Steve Jobs Was “Ekdum Third Class Aadmi” & “Product Of Luck”: Shankar Sharma

Steve Jobs, visionary businessman or product of luck?

Apple Inc, the company founded by Steve Jobs, recently made history by becoming the first company with a market capitalisation of a trillion dollars.

The stock has created incalculable wealth for its investors over the past few decades.

Apple is the greatest cash machine in history & the latest earnings report confirms it. My story & value update: https://t.co/lOe4rcqNpP pic.twitter.com/FtvhgtnODm

— Aswath Damodaran (@AswathDamodaran) February 9, 2017

Apple market cap milestones:

Aug 2018: $1 trillion
Nov 2017: $900 billion
May 2017: $800 billion
Nov 2014: $700 billion
Apr 2012: $600 billion
Feb 2012: $500 billion
Jan 2012: $400 billion
Jan 2011: $300 billion
Mar 2010: $200 billion
May 2007: $100 billion
Dec 1980: $1 billion

— Nilesh Shah (@NileshShah68) August 2, 2018

Naturally, all eminent intellectuals rushed to laud Steve Jobs for this incredible achievement.

Here’s the historic moment when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007 pic.twitter.com/Kuo2AxAcgZ

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) August 24, 2018

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected. – Steve Jobs

— Bruce Van Horn (@BruceVH) August 26, 2018

Apple's road to $1 trillion was paved by these 7 success principles @carminegallo https://t.co/2xf9gVANd1

— Inc. (@Inc) August 20, 2018

On this day in 1991: Steve Jobs, 36, and Bill Gates, 35, discuss future of the PC in Fortune cover story: pic.twitter.com/w4GgzLUf5L

— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) August 26, 2018

However, Shankar Sharma shocked everyone by condemning Steve Jobs.

“Ekdum third class aadmi,” he proclaimed in a contemptuous tone.

“And vastly overrated as a business man too,” he added.

He also described Jobs as a “product of luck” implying that Jobs did not have any business acumen.

Shankar took exception to the fact that Jobs had “struggled for 6 years even after returning to Apple” and that he got a “long rope in life”.

Confirms what I have always believed about Jobs. Ekdum third class aadmi. And vastly overrated as a business man too. IMO, a product of luck, if ever there was one. Struggled for 6 years even after returning to Apple. Who gets such a long rope in lifehttps://t.co/lVi1S6UaJ8

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) August 27, 2018

Shankar’s followers fume at Steve Jobs’ degradation by him

Shankar has an army of 1,66,000 followers on twitter.

His followers keep vigil and monitor his utterances 24×7.

Shankar has a penchant for stoking controversy by praising Pakistan and claiming that it is better than India in some ways.

He also indulges in alleged “Ma Beta ki Ghulami” by lauding the Gandhi family and the Congress party.

He also takes frequent potshots at NAMO.

Naturally, all of this is like a red flag to Shankar’s followers and they attack him relentlessly.

However, Shankar has made it clear that he is not cowed down by the attacks and instead enjoys it because of his “Dhanbad roots”.

nahi bhai. Isme maza aata hai. After all, Dhanbad+Punjab roots hai?

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) July 15, 2016

Instead, he hurls abuses on his followers by calling them “twitter jihadis”, “Gandi naali ke keeday” and other unmentionables.

baahar aa gutter sey, cockroach. Tere liye to mere pair hi kaafi hain.

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) July 14, 2016

nahi bey….tum jaise Twitter jihadis ki 37+:-;+:+:-:=!#!=/-6-: kar raha tha. Gandi naali ke keedey. Chal dafa ho cockroach

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) July 11, 2016

Teri to mein
..*/-:-:736:-:-;;=?!-:3:-''=;;;-;£!!/-/-;:-;-;;-:;-;-:;;-;+;'–;lagta hai aaj tere masters ne haddi nahi daala teri taraf

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) July 11, 2016

As expected, Shankar’s degradation of Steve Jobs as an “Ekdum third class aadmi” did not go down well with his followers.

They attacked him savagely.

Gadhon ki rai sunne ka fayda nahi bheedu

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) August 27, 2018

Strongly disagree. Designing a family of products and creating a niche isn’t a matter of luck. He may or may not have been a product or tech genius, however he definitely was a visionary. At least he created the right environment and hired the right people for innovation.

— Kumar Gaurav (@Invest_Riskfree) August 27, 2018

Sir with due respect I think “third class aadmi “ could have been avoided … person like you with such high reputation ;choice of words is just a piece of cake ..:)))

— asheesh calla (@asheeshcalla1) August 27, 2018

Bhai kya bol rhe ho.
Yaar kbhi apni aukat dekhe toa Bola kro. Tumari jitni property Nahi Hogi na utna toa Woh yearly package deke bande ko kaam pe rakhta tha.
Had hei.

