Surprises about America: Nice Post,Thank You BI!

Before reading this blog post, this post in Business Insider should be read with out fail. It talks about surprises in America from an International Indian student. It is suggested to have both the pages side by side for reference.

Before I go on with the outrage and point by point rebuttal of fallacies in this article, let me explain why I am doing it?

It is just because, I respect Business Insider. I wouldn't have given a second thought or bothered with it, if it wasn't BI. It is perfectly okay for some one to have their very own opinion, write it in a blog.

My point of concern is BI publishing it in a tone as though it is from an expert authority. It really doesnt goes well with me to see all such sweeping generalizations appearing in BI! It is totally unfair to its readers. What if, a student in a far away corner in India, reads and takes it on face value and believes that to be a true state of reality. What will an American reading about this, think about India?

Hey, Who am I to comment on this?

I spent much of my childhood and formative years in a small Indian town, studied(spent time) in one of the best and the cosmopolitan colleges in India, worked in USA for more than few months, have been outside India for quite some time. Just making it clear, i have seen my share of the world outside India, interacted, worked and studied with more than one nationality and culture.

Grades:There are schools which have a grade no disclosure policy. There are companies which want near perfect grades. Still, should we believer that nobody talks about grades in US!

Private and no flaunting: Oh Yeah, all Indians do is nothing but trumpet their success and no one is humble. By the way, what the hell is that "their performance alone" and "share their accomplishments with everyone else"

Retail experience is nice in India! personal shopper! Many NRI's have opined that people follow you in these retails keeping an eye on you as though you have come to steal. What about WalMart,even there was no one to help out in shopping. Hmm, never know the American malls are so boring. [To be fair, I would Indian malls are good as malls abroad!]

Tech world: Well, they graciously offered to take your work off, cause the work has to be done and there cannot be delay due to one person's incompetence. I have seen people who are rude, offering help, passing the blame and infighting both in India and US.

Competition and Ethics: If students collobarate in US, it is difficult and hence they learn from each other in study groups. If students in India, colloborate, it is called cheating. [I am reminded of a Tamil comedy where if something red comes out of my head, it is blood, if it is coming of your head,it must be Tomato sauce] So, there are no group studies in India, no one helps the other guy. In US, every one is a good samaritan, and marines who leaves no one behind. Let us accept and understand that education system is different in India and US.

Thin Rich and Respect: Cheap food is fatty and home cooked food is expensive! really? I am really not sure, why i am still not fat!! In that one paragraph, where thin people are respected, the entire America is being made to look like the most shallow people on the earth. "Thin and tall but not as much"I cant recall any gal telling she likes her men short! (why am i generalizing in a post which is totally against generalization!) what does that "made me drinks with more care/love" means! If only that was true, For the way, I look and weigh, Starbuck baristas should be only making love to me! So starbucks treats customers differently based on their looks but not on being a regular. Hmm. Why is Starbucks havent sued yet?

Girls are not promiscuous. Oh finally, something right, but contrary to hollywood films. Yeah, even in India, people don't dance with 50 people in background  in rain, when they fall in love contrary to bollywood films. (Sarcasm Intended)

African Americans aren't given enough opportunity, broken families. Hmm, who is the POTUS now? There are no broken families in other communities.

Not qualified to make comment on brick houses, though there is something on the comment section of the article.

Anywhere, buying bulk is cheaper. Hence the wholesale is cheaper. Americans waste food. Yeah, most of the Indian marriages and festivals don't ever waste food.(Sarcasm Intended)

Obsession with Coffee:Coffee was not consumed as much as it is consumed now in US, before Howard Schultz built Starbucks. Section of South Indians are not coffee addicts and can start their without coffee (Sarcasm Intended)

Split familes are not seen differently but when it comes to African American families it is probably a factual reason, that there is a dearth of them in technical fields. (Sarcasm Intended)

Support towards LGBT: Hmm, Why did Tyler Clementi of Rutgers committed suicide? Oh wait, One of the accused in the case was a Indian. All Indians meekly accepted and hailed the verdict when an Indian court criminalized gays and homosexuals! (Sarcasm Intended)

Smoking weed is same as smoking cigarattes. What really? I guess, I am surely smoking weed when i was reading and writing this! Too bad, Washington and Colorado passed laws legalizing Marijuana contrary to the federal law!

