A new book about late Apple CEO Steve Jobs is revealing that the man who succeeded him, Tim Cook, wasn’t just an employee worth taking over the company — he was a true friend who was willing to do quite a lot to help his boss. In Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender, it’s revealed that when Cook learned that Jobs had cancer, he was willing to make a serious sacrifice in the name of Jobs’ well-being: part of his own liver.
After Jobs’ diagnosis, Cook decided to have his blood tested to see if he could even offer up such a favor. And it turned out that his rare blood type matched his boss’s. Here is the excerpt:
One afternoon, Cook left the house feeling so upset that he had his own blood tested. He found out that he, like Steve, had a rare blood type, and guessed that it might be the same. He started doing research, and learned that it is possible to transfer a portion of a living person’s liver to someone in need of a transplant.
After testing was conducted to see how such a transplant would go and that it would actually be a success, Cook went to Jobs’ home — where Jobs refused the offer:
“He cut me off at the legs, almost before the words were out of my mouth,” said Cook. “‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never do that.'”
He went on:
“Somebody that’s selfish,” Cook continues, “doesn’t reply like that. I mean, here’s a guy, he’s dying, he’s very close to death because of his liver issue, and here’s someone healthy offering a way out. I said, ‘Steve, I’m perfectly healthy, I’ve been checked out. Here’s the medical report. I can do this and I’m not putting myself at risk, I’ll be fine.’ And he doesn’t think about it. It was not, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ It was not, ‘I’ll think about it.’ It was not, ‘Oh, the condition I’m in . . .’ It was, ‘No, I’m not doing that!’ He kind of popped up in bed and said that. And this was during a time when things were just terrible. Steve only yelled at me four or five times during the 13 years I knew him, and this was one of them.”
Steve Jobs was a very special brand of stubborn, but in a way that seemingly illustrates how he doesn’t want to ask too much of other people when trying to come up with solutions. Or when there aren’t any good solutions left.
Source: Fast Company via Boing Boing