1. He had an unshakeable faith in himself even as a teenager.

At 13, he had wanted to design a frequency counter for which he needed a part he could not afford. He simply looked up the yello pages to find none other than Bill Hewlett to ask for the part. He not only received the part, but also landed a summer job at HP!

2. He played by no one’s rules. He did not play even by his own rules.

He was not bound by any limitations that people normally force on themselves. He was adept at what he called Akido moves. When he was trying to persuade the music industry to adopt a new business model of selling unbundled singles for 99 cents, he did not bow down to pressure even from biggies like Sony, and di not allow them the agency model. Because he could get away with it. However, when he was reinventing the books industry, he allowed the publishers the agency model and allowed them to set prices because Apple wasn’t the first in the books industry, Amazon was.

3. He was unafraid to be himself

As a young college drop out, he had stood outside video maker atari and refused to move until they gave him a job. He got his first job!

He was perhaps the first CEO to teach history that he ticked none of the boxes to be a competent CEo, s he went on to become one of the greatest legendary CEOs.

4. He had a consuming passion for everything he did

Even if he was designing a building, he wanted it to be the best office building in the world. Often, he imagined the dream design and then set out his forces to look for/ invent suitable material and technology to build the product.

5. He never did things for the money.

Though he never lost sight of profit, it wasn’t his goal ever. He forsake his salary and didn’t earn a single dollar as Apple’s CEO. He even sold all his shares in Apple so as to have moral authority. However, after he had turned around Apple, he wouldn’t hesitate to ask the Board for a private jet because he hated to wait at airport queues.

6. He was obsessed with leaving legacies and signatures
He was a perfectionist, whether it was designing the apple stores or making Toy Story. Jobs’ friend Larry Ellison of Oracle would recall the numerous versions of Toy story that he would be asked to see again and again. He designed a signature campus that would express the company values for generations. He personally negotiated with Beatles to be on iTunes.

7. He was obsessed with design
Design was a matter of life and death for him literally. Once he was undergoing a surgical procedure and he was sedated and an oxygen mask was put on his face. Even in his sedated state, he was so particular about the design that he ripped off his mask and asked to see five different masks so he could choose the design.

He was such an artiste that at his last edifice there was not a single straight piece of glass in the building – everything was curved. He said “I think we have a chance at building the best office building in the world”.

8. He believed i empowering humanity
Though he did not have the social graces to put himself in other people’s shoes, he cared deeply about empowering human kind and putting the right tools in their hands.

He offered cut throat advice to CEOs who sought it.

His advice to google’s Larry Page – Keep the company from getting flabby or being larded with B players. a players like to be with A players.

His advice to Obama – You are headed for a one term presidency unless you fix regulations, unnecessary costs and education.

He went so far as to say about Obama – “He is having trouble leading because he is reluctant to offend people or piss them off. Yes that’s not a problem I ever had.”

He was unexpectedly philanthropical to businesses. He declared “one of my personal projects this year, I have decided, is to try and help – whether they want it or not – the Times. I think it is important to the country for them to figure it out”.

His advice to Bill Clinton – “I don’t know what you did. But, if you did it, you ‘ve got to tell the country now”.

9. He held talented people in high regard

Despite his imperious disdain of everyone, he held talented people in high regard , including one VC John Doerr. It was Doerr who had argued with a control obsessed Jobs that permitting apps would spawn a profusion of new entrepreneurs who would create new services. After persuasion, Jobs figured out that he could have the best of both worlds – permit developers to write apps yet have tight control.

That single decision influenced by a VC to build the app store created a billion dollar industry overnight. Apple had paid out $2.5bn to app developers by june 2011. John Doerr went on to create an iFund of $200m to offer equity for the best ideas.

10. He loved beauty
He cried profusely at what he called artistic purity, be it music, desig or Shakespeare.

He once told Yoyoma who played Bach – “your playing is the best argument I have ever had for the existence of God, because I really dont believe a human alone can do this. ”