I thought, at least the excerpt from Quora was okay and more factual or US 101 until i read the 'almost-classless' soceity! Service professionals own iPhones cause it is on contract. So there are no poor bums in US! There is no haves and have not's.

The bottom line or conclusion is this: One usually goes to abroad looking for a different experience, how things are different, to see the other side of the world.I guess, after seeing the other side, one could still realize that though there is difference, it is not that different. There are good people, bad people, smart ones, dumb ones, hard workers, slackers in all communities. Every human being, culture, country is unique in certain aspects. Yet, one cannot and should not really stereotype or genaralize and put people or things in to boxes. There are norms, but always there are exceptions and that is the norm.

Nice and Informative Post. Thanks to BI.

p.s
I am also being more cynical and nitpicking cause i feel the article just deserves it



 

இராட்சசன் மீது பொறாமை!

எனக்கு எந்த கெட்ட பழக்கமும் இல்லை. கெட்டதை கெட்டது என்று பார்த்தால் தானே அது கெட்ட பழக்கம்.

அதே போல் பெரும்பாலும் தவறுகளும் செய்வதில்லை. செய்ய வேண்டும் என்று தோன்றினால் தள்ளிப் போடாமல் செய்து முடித்து விடுவேன். தாமதமில்லாமல் தண்டனையும் கிடைத்து விடும். அப்படி ஒரு ராசி எனக்கு.

எதற்கு இது எல்லாம்? பொறாமை தப்பான கெட்ட பழக்கம் இல்லையா? ஒரு சிலர் மீது எனக்கு லைட்டாக பொறாமை உண்டு. அதில் ஒருவரை பற்றி பேசலாம் என்று தான்!

ஜெப்ரி ஆர்ச்சர். டேன் பிரவுனின் தாத்தா. (ஜெப்ரியையும் டேன் பிரவுன் பேரையும் ஒரே வரியில் எழுதுவதே தப்பு அதில் ஒப்பீடு வேறா என என்று மனசாட்சி காறி துப்புகிறது)

Eleventh Commandment,கல்லூரியில் காலடி எடுத்து வைப்பதற்கு காத்து கொண்டிருந்த காலத்தில் நான் படித்த முதல் ஆங்கில நாவல்! நாவலுக்கு உதவியர்கள் பட்டியலில் ‘பெயர் வெளியிட விரும்பாத இரஷ்ய மாபியாவினருக்கும்’ என்று படித்த போது எழுந்து ஆச்சரியம் 13-14 வருடங்கள் ஆகியும் இன்று வரை அடங்கவில்லை.  [இந்தியாவை உலுக்கிய ஒரு படுகொலையை பற்றி எழுதியவர் மீது எல்லாம் ஆச்சரியத்தை விட அன்பு தான் அதிகம்!]

வெறி கொண்டு, அவருடைய மற்ற நாவல்களை எல்லாம் தேடி தேடி படித்தேன். [வாங்கி படிக்குமளவுக்கு அப்பொழுதும் இப்பொழுதும் பணமில்லை ;)] படிக்க படிக்க படிக்க அவரின் பார்முலா புரிந்தாலும் பிரமிப்பு போகவில்லை. அவரின் எழுத்தை பிரித்து மேய்ந்து அதை தனியே எழுதி டாக்டரேட் வாங்க வேண்டும் என்று நப்பாசை எல்லாம் வந்து போய் விட்டது! (பின்னே! வாங்கினால் கெளரவ டாக்டர் பட்டம் தான்). சென்னையில் இவரை பார்க்க முடியாமல் போய், இங்கிலாந்து போன உடன், இவரை எப்பொழுது எப்படி பார்க்கலாம் என்று எல்லாம் செய்த ஆராய்ச்சி. ஹ்ம்ம் பிந்து மாதவியை எப்படியாவது மீண்டும் நேரில் பார்த்து பழக வேண்டும் என்று ஆசைபட்டதை விட அதிகம். இதற்கு மேல் ஜெப்ரி மீது இருக்கும் பித்தை பற்றி எதுவும் சொல்ல முடியாது.

