Steve Job’s unforgettable speech

Learning to live after Love, Loss and Death

                             

       There’s a before and an after Steve Job’s well- known speech at Stanford University, like Kamala´s speech, like Mandela´s words. Talented minds have the wisdom and greatness to make things work and silence shout. With a sensitive trait, he became the protagonist of three remarkable events in his life, permeated by love, loss and death. When addressing to Stanford 2005 graduates, Jobs encouraged them to ‘connect the dots’ of circumstances which occur in the stream of life and that would, eventually, connect in their future.

       Jobs narrated three moving stories that had printed deep learning in him. The first one was dropping out; he referred to some family issues and also dropping out from college, an experience he described as positive since he learnt a lot from that. It was clear to notice that dropping out from certain things was like a new beginning for him.   “You cannot connect the dots, looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards”; masterfully put into words, Jobs reminded the graduates. (Jobs, 2008, 5:08) A clear example of this had been all his acquired knowledge in calligraphy and typefaces combination, which seemed unpractical while performing, but became really meaningful in his latter development of Macintosh design.

       The second legacy was loss and love. When he was 20, he started Apple. It took Apple 10 years to become in a $2 billion company with 4,000 employees. Unexpectedly, after being fired of his own company at 30, and feeling himself exposed to a public failure, he had thought of running away. Still, looking backwards, he realized how much it was possible to learn from being rejected. Later on in life, Jobs started NeXT company and then Pixar, which is one of the most successful animated studios nowadays. Finally, Apple bought Pixar and as a consequence, Jobs returned to the company again. Furthermore, NeXT technology was applied by Apple. “The only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did”,  (Jobs, 2008, 8:18).  wisely stated Jobs. On that same occasion, he asked the youth from the audience not to settle until they had found what they really love.

       The third and last story was about death. Having found a morale hidden in a quote he read at 17, and having faced death, Jobs felt guided by that input: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right”, revealed Jobs.  (Jobs, 2008, 9:12) As human beings, we should learn that “death is the single best invention of life, the destination we all share”, so time is limited and we should not waste it. “Don’t be trapped by dogma, don’t live other’s lives, follow our intuition and heart”, asserted Jobs to Stanford students.

       The final message is headed by a deep idealism and inspirational rule which he took from a photograph inscription in The Whole Earth Catalog issue: “Stay hungry, stay foolish” (Jobs, 2008, 14:10) and it was his final wish to Stanford students and maybe to whoever would listen to his extraordinary speech onwards.

       All in all, Job´s candid speech reflected his views on how to live before dying. It wasn't all romantic, it wasn't all easy, however he never gave up. Trustworthiness was the approach that never let him down and made all the difference in life. 

REFERENCES

Jobs, S. (2005). Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address. Retrieved October (1), 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc