogs do everything for us. They guard us, they guide us, they can smell cancer.
“They’re incredible. You couldn’t invent something as good as a dog. They’re amazing.
“And look at them, they’re perfect. What’s not to love?”
