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Jobs WAS perceived as absolutely absurd during his first stint at Apple. It's a big part of why the board kicked him out in 1985.

If he didn't have a track record of success on the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, his demanding and aggressive personality wouldn't go over as well.

Most people with his type of personality come off as extremely abrasive more than they come off as "genius".

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Pull this sort of thing when you're an average executive or middle management, and you're an abrasive, demanding idiot. Pull it when you have a few billion in the bank, and you're a "visionary."

Except that he _is_ a visionary.

I don't think it's about having billions in the bank.

It's all about being right - a lot. When you're the man who introduced the world's most popular music player ever, followed by a complete revitalization of its flagging computer brand, and then invent a completely new product category that your competitors are breaking their necks trying to catch up to... your demands suddenly become more acceptable.

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