அப்படி என்ன ஜெப்ரி!

எழுத்து, கதை சொல்லும் திறன். அதற்காக அவரின் உழைப்பு. அப்படி ஒரு அசாத்திய உழைப்பு. சுயமரியாதை உள்ள, தொழில் தர்மம் உள்ள எந்த எழுத்தாளனும் செய்வான் என்று எல்லாம் புறந்தள்ளி விட முடியாது. இவை எல்லாவற்றையும் விட என்னை பிரமிக்க வைப்பது அவரின் சொந்த வாழ்க்கை வரலாறு.

அவரின் கதாநாயகர்களும் சரி வில்லன்களும் சரி, அவரே தான் எனத் தோன்றும். (ஆனாலும் ஆட்டோ பிக்சன் எல்லாம் இல்லை) அவர் கதைகளில் கூட எது நிஜம் எது புனைவு என்று சொல்லி விடலாம், ஆனால் அவரின் வாழ்வில் இன்னும் சொல்ல முடியவில்லை. அவரின் கதைகளைப் போலவே. அவரின் வாழ்க்கையும் மர்மம்,விறுவிறுப்பு, ஏற்றத் தாழ்வு எல்லாம் நிறைந்தது.

ஜெப்ரியின் தந்தை பற்றிய வரலாற்றில் கொஞ்சம் சரடு, ஆக்ஸ்போர்டில் படித்தார் ஆனால் படிக்கவில்லை, அப்பொழுதே பணம் சுருட்டினார் என்ற குற்றச்சாட்டு, இங்கிலாந்திற்காக ஒட்டப்பந்தயத்தில் ஒடியது, அரசியல் வாழ்க்கை, திவாலாகும் வரை போய், பின்னர் புத்தகம் எழுதி பணக்காரர் ஆகி, மீண்டும் அரசியல், கால் கேர்ள் உடன் இருந்தார் என குற்றச்சாட்டு, யார்? நானா என அவரே வாதாடி வென்று, பின்னர் பல காலம் கழித்து, கால்கேர்ள் வழக்கில், கனம் கோர்ட்டாரிடம் பொய் சொல்லி இருக்கிறார் எனத் தெரிய வந்து, அதற்காக ஜெயிலுக்கு போய், அந்த அனுபவத்தையும் புத்தகமாக்கி பணம் செய்து என்று, அட என்ன வாழ்க்கை சார்!

இரண்டாவது முறை, கல்லூரி முடித்து,காலம் கழித்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறேன். ஜெப்ரியின் 1000 பக்க சிறுகதை தொகுப்பு. பல சிறுகதைகள், உண்மை சம்பங்களை அடிப்படையாக வைத்து என்று வேறு ஆரம்பத்திலேயே எழுதி உசுப்பேற்றி விடுகிறார்.

ஒவியங்கள், இடங்கள், சாஸ்திர சம்பிரதாயங்கள், வரலாறு என சிறுகதைகளுக்கு எவ்வளவு உழைப்பு. அட, இதை எல்லாம் கூகிளில் தேடி, விக்கியில் தேடி, யூடூப்பில் பார்த்து கூட ஜல்லி அடித்து விடலாம். ஆனால் அந்த உண்மை சம்பவங்கள். அந்த சுவாரஸ்யமான மனிதர்களை நேரில் பார்த்து, அவர்களின் நம்பிக்கைக்கு பாத்திரமாகி, அவர்களின் கதையை நம் கண் முன் கொண்டு வர வேண்டுமென்றால், வாட ஏ மேன்.

சத்தியமாய் ஜெப்ரி ஒரு இராட்சசன் தான்!

பி.கு 1
நான் பொறாமைப் படும் மற்றோரு நபர். அதிக பிரபலமில்லாதவர்.சக தோழர். சற்றே குள்ளமும் கூட. ஆனாலும் அவரை எட்டிப் பிடிப்பேன் என்ற நம்பிக்கை இன்னும் இருக்கிறது! நம்பிக்கை நிஜமாவது என் கையில் இல்லை!

மற்றவர், மிக பிரபலமானவர். அவர்  யார்? அவர் மீது ஏன் பொறாமை என்று இந்த வீடியோவை பார்த்து தெரிந்து கொள்ளலாம்.

பி.கு 2
இதில் குறியீடாக தெரிபவை எல்லாம் என உள்மன ஆசைகள் இல்லை!

2 cents on Publishing and Piracy

It all started with this tweet . As I was also bestowed upon the honor of digital publisher, let me offer my 2 cents to this discussion

Before go further, let me add few Disclaimers, even at the danger of the rest of my thought process losing its relevance!

• I have committed sin. I have downloaded songs, movies and ahem even books.
• Do I feel good about them? Definitely no. [of course, i can try to justify them with context, but at the end of day, it is definitely not sharing. More on this later!]
•  Food, books, music and movies, each of them are very different and cannot be treated the same.(as usual there are exceptions)

Sharing vs Stealing

I buy a book and lend it to others. More than one person has read it, but still the author and publisher is getting the money from only one person.

I buy a book, other person photocopies it, still the author and publisher get paid only for one copy.
Irrespective of how it is being termed, sharing or stealing, the author or publisher don't get their due. 

At least, when it is photocopied, the photocopier makes some money!

Online or offline, sharing or stealing, the problem remains the same. The author and publisher not making the money they could (not should) be actually making. [number of people who paid for the book vs the number of people who read it]

The digital arena becomes a different ball game and outrage occurs due to the scale and unfortunately the scale matters!

Can we stop Piracy?

Are you kidding? Definitely No! No matter what kind of DRM is being used, there is always an hack and you can get something for free.

Can we cut down the losses due to piracy?
 

I strongly believe, that is possible. let me offer few thoughts on this context in general and from my personal experience

 

Personal Context

 

I have always preferred to buy original books rather than the cheapster version(pirated printing) as long as it was affordable. [How you define affordable is another question]

Given a choice to watch a good movie in theatre, on laptop/tv on a original DVD that is expensive, on laptop/tv on a pirated dvd, pirated cheap streaming version? I always preferred theatre.

To put it simply, i really don't mind and would be happy to pay for my consumption as long as the payment methodology is easy and affordable.

Yeah, its just you! what about others? hmm well. Lets take a look at the

General Context

Isn't Apple iTunes making revenue? Before asking, how much money are they potentially losing because of piracy, it is to be noted they considerably brought down the revenue loss to the music industry.

Why does Chetan Bhagat sell?

Why do still there are millions of copies of books sold, when they can be downloaded for free with sometime on Internet?

Remember, fifty shades of grey, before being a bestseller was absolutely free online and taken down later before it went for offline publishing.

Even in local context, Ponniyin Selvan is priced differently by different publishers and people do buy at varied prices.

Before thinking about alternate models, we need to have answer for these

most important question(s)

"How do you put a price on your creative content?"How much does a author wants for a book? a movie producer for his movie? How do we value the worth of time?

Remember these are the days, Apple offers it iOS for free and companies like wechat(tencent) sell smileys and virtual goods!

So what's the conclusion

• Piracy is a challenge that is here to stay. No one can eliminate it. Just live with it.
• There will be a small section of people who are good natured and still integrity, ethics and fairness matter to a lot of people.
• There will be another small section of people, who will always cut corners, find loop holes, would like to live on freebies. Remember the old song, until a thief wants to mend his ways, thefts cannot be stopped.
• There will be another major section of people whose behavior can be altered and can be nudged to pay. Figure out how to do it.The online/digital opens up several other alternate models of revenue. Feel free to explore and exploit. (Here, exploit means, the usage of models rather than people! Just to be clear)
• The hard reality is the industry is being disrupted, the rules of the game being changed. Adapt or get annihilated. 

2 Cents to Google Jobs!

UPDATE: No Kidding, Most of things that I suggested, has been implemented!!
May be, they can let me edit the application, after I have submitted, provided still the recruiter has not seen it.
Also, real time update on the application status could be provided. It would be more like how a bug is being tracked.
===
I am about to graduate.

I am searching for jobs and have been applying to companies online.

As a IT dude and a guy who always looks at making things the better way (read simple, logical and elegant)

one thing that puts me off is the way many companies have their online job application portal!

Most of the so called 'companies' which claim to help others seriously need some help

With others, I was fine, but even Google!

For each and every job, you are interested you have to apply individually.

You have to fill your name, mail id, work exp, cover letter and upload resume all over again and again.

Irrespective of the job, I apply, I get the same boiler plate response.

After each application,  I am being asked to give the feedback (how many times do you want it huh)

(oh you can upload information in Google+ and can download information from there! #Nice Self Plug btw)

Instead, why not upload one resume once, grab all the information from resume, fill the relevant information automatically,ask for the information that is still missing (if necessary) and create a job applicant profile once for all.

Later, let people to apply to as many positions in as many locations as they want (well if necessary restrict it)

Creating the profile also helps to match with minimum requirements of the job (at least in terms of years of experience and relevant experience) and only if there is a match, send a notification to the recruiter.

Can't Google build an intelligent resume screener mimicking human behavior or what?

May be if the resumes are collected and profiled properly, they could also give linkedin a run for their money.
Think about it, you collect all the resumes, ask people can it be shown to others, let other companies search the resumes using Google Search.

p.s
I think i could make a living out of fixing the online job application portal of all these companies ;)

2 cents to Monetization of Youtube

YouTube could pick a leaf from Apple Radio [Oh yeah, they have never done it before! ;)]

Why not display links to buy stuff related to the video being watched?
There are tons of videos which puts snippets of Friends and the other similar sitcoms. Obviously fan uploads.  Why not display a link to buy the season or the episode? Similarly, if i am watching a movie song, why not a link to buy the movie?

There are instances where the SonyMusic officially uploading a song. Those are the places where buy this song link can make the selling more effective. I would be happy to pay a dollar and download the song rather than using another service/site where i have to give the youtube link ask it to convert to MP4 format than upload to my iPhone!

Display ads are not the only way to monetize YouTube.

While we are at YouTube, Why not a desktop app, where you could just stream videos from Youtube?

It would be more like a VLC media player, with "always on top" enabled playing videos from youtube.

Well, there is a desktop app called YTWatcher but it is just like a minimized browser which always stays on top.

The screen size cannot be customized and it lacks elegance, cooler user interface.
It would be a great app for people like me who suffer from attention deficit disorder and needs a little bit of distraction to keep focused.

p.s

This post is being written while watching the videos on YTWatcher and reading an e-book.

No more rabble rousing on the shortcomings of G-Talk, cause the usage has gone down considerably very less. Nowadays its all in FB, whatsapp, viber even Skype ;)

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Off late, I have been watching snippets of the sitcom, FRIENDS again and again.
Well,  I have a lot of time to kill and nothing worth while to do. (sarcasm intended)
Seriously,  I can watch FRIENDS again and again. It is funny and not at all boring.
This also set me thinking what are the types of friends we (and i have observed) have in general!

No matter what, They are there for you. Good times bad times ugly times. They always stand by you. Rock solid support.

