Steve Jobs life lessons
By now you’ve heard the sad news. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and a global icon, has passed away. He was 56 when he died today (October 5, 2011).
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple,” Apple’s graceful statement reads on its Web site, followed by a line inviting all to share their thoughts, memories, and condolences by e-mailing rememberingsteve@apple.com.
Jobs will be recorded in the history books as a man who influenced millions, whose ideas changed the technology landscape, whose work bettered lives across the globe. His name is well known and will be so for many generations ahead, but his whole story is sometimes glossed over, polished up by his and Apple’s many accomplishments.
Jobs passed away today after truly changing lives and facing some obstacles to do so. While his obstacles weren’t the worst out there, it does illustrate some simple life lessons.
When it’s not working, move on
Jobs dropped out of college. He had been enrolled in Reed College in Oregon. Like many, he was in college because that’s what is often done after high school. It’s a well traveled path where many of us go to “figure it out” or “find ourselves.” But after deciding Reed was a too expensive place to be without direction, he dropped out. Soon after he took a calligraphy class, which, he said in his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, eventually influenced the typography aesthetic of the first Mac. He talks in that speech about following his own path and knowing that sometimes being where we are expected to be isn’t where we are supposed to be.
“You have to trust that somehow the dots will connect in your future … [That] will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference,” Jobs said.
When it’s not working, but you know it could, fight for it
Eventually, Apple was born. And some years later, at 30 years of age, Jobs was pushed out of the then bleak company. He was chewed out in Forbes as perhaps dooming Apple and was described as not being among the “few miracle workers in the business world.” Yet he hung in there, took his ideas and started Next, then, ultimately after Apple acquired Next, took back the reins at the company.
“I didn’t see it then but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful had been replaced with the lightness of being a beginner again.
“Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You have got to find what you love,” Jobs said in the 2005 speech. “If you haven’t found it yet, don’t settle. Keep looking.”
When it’s finally working, grow it
Jobs’ passing comes in the same week as the Apple iPhone 4S, which, as you may have read, is getting less than overwhelming reviews. As my co-worker Dylan McGrath wrote in the EE Times daily newsletter today, published before Apple’s statement on Jobs’ passing: “It’s a testament to exactly how high Apple has moved the bar that the company could launch a handset that includes a faster, more powerful processor, 8-megapixel camera, and full 1080p high-definition video recording and still leave Apple Nation feeling cheated.”
Jobs’ time at Apple moved along the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the anchoring Mac line. In doing so the company lit a fire under its competitors, helping the electronics industry grow beyond what many imagined it could be.
With or without Jobs, were still growing.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple and Jobs’ partner for many years, was quoted in the LA Times tonight as saying: “People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he ever set for himself.”
Tonight we say a final farewell and thank you to Steve Jobs but take his technologies, business savvy, and some simple life lessons with us as we move on to exceed our own goals.
As always, please share your thoughts on this news in the below comments field.
Tasmine commented:
Wow, your post makes mine look flebee. More power to you!
Steven J commented:
I still love the commercial with Jobs pulling that Nano out of the small pocket in his jeans. He was truly a marketing genius. Sure he stole or bought that slick Xerox windows OS back before the Mac. It will be interesting to see how Apple fares in the next 10 years.
Er Rob commented:
The reason Next did not go anywhere and that is why Jobs got involved later on with other products personally is because I was trying to use the Next for Next Generation Industrial Automation but his Marketing Manager did not want a part of it....
Brad Wood commented:
"John Walker commented:
Bach's keyboard compositions are the penultimate expression of the contrapunctal [sic] style of the Baroque era."
Who was the ultimate??
You might want to check the definition of "penultimate".
