11. "I Don't think I fully understood the severity of the situation I had graduated into," he said, speaking in effect for an age group —the so-called millennials, 18 to 29 - whose unemployment rate of nearly 14 percent approaches the levels of that group in the Great Depression. And then he veered into the optimism that, polls show, is persistently, perhaps perversely, characteristic of millennials today. " I am absolutely certain that my job hunt will eventually pay off, " he said.

10. In their time together, the father planted a powerful work ethic in his son. All work, Steve Jobs learned, was to be marked with excellence. When father and son painted a fence together, for example, the boy learned that the unexposed side was to be treated with the same thoroughness as the visible side.

9. Paul Jobs, Steve's adoptive father, was a Coast Guard veteran, a man of exceptional mechanical and carpentry skill. When Steve was old enough, father and son began to tinker with cars, build furniture, and repair things about the house. "I wasn't into fixing cars," Steve Jobs said years later, "but I was eager to hang out with my dad."

8. Jobs, for example, was born to an unmarried couple who chose to give him up for adoption. The good news? The newborn child came to the home of a working class couple, Paul and Clara Jobs of San Francisco, who lavished great love and care on him.

7. The Steve Jobs biography reminded me of how many leaders are shaped by events in their earliest years (even days) of life.

6. So why write about him in a Christian journal? Answer: because his life yields valuable lessons, positive and negative, on the subject of leadership. It also highlights areas that Christian leaders can enlist to touch the souls of people like him Early Influences

5. We all know that Steve Jobs was not a professing Christian. While he respected Jesus, he walked away from Christianity at an early age — at least in its organized and doctrinal form.

4. As I read about Steve Jobs, I dared to imagine a conversation with him in his office at Apple. A fantasy, of course, but a trigger for some sober thought.

3. But Steve Jobs also had many critics. "He mistreated people." "He was ruthless in his business dealings." "He was vindictive. " "He lacked compassion. " And that's just the light stuff.

2. Whether one liked or disliked Steve Jobs, he is certainly one of the most talked-about leaders of our time. In his 56-year life, he founded and ultimately led a business organization to a commanding position in the world of technology. He assembled and led teams that produced some of the most admired technological products of our time: Mac Books, iPods, iPhones, iPads. Whole industries came into being because of him.

1.Soon after the death of Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs, I read Walter lsaacson's newly released biography, Steve Jobs. Once started, I found it difficult to stop reading (on my iPad) about this complicated man, and I regretted reaching the last page.