They care for you. Watch out for you. Give you the bitter medicine to make you well.  Kick you up when necessary.They guide you to greatness.

I am lucky that I had friends mentioned as above. I have also been unlucky to have/seen the following fake friends types too!

Parasitic Takers: They hang out with you always expecting something out of you. They are the needy types wanting one thing or the other, never giving back anything in return.

Backstabbers: They are being friends with you only to screw you back at the most inappropriate time.

There is one more type which is actually worse and one should turn these fake friends in to enemies ASAP. They dont do any of the above mentioned either good or bad things. Even if you are in the wrong path, they neither cheer you nor steer you. They happily tag along, eventually ruining themselves along with your downfall.  The sad thing is many people never recognize these types of people. People wrongly assume they fall in to the first type of being there for you always.
Lets pray for the souls of people who have these types of friends!

Wait a minute! Does friendship needs such pyscho analysis? Isn't friendship comradeship, companionship, fun, unconditional etc etc? Well, what about the following sayings. "Show me your friend, i will tell about you." "You are nothing but an average of five friends of yours"

Our friends are reflection of ourselves, our character, our attitudes, our choices, our aspirations. Be wise in choosing them!

p.s
This was due on friendship day. My laziness took over me. You know about my friends by now ;)
The parasitic reference was an inspiration due to a recent intellectual chat! ;)
Another inspiration was a wisdom from another friend:"The person should make your life better and add value" yeah, you know it's you ;)
What the heck is wrong with me? why such philosophical posts? well MBA is making me realize that it is all about people, soft skills, fine tuning your instincts yada yada.

 

The Difficult part!

Sometimes you are confronted by problems with out any apparent solutions. [Well, one can argue, if there is no  solution and nothing to solve then it is not a problem at all].
Sometimes you do know the solution but execution is not simpler [As one of my friend recently quoted, real life is not like solving cases in class or in paper]
Sometimes the problem is not worth solving at all!
Sometimes you have bigger problems to solve!

No matter, what state of above mentioned probem you are in, Logical approach in analyzing the hard empirical evidence and data will always tell you what needs to be done.

The difficult part is actually following the logic against your gut feeling!

Liar Liar

There are very few things that gets my goat! (Well, definition of "few" depends!)

I just cant stand hypocricy and hypocrites. Next comes liars. (Actually, there is a very fine thin line that differentiates both.Let's ignore the technicalities for now!) Oh and please, diplomacy and hypocricy are two different things.

It is not that I am the direct heir of  Shri Harichandra, a holier than thou cow or something like that. Then, why do I hate  Liars?? It is a two-part thing.

For one, It is utter stupidity to lie.People usually think they are pretty smart and they can get away with a lie. In reality, One must be stupid to think, they can lie and get away with it. Eventually the truth comes out. When it comes out, it looks bad on the person, the credibility is lost. Not only the past is questioned, on what are all the things you have lied? It also makes one wonder can i trust you in the future? How can i be sure that there aren't any more lies? This is the reason I prefer to hear the hard truth rather than a sweet lie. I prefer to speak the truth (most of times) cause, i dont want to look so embarassed and defend/explain why did i lie at the first place.

The other  thing is the most important one. When I am being lied to, It insults my intelligence. One lies to me hoping that I would believe it and would never find the truth. It is one thing for a person to think they are smart but altogether a different thing to think other person is stupid.  Thinking that I am stupid and I could be lied to is what pisses me the most!

Thou shall not lie to me. Thou shall not face my wrath!Amen. Let peace be with me ;)

Darn You Google!

Nothing gets my goat than "Smart people being so stupid and silly"
Yeah, How can smart people be so stupid?

Googlers are considered to be smart. They do work on Space Technology, Internet Balloons, Cars that drive by themselves. (

Yet, they dont have a google talk on Apple Store. (Well, Hangouts cannot be installed if you do not have a front facing camera i.e iPhone 3GS)
The messenger in Google+ just doesn't works.

