Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell has written a book "Finding the Next Steve Jobs-How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent,"
Nolan Bushnell was Steve Jobs' first boss. Bushnell hired Jobs in Atari when he was 19 years old and not many people were willing to hire him. According to Bushnell, there was something very special about Jobs and Bushnell was able to recognize that. The two stayed in touch even after Jobs left Atari until Jobs died October 2011.
The bond that the two shared inspired Bushnell to write about the unconventional thinking that cultivates the kinds of advancements that became Jobs' hallmark as the co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. The first Apple device was made from components from Atari's early video game machines.
"I have always been pretty proud about that connection," Bushnell said in an interview. "I know Steve was always trying to take ideas and turn them upside down, just like I did."
Bushnell also said that nowadays every company wants to hire a "Steve Jobs" because he was capable of a "taking a failing computer company" and "turning it into the highest-market-cap company in the world." Bushnell also says there are many Steve Jobs in the world waiting to be discovered.
"Really, what is happening is that they're being edited out of importance," Bushnell says in an interview with AllThingsD "Right now, Google is doing some great things, but Hewlett-Packard is trying to commit suicide. Every company needs to have a skunkworks, to try things that have a high probability of failing. You try to minimize failure, but at the same time, if you're not willing to try things that are inherently risky, you're not going to make progress."
Bushnell was all praises for Google saying the company takes risks by experimenting with their projects and it certainly does pay off in the long run.