Former Apple exec had lunch with his boss Steve Jobs for 15 years—he says the late founder’s ‘insatiable curiosity’ taught him to never coast on his expertise

Even after building a trillion-dollar tech giant, Steve Jobs never pretended to have all the answers.

That’s the lesson that stuck with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer, who worked alongside the late cofounder for nearly 15 years in designing iconic products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

In his 2024 “Letters to a Young Creator” submission recently published by the Steve Jobs Archive, Ive shared the mindset that shaped one of the most valuable companies in the world.

“We had lunch together most days and spent our afternoons in the sanctuary of the design studio,” Ive wrote in his letter. “Being curious and exploring tentative ideas were far more important to Steve than being socially acceptable,” Ive continued. “For Steve, wanting to learn was far more important than wanting to be right.”

Jobs’ “insatiable curiosity” wasn’t restrained by his extensive expertise....