FB has messenger that works seamlessly across devices. Viber does that. But you Google! Shame on you.  [Skype doesn't have a seamless integration but it is understandable as they are owned by Microsoft now]

Hope the Product Managers at Google get their act together or may be the top management should do a realignment like Apple er like what Microsoft did ;)

P.S
They shutting down the Reader while having Currents is a post meant for another day.

P.P.S
Nothing has changed in Google Talk from 2008 as mentioned here. I have changed a little bit. I would love to take a shot at building the next Google rather than just making their perpetual beta products .

P.P.P.S
Inspired due to missed pings in Google Talk ;)

 

அழகான இராட்சசி!

காபி குடிக்க
காலாற நடக்க
ஐஸ்கீரிம் சாப்பிட
மழையில் நனைய
தோள் சாய
அரவணைக்க
கை கோர்க்க
படம் பார்க்க
வெறுமனே
முகம் பார்க்கவாவது
நீ
வேண்டும்
இத்தருணங்களில்!

அழகான இராட்சசி

காதல்
காமம்
குரோதம்
கோபம்
காவியம்
காப்பியம்
கவிதை
கண்ணராவி
கலந்து
கட்டி
கோலாகல
கொண்ட்டாட்டம்
கள்ளியின்
கண்களில்!

அழகான இராட்சசி

வீழ்கிறேன்
நான்
உன்
விற்புருவங்கள்
உயர்ந்தால்!

அவள்

அழகு
அறிவு
அரவணைப்பு
ஆதங்கம்
ஆனந்தம்
ஆத்திரம்
அதிகாரம்
ஆசை
அனைத்தின்
அகராதி
அவள்!

Why Why Why!

I am not a drinking person.
I am not interested in hitting on random strange women.
I am not good at boring small talk.
I can't shake my leg or hands in the name of dance.
I don't even understand the songs that are played.
Why the hell do i go to clubs!

No, He was not an "A"!

You are one of the best in what you do. I mean the very best in the world. Any company who would want your expertise will hire you right away with the top money you demand.

Now will you choose to work for a company which can't even let you talk about work to any one in the world.
Worse sometimes you don't even know on what exactly you are working on. No we are not talking about CIA!

To top it your boss happens to be the one who is perceived to be the "A". It is not a random statement. A management professor from Stanford wrote a chapter on "the virtues of assholes." greatly inspired by him.

Yes we are talking about Steve Jobs and Apple!

I find this very contradictory. If Jobs was a "A" as portrayed why would the so called best in business work for him? Why would they even tolerate him? Why would they give their very best to him? Why would people who worked on Mac describe that as one of the best time in their lives? 

How come a "A" went on to create history in computers, movies, music and mobile, even retail and e-commerce.? Even on a personal level he had a successful marriage with four kids. Why would a successful smart woman live with a "A"? Well the relationship with the first kid was turbulent. I think it was cause she was just like his father. The apple doesn't falls far from the tree. does it?

So who are all these people who call him the "A"?  Why do they call him so?

People who did not leave up to his standards. People who just don't understand him but misunderstood him pretty well..

Many people confuse Job's success was a result of his behavior. They also tend to think just because he was a "A" (from their perspective), people gave him the best. People who worked on Mac do accept that each and every time he rejected, they came up with something better and do accept their earlier work was best. It was just that Jobs was passionate and wanted even minute things to be perfect. [Jobs called Vic to fix up a yellow gradient in the Second O in Google on Sunday]

So being an "A" will not make you Jobs, cause he was not an "A" in the first place. I would also go out on my limb to say Job's managerial or leadership style was no different from most of the other successful people who created history. Job's behavior was greatly exaggerated in the very own reality distortion field created by others.

Stanford professor also contends Jobs was too singular to offer many usable lessons. In Jobs case, many is not necessary. The 14 leadership lessons from Jobs as distilled by Isaacson in HBR is more than enough to distrupt an industry or two.

p.s
FB page on book about Steve Jobs by me
You can buy it here