Larry Ellison recounts personal anecdotes about his ~25-year friendship with Steve Jobs while they were neighbors in Woodside, illustrating Jobs' obsessive pursuit of perfection (e.g., repeatedly reviewing Toy Story renders until improvements mattered). Ellison attributes Jobs' success to relentless focus, an aesthetic sense likened to Picasso, and inventiveness like Edison, emphasizing that Jobs sought beauty and creativity rather than wealth or fame.
Questions this video answers
About 25 years.
Woodside.
73 different versions.
4% better.
Chapters
Steve was my best friend for about 25 years. We were neighbors in Woodside. His peacock wandered onto my property and woke me up. His girlfriend had given him a peacock. And I came over to complain about the peacock. Said, you don't like that bird either. He would call me up and say, larry, let's get together. I said, steve, I'm not coming over if you make me watch Toy Story again. I've watched 73 different versions of Toy Story. Now, I know the new version of render man is 4% better than the one I saw last week, but I'm not watching this thing again. So, Larry, you got to see. You won't believe the different the shadows look, but that was Steve until it was perfect. And then once it was perfect, and then he moved on to the next problem. If you want to know, you're like Steve Jobs. It's very simple. You are unable to think about anything about these serious problems at work. That's all you can do. And you obsess about it until you solve it, and then you move on to the next thing, and you obsess about that until you solve it, and then you obsess about this until you solve it. If you have that kind of obsession combined with Picasso's aesthetic and Edison's inventiveness, then you are the next Steve Jobs. So that's the test. Easy. Apple became the most valuable company on Earth, and it wasn't even one of Steve's goals. He wasn't trying to be rich. He wasn't trying to be famous. He wasn't trying to be powerful. He was obsessed with the creative process and building something that was beautiful.