DrRob commented:
It's Obamas fault their ain't no Jobs! Just kidding. While Jobs was influential, he was not the messaiah some are making him out to be. He took technology from Xerox/PARC and others, and along with Wozniak and others developed some neat gadgets and toys. Granted, these affected society in a disruptive manner, but he was no Edison or Tesla, or even a Wright Brother type. He will be remembered in history as a businessman/engineer of the likes of Howard Johnson (motels), or Fred Smith (fedEx/express delivery), but not Marconi or Farnsworth..
benmlee commented:
Those of you who are so bitter, Steve Jobs did not start WTO. It was started in the 90’s while we were laughing to the bank with dot com stocks. (Same with legislation not to regulate derivative that led to bank collapse.) 10 years latter, you are complaining about jobs and Jobs (no pun). Apple just follow the laws of capitalism. Solve the root cause if you want our jobs back. End free trade then. No, but we are too afraid to do THAT.
His products are just aesthetics. Well, everything in life is just that. Why do you make money if not to buy that nice thing. That is completely beside the point.
His greatness is blazing a path that if every CEO does half of what he did, we would have more wealth than we want. He found the strength in each company and amplified it. Took away the obstacles to let the creative workers do what they do best, then sell their ideas.
Don’t think for a moment Wozniak would have been anything without Jobs selling his creation. Truth is engineers need cheerleaders as much as cheerleaders need engineers. Engineers may be bitter that they work so hard for others to take credit. Reality is that partnership is necessary.
Bill Gates got lucky he was at the right place at the right time with windows. Look at him trying to sell tablet computer and fell flat on his face. Or him trying to sell cloud computing and fell flat again.
To be as successful as Steve, is not just salesman. Many salesman at the dealership. Is how you think, and how you break from the norm. This to me is the key in his Stanford address:
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
John Walker commented:
Bach's keyboard compositions are the penultimate expression of the contrapunctal style of the Baroque era. Bach's mastery of Fugue and counterpoint whereby each separate voice is woven into the fabric of a larger more complex and elegant structure that unfolds into unexpected and new tonal experiences is a very apropos comparison with what Steve Jobs acheived in his field of endeavor. While Bach represented the penultimate culmination of an era Steve Jobs was the seed planter of new ideas that will generate fruit for years to come. Both artists will be remembered for work that brings credit to the human race. A very big spark of divinity resided in both.
jimluschen commented:
Jobs was a control freak, and I don't like being controlled, so I am not shedding any tears. I loved the Apple II (when Woz had a voice in things), but when Jobs got his way no one else could have their way. Too bad. I hated Apple computers after that point. Give me a PC instead, please. And give me an old iRiver mp3 player that has a AA battery and no file restrictions; you can all keep your iPods, I don't want one. And let's just totally forget iTunes, that's life in a straightjacket.
So many negative comments here? Damn right! We are engineers on this web site, we are not sheep, Jobs was a shepherd of the ignorant masses, not an engineer.
daniel commented:
So many negative comments in here. But what those comments fail to see, is that whether they like it or not, Steve has impacted your life. Yes, he wasn't the man who invented the ipod, but he brought it to you in a way that no one else could. He was a man that needed no introduction, and even in death, needs no eulogy. The proof is on the internet. I doubt myself and most here will ever impact a nation as Mr Jobs has.
Ringo commented:
Woz and the Design engineers at Apple are the REAL genius's. Steve was just great at keynote speaking and beating people over the head with a stick to get things done.
i-indian commented:
Steve Jobs, the name I used to see with inspiration before and I will even after he is gone. People like him doesn't have boundaries to enlighten this world with something better, which I believe if there will be some one like him in different parts of the world, this world be a better place to live...
changi commented:
RIP Steve you have done the world plenty good thru all your new ideas, innovations and products at Apple.
rjpennington commented:
I can't think of anyone during my lifetime that has had the vision, the drive, and the talent that Steve Jobs did. I think the world is a better place because he was here...but perhaps not quite as good as when he was still among us. He really was one of a kind.