— PiEd PiPeR (@PiEd_PiPeR11) August 27, 2018

First achieve atleast 10% of what he has achieved, then say anything! pic.twitter.com/DI8Z7dfMmJ

— vikranta (@VikrantaYadav) August 27, 2018

Sir there is always miracle which saves people. Miracle works for those people who have courage to take risk. Be it IMO. At last Jobs created huge opportunity to others. Now he is the reason to smile in USA. Hope you will not sell your apple mobile after saying Jobs as 3rd class

— CA Nishant Maheshwari (@nishant10a) August 27, 2018

So whom do u give credit to the 250 billion dollars in cash which they are sitting on. Mr. Sharma history proves that most of such people who attain such success tend to be eccentric. But y do we need to get into hia personal life. Kon doodh ka dhula hai sharmaji

— SunnyAthiest (@sunnyAthiest) August 27, 2018

Sir we are following you for your market and/or your business acumen not your PJs. Let's not discount luck in our lives too. By your reconing even Edison was lucky. And so are you. GN&Gbye

— Dev J (@devndrr) August 27, 2018

What was the provocation for the outburst?

Shankar Sharma was provoked by a book named ‘Small Fry” written by Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Steve’s estranged daughter.

The bottom line of the book appears to be that Steve Jobs mistreated his estranged former wife and daughter.

According to an article in Business Insider, “The memoir by Steve Jobs’ daughter makes clear he was a truly rotten person whose bad behavior was repeatedly enabled by those around him“.

It is also claimed that “Brennan-Jobs’ book puts the other stories about Jobs, the ones about how he treated his employees, colleagues, and partners, in a different light. They make him seem less like a driven leader who was sometimes harsh to achieve his goals and more like a cruel person who succeeded because those around him accommodated and acquiesced to his awfulness“.

Steve Jobs' daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, has written a devastating memoir with damning details about the Apple co-founder. She forgives him. Should we? https://t.co/wDAfRRAAPK

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 24, 2018

What a guy: “When her mother found a beautiful house and asked Mr. Jobs to buy it for her and Lisa, he agreed it was nice — but bought it for himself and moved in with his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs.” https://t.co/sGvCmTZSbr

— Ben Bergman (@thebenbergman) August 24, 2018

However, Steve Jobs’ widow and sister have launched a counter attack against Lisa Brennan-Jobs and sought to discredit her.

Steve Jobs' widow and his sister are pushing back against a new blistering memoir written by the Apple cofounder's daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs https://t.co/MVLb7UUe7T pic.twitter.com/xy2Qwl2ep9

— CNNMoney (@CNNMoney) August 28, 2018

Steve Jobs' widow says his daughter's memoir isn't 'the husband and father we knew'https://t.co/k7BHLEZAK7

— TIME (@TIME) August 29, 2018

The new memoir by Steve Jobs’ daughter shows he was a cruel, manipulative, and rotten person. But…at least he didn’t get rid of the headphone jack.

— MAD Magazine (@MADmagazine) August 27, 2018

What about the fortune made by Shankar from Apple Inc?

Shankar has claimed that he was amongst the first to recognize the multibagger potential of Apple Inc and Amazon Inc.

In a lecture to the distinguished audience at the Morningstar conference, Shankar explained that he had bought truckloads of Apple Inc (and Amazon Inc) because he had seen the “one tiny spark” which would catapult these companies into stardom.

In the case of Apple Inc, it was the launch of the iPhone.

Of course, Shankar did condemn Steve Jobs at that stage as well by stating that “he was not a magician” and that the Company was struggling “five years after he had come back”.

It is notable that the article in Business Insider lauds Steve Jobs and states that he is rightly praised for his role in resurrecting Apple.

“When he took charge, the company was a few months away from bankruptcy. When he left Apple right before his death, it already was the most important consumer-technology company in the world and was well on its way to becoming the behemoth it is now. Given the generally poor track record of corporate managers in turning around seemingly hopeless situations, it’s quite possible that only Jobs could have saved Apple and put it on that path“.

And that’s no small achievement. In turning around the company, Jobs saved thousands of jobs and helped to create thousands more. He also made lots of people inside and outside the company very rich.

The positive side of Jobs’ ledger also includes his role in creating some of the most influential products of the past 50 years — the iPhone, the Mac, the iPad, the iPod, and the original Apple computers. Maybe similar products could and would have been created without him. But there’s no denying that he had a leading role in shaping how billions of people interact with technology, in many ways for the better“.

So, we will have to take Shankar’s statement that Steve Jobs was a “product of luck” with a pinch of salt.

Conclusion

It is obvious that we are not qualified to express any opinion in the matter, one way or the other. We will have to wait for the eminent intellectuals to either support Shankar’s assessment of Steve Jobs or to condemn him!