What happened to Joanne Hoffman, Steve Jobs’ tireless right-hand man, who was able to do what few dared.
She worked at Apple when the Macintosh project was just a project. He was very important in its implementation, worked hand in hand with Steve Jobs and was so close that became his right hand. Although for this she had to muster up courage and argue several times with the former co-founder of Apple.
Joanna Hoffman was one of the few people who stood up to Steve Jobs and continued to work with him. Knowing Jobs’ strong character, not many can boast of this. Hoffman, who still remembers her closeness to the legendary Apple executive, can. Like the anecdote about the time he “wanted to stab him”…
Joanna Hoffman, daughter of a filmmaker dedicated to marketing
Almost 60 years ago, on July 29, 1955, Joanna Hoffman was born in Poland, the daughter of Jerzy Hoffman, a film director who made films such as “With Blood and Fire” and “The Battle of Warsaw”. However, she did not live with him for long, since in 1967, at the age of just 12, she left for the United States of America.
In Buffalo, the second largest city in upstate New York, Hoffman settled with his mother. He did not speak English, although it is said that it did not take him much time to learn the language and successfully complete high school. Later he studied anthropology, physics, and linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Many years later, he wanted to get a doctorate in archaeology at the University of Chicago, but he never finished it because, among other things, he was hindered by the company Apple Computer. Or she did it for Apple. A story that we will tell more about later, but which was depicted in the cinema. Not her father, but Danny Boyle, director of the film “Steve Jobs” (2015), in which Michael Fassbender played the role of Jobs and Hoffman Kate Winslet.
Unpublished Macintosh Project Order
At the age of 25, Joan Hoffman began the most successful professional phase of her life. And also the most difficult because of how complex it was. It was 1980 and it was the fifth Macintosh project, that crazy computer with a graphical interface that Steve Jobs wanted Apple to deal the final blow to IBM, increasingly fearful of growing competition.
Of course, the 1980 Macintosh project was literal. There was still no solid foundation on which to develop an idea, and everything was pure research and development. It wasn’t long before Steve Jobs realized, what will be the best role for Joan in the Macintosh project.
Just two months after joining the team and with Jobs fully immersed in leadership, he wanted Joan Hoffman to be in charge of marketing. The most difficult task, considering that, as we mentioned before, everything was still in infancy. And even worse, she had no experience in this area. Of course, Jobs saw something in her. Finally, we can say that she was right.
First encounter with Jobs: “I wanted to put a knife in his heart.”
That “something” that Jobs saw in Hoffman had to do with courage and sincerity. Jobs’ policy of “no idiots” emphasized his idea of always surrounding himself with people who can tell him the truth, no matter how painful it may be. And this Joan Hoffman managed to turn to the extreme.
When Jobs took over the lead of the Macintosh project, he had the idea that it would be ready in just 18 months. This is how he laid it out to the newly appointed marketing manager. The latter unequivocally told him that it was impossible. She preferred work without deadlines in order to be able to do a better job and to ensure that the design of the Macintosh does not suffer.
It was a tense meeting, and it was reported that as he was leaving the meeting, Hoffman turned to Steve Jobs’ secretary and told her that he was going to “take a knife and stick it in her heart.” It was a sign that no matter what kind of boss you are, even if your name and surname – Steve Jobs, they were not shaken by any circumstance. She preferred to work slowly and realistically meet deadlines to make the final product the best it could be.
Yes, Joan Hoffman was one of the few who succeeded win Apple’s Courage Award” – a satirical recognition that Steve Jobs gave to those who were able to resist him in this way and always prioritized the well-being of the final product. It must be said that this award was not widespread, since only the names of Hoffman and Debi Coleman, another of the main figures of Apple in the 1980s, although in her case from a financial point of view, came to light.
After Jobs’ goodbye, Hoffman told NeXT.
It is possible that without Joan Hoffman’s work in the seventies we wouldn’t have Macs in Europe today. As a marketing manager, she was responsible for making Macintosh sales in Europe and Asia as well. She also developed the instructions for the first revolutionary Macintosh computer.
Finally, the Macintosh debuted in 1984 with what is believed to be the best advertisement in history. A year later, due to tensions between Steve Jobs and the board of directors, he left Apple. At that time, there was so much trust between Jobs and Hoffman that Hoffman followed him.
That same year, Steve Jobs founded NeXT Computer, with which Jobs intended to pass on all the knowledge he had acquired and implement projects that Apple had not been able to implement. Hoffman did not hesitate to take on the project and followed his former boss Apple to create identical marketing features, Although this time he had a more difficult task, considering how new the company was.
From NeXT to the failed General Magic
Joan Hoffman’s adventures with Steve Jobs lasted just five years. The reasons why she left the company have not been disclosed, but it is known that this was not due to any conflict with Jobs. It is likely that Hoffman simply wanted to change the environment.
In 1990, she left for General Magic, where she became vice president of marketing. The history of this company has a lot in common with Apple, since the idea first came to the company in 1989, but a year later it became independent and in 1990 it was founded by such close associates of Hoffman as Porat Mark, Andy Hertzfeld and Buell Atkinson.
Among other things, General Magic sought to create what would have been the predecessor of the iPhone, since one part of its strategy was to create portable devices with computer capabilities. However, their activity in the industry was relatively short. It ceased its activities in 2002 until it was finally closed in 2004.
Exit from the market and merger with a Spanish company
A few years before the discontinuation and already knowing that the company was drifting, Hoffman left it in 1995. At the age of 40, he preferred family and continued to lecture about the time spent with Jobs. He returned to CEO in 1997 and came up with ideas that eventually pulled Apple out of predictable bankruptcy: the 1998 iMac G3, the 2001 iPod, the 2007 iPhone, and the 2010 iPad would have been his biggest successes.
Today Hoffman, even though he is already 70 years old , is still active. Not as before, but since 2020 there are Spanish company Sherpa, those working in the field of artificial intelligence companies, advisor. Although the company was founded and still runs by Xabi Uribe-Extebarria, it is located in Silicon Valley, the cradle of big tech companies like Apple, which Hoffman knows so well.
Joanna Hoffman will go down in history for her indelible footprint in the tech sector. Not only because of her role at Apple, NeXT, and General Magic, but also because of her strategic vision and unbreakable character. He is a rare personality who was able to challenge Steve Jobs and was one of the most important figures in the Macintosh’s success. Today, he is still connected to this whole world in some way, so it is clear that his legacy is not limited to the products he helped to release. Leadership, courage and passion for technology.