An_eye_for_detail commented:
Ah yes, the attack of the worshipping lemmings. This was as expected as MJ's unfortunate premature departure. Do you camp outside of the Apple store begging to be interviewed by Fox News too? Sure, all computers are built in China, or at least Asia, today. The first two I used I built myself: a Kim-1 that had a hexadecmial keyboard which I programmed in machine code and an MSI with an 8 bit 6800 MPU. I admit that both were kits (all parts made in the USA, just like myself) not designed from the bottom up like Woz did for what became Apple. Woz didn't receive anywhere near enough credit for what he did, but he did haul down some serious bread, so he did OK. If you noticed, I took nothing away from either Jobs' or MJ's marketing genius with respect to the shallow society that is pop culture. It's what they took away from us that was the central theme. There's a feeding frenzy of revenue to be gained from the Twitterazi and Facebook fanatics that inhabit the shallow world of "look at me, I want to be famous" as they post another video on youtube. As Colbert pointed out: "Shut up, you're not on television, I am". Or to quote Mose Allison: "These are Lessons in Living". Hard lessons that need to be understood because they drive what is damaging our nation today. Apple's products are peripheral entertainment devices. They cure no cancers, build no bridges and save no lives. They are God's gift to the i-people, but are largely i-rrelevant to the critical i-ssues facing us today.
Dr_H commented:
so "An_eye_for_detail", how are you managing to post a comment? What computer are you using that wasn't either manufactured in China or had no major components (e.g. the motherboard, HDD, monitor) manufactured in China?
Whilst it is true that some workers at Foxconn did commit suicide, did you know that the Foxconn facility actually is like a small city with the population to match? The suicide rate at said Foxconn facility is lower than the suicide rate in the United States.
Finally, why are some saying Jobs wasn't an innovator? He is a named (first or second in many cases) inventor on over 300 Apple patents. Apple of course employs thousands of people and Steve couldn't have done it alone, but the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple being one of the most valuable companies in the world are ultimately down to him.
Rob commented:
I like how people still want to try spin/tear down Apple and Steve Jobs as something other than what they/he was. “Steve wasn’t an inventor” then who invented the MAC in his parents garage?
“Apple out sourced to china” Apple is the only US company doing this, I think not.
“Those who work at Foxconn and Apple's other outsourced manufacturers literally throw themselves out of upper floor windows due to the hideousness of their working conditions.” Foxconn employees did commit suicide, don’t remember hearing about any other outsourced companies though and Apple was not the only company using Foxconn .
“Just a salesman” I’ll give you that one, he was one hell of a good salesman.
“He took a cell phone which I think Motorola got started, and changed the wrapper” Boy then I guess as far as you are concerned all TVs invented after Scottish inventor John Logie Baird are just wrappers too.
Old Navy commented:
My wife remebers gong to the 2 car garage to
pick up some hard to find Apple parts for me.
back when you built yours from pieces.
Gosh the apple soft ROM was a wonder.
Thanks for everything Steve
An_eye_for_detail commented:
Steve Jobs was a bit like Michael Jackson. Both had a very good understanding of pop culture and how to develop marketable products to sell to the easily influenced who would pay serious money to be associated with some click-ish celebrity icon status. And both had their dark sides as well. MJ's was drugs and children. Jobs' was/is the fact that everything Apple makes is outsourced to China. Those who work at Foxconn and Apple's other outsourced manufacturers literally throw themselves out of upper floor windows due to the hideousness of their working conditions. A "Made in the USA" philosophy is something that would transform Apple into true American hero status. Without it Apple, and Steve Jobs, were and are just another robber baron American corporation fleecing the lemmings who worship the iconic status of over-hyped over-priced electronic jewlery in pursuit of some celebrity connection via fashion. At the prices Apple demands for their products, they could manufacture in the USA and employ more than design workers in cubes. The Apple manufacturing philosphy is what is wrong with American companies and emblematic of why 14 million Americans are unemployed today. I will never buy an i-anything due to Apple's lack of respect for American workers and I encourage others to take the same path. If not us, who? If not now, when?????
mr88cet commented:
To use an analogy with Classical Music, I like to think of Steve Jobs and Apple as kinda like J.S. Bach. Despite popular opinion, there were actually very few specific compositional techniques Bach used that weren't originally pioneered by some earlier Renaissance master. Still, nobody ever used them all together as masterfully as Bach did.
Jeby commented:
Steve passed away is not only a great lost to the world of his invention and creativity for those "i" products he brought to us but also the philosophy he tries to express to us that "simplicity" is what we shall pursue in life. We're making ourselves too complex in living.
