Bill Gates Admits Being 'Jealous' Of Steve Jobs, Says His Public Speaking Style Is Unmatched

In discussions surrounding the late Steve Jobs, former Apple co-founder and CEO, Bill Gates, Microsoft's founder, expressed admiration for Jobs' innate talent and ease when presenting on stage.

He spoke about it in an interview with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast. Bill Gates said, "Steve Jobs was a natural. It was always fun to watch him rehearse because part of his genius was, when he would finally do it, he would make it look like he's just thinking it up right there.

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"I'll never achieve that level," he added.

Bill Gates Shared What He And Jobs Had In Common

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Bill Gates recalled how both he and Steve Jobs traveled extensively worldwide, representing their companies, Microsoft and Apple. Their shared objective was to persuade individuals and organizations of the transformative impact their respective tools could offer.

"We even called it evangelization. Some people might not like that we stole a term of religion, but telling the story of the magic of software is something that - certainly by the time I was in my 30s - was a big part of the job," he said.

Bill Gates Revealed He Still Draws Inspiration From Steve Jobs

The co-founder of Microsoft acknowledged that he continues to draw inspiration from Steve Jobs' approach to communication.

He said, "A big part of the job I had at Microsoft and the job I have now is explaining what we're up to in a hopefully straightforward way that connects with a particular audience. I like trying to explain things and I like getting feedback - what stories resonated or what didn't connect."

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In the book "Becoming Steve Jobs," published in 2015 by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, the authors detail how the former Apple CEO would meticulously plan and prepare for his speeches, sometimes starting the process months in advance.

Brent Schlender noted, ¡°I once spent an entire day watching him run through multiple rehearsals of a single presentation, tweaking everything from the color and angle of certain spotlights to editing and rearranging the order of the Keynote presentation slides to improve his pacing.¡±

The author shared, ¡°He just sat silently onstage with his chin in his hand, staring at the floor for nearly 15 minutes out of frustration with a wrong lighting cue. He didn't yell this time but just made everyone wait while he cooled down.¡±