This idea (Jobs needed to be away from Apple to improve himself) gets mentioned a lot but I think it's nonsense. First: Jobs was petulant, mean and destructive to people he disagreed with – for his whole life. He never dropped this trait.
You don't think age, experience and his spirituality made any difference at all to these tendencies and the ways he applied them?
Of course we'll never know what would've happened had he stayed at Apple.
But I find it very plausible that had he stayed, the company could have ended up in even worse trouble, and that the maturity, experience and outsider's perspective he developed in his time away were critical in enabling him to attain the level of success he achieved on his return.
Maybe. Certainly he learned something. But something about your comment bothers me.
You speculated that had he stayed, the company could have ended up in worse trouble. But try to imagine if he did have the power to fire everyone like he did upon his return to Apple from the start. That might have made a difference too.
You don't think age, experience and his spirituality made any difference at all to these tendencies and the ways he applied them?
Of course we'll never know what would've happened had he stayed at Apple.
But I find it very plausible that had he stayed, the company could have ended up in even worse trouble, and that the maturity, experience and outsider's perspective he developed in his time away were critical in enabling him to attain the level of success he achieved on his return.