CEDUP commented:
Just a salesman, who managed to over hype nothing into something. He took a cell phone which I think Motorola got started, and changed teh wrapper. Like Sony, a marketing company salesman. He managed to have nudnisks pay way too much for products that where under whelming. He did keep the Chinese employeed. Invented nothing, worked off of others ideas, like Sony, and you see where Sony is, now that they don't have their head hypster ...no invent, no sustain. Somehow Philips, Siemens, GE, ahve been around over 110 yeaes, Apple is nothing near those accomplishments. PT Barnum was a genius too right?
Paul commented:
Folks,
PLEASE do not make false statements... you are COMPLETELY missing the new iOS5 features in iPhone 4S... this is a BIG update even if you don't like them, or try to ignore them... if media could be a little bit more educated and ethical the world would be better...
BW
Paul
Victor Panzica commented:
As the rival of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates with his attention to competition and dominance gave us the standardization of Microsoft products which revolutionized American business and eventually the worl economy. Steve Jobs with his attention to detail and personal utility gave us the personal products we grew to love. Both will be identified with their accomplishments, but Jobs may have also set the standard by which we hope all companies should to be as well.
Anon. commented:
And in his parting, Steve left us with one more.... iSAD
RSingh commented:
Steve Jobs may not have been an inventor, but he was a visionary and knew what people like. He also put a lot of emphassis on useability, making products easy to use. I am surely going to miss him.
Tom Tom commented:
I agree with @ram kadivella. Crisp, minimalist, elegant and I add well written. Thanks Susan. This was a much nicer read than all the magazines out there pushing every last detail of Steve Jobs' life and work.
vamsi sistla commented:
Its true that if you ever heard his stanford speech, you will realize the depth of Jobs. Beyond his success in driving apple and its innovation he disrupted many ideas and pushed the bar of excellence. Also he has a sense of being philosophical and communicating it to the right extent, worth noting. RIP steve jobs.
David Hoeflein commented:
John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, Gary Killdall, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Larry Ellison are the heroes of the legends I grew up with.
Kenneth A Lewis Sr commented:
I have never been so move as I am now with the psaaing of Steve Jobs. My best to his family and GOD speet to steve. He will surly be missed.
Infrated commented:
Something Steve Jobs clearly understood and, I believe, was at the core of his success.
You never "possess" an Apple product...you have a "relationship" with it. That relationship begins with the package itself...sometimes preceded by the Apple Store experience. From there it works its way inward both physically and emotionally. That there exist Love/Hate relationships with Apple products merely reinforces my argument.
Brian commented:
Never did like his business philosophy - it was everything that was wrong - closed, arrogant and expensive (at least for Macs). However he saw an opening were such attitude paid dividends in giving consumers what they wanted -iPod, iPhone and iPad, tech without the tech!
Probably true that he was never really an innovator, just a brilliant business leader able to assimilate others ideas into his own products (and claim as his!).
But for me it's how he dealt with his illness that says what type of person he was.
Be interesting to see what history says of Steve Jobs in 50 years.
Gleep commented:
As long as Apple continues to be ran by people whose primary goal it to be a leading *technology* company that is also hugely profitable, they will be fine. IBM managed to do that as their Founders & Old Guard passed on and Apple looks like it will also.
Trouble come when the focus shifts only to making money and advancing technology drops to 2nd place. Can you say "HP"?
tender_vittles commented:
Farewell Steve. Thank you so much for the many ways you and your company's have enriched our lives. I know that you were difficult to work with, some would say you were petulant. I would also say that people with a vision, drive and determination in this life are often described that way. Most people just can't understand that type of determination. Have fun in the great beyond.
ram kadivella commented:
Crisp and minimalist, yet elegant....much like what Apple in general and Steve Jobs in particular seemed to stand for.
Maralwie commented:
Reading about Steve passing away makes me feel sad. Not just apple - the whole world has lost an unparalleled entrepreneur whose enthusiasm and genious was infectious. I am afraid for apple - time will soon tell how big this loss is.
