The difference in the reaction to the two events actually says more about the people of the press and the public than about us. The press and intelligentsia are generally quite negative and judgmental when it comes to business. All businessmen, they say, are greedy and crooked. They perform only because they have to in order to get ahead. Give them just one loophole and they’ll take it. The little guy on the street is easily fed these lies. He doesn’t know any corporate moguls personally. Of course, he’s a little envious of their limousines and jets. Maybe he even thinks it’s unfair that he can’t get ahead in the big company where he’s employed because if he did, he’d run things a whole lot better and fairer than the current bosses.

The media, however, can’t only have villains. There’d be no drama then. They need heroes, also. So they make the creative guys, whom they consider part of their groups, the heroes. Singers, athletes, models, designers—maybe even a crusading district attorney. These are the heroes. Want proof? When as the last time you saw a movie about a businessman? When was the last time he played the good guy? Almost never. In an Orwellian twist of the mind, the media would have you believe it’s the businessmen who are the parasites of society, feeding off the little guys and creative stars who really make everything happen. (This, of course, is all upside down. We could easily live without Madonna, but who’s ready to give up their car, food, indoor plumbing, telephone, or any of the other goodies the “evil” businessmen provide?)

In the competitive business landscape, where many businesses compete to supply the consumers’ needs, none are seen as heroes. Any one could easily be done without. It’s no problem, therefore, to selectively vilify one or another whenever news is slow or the regulators need some publicity. The inventor, however, is a whole ’nother ball of wax. He actually made something that no one had before. Everyone’s life is improved because of the new product. You can’t say someone else would have done it because if he would have, why didn’t he?

The creative businessmen, like Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, who bring out a whole new product and improve everyone’s lives, do far more than any actor or ballplayer. Steve is a real creative hero. He’s a cowboy. He rode against the herd. In fact, his accomplishment almost seems to be in defiance of the established business culture than an affirmation of it. Everyone has to love this guy. He can do no wrong. Sure, he might be overwhelmed by demands (or, like Apple, overwhelmed by competitors), but everyone forgives him and roots for him, anyway.

This was the position we now found ourselves in. We were heroes again, just like with callback. After all the bad press, it was a welcome change. I didn’t respond, though, this time to the flood of media requests for interviews and photos of the great inventor, as I had years previously with callback. First of all, I hadn’t invented anything. I just thought it could be done and had been lucky enough to hire Jeff and his team to do it. More to the point, however, I had really been hurt by all the bad publicity. For years I was a hero, and suddenly I was a goat.

And what had I done? Only try my best to service our accounts. If the media was so fickle and fame was so transient, I thought I’d rather not be involved in that game at all. The media was, to me, a little like Wall Street. First they built you up, then they tore you down.