Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

When Steve Jobs resigned in August of 2011, many nearly eulogized him. It started to sink in just how profound his influence and vision were.

Stepping down as CEO meant his health condition was more serious than we might have guessed. There was a sense that the end was near for him, though we didn’t know how near. I was inclined to be optimistic about his battle with whatever was ailing him. He wasn’t dead. He would be on the Apple board. He could still be participate in the goings on in his own masterpiece of a company, Apple. The thoughts and things I read and watched then are still fresh in my mind, and given so much more weight today as I, with many others, mourn the loss of Steve Jobs. I can’t believe he’s gone.

**If this post seems a bit dramatic or overly sentimental… well, that’s me. I’m a technology fanatic, and I’m also a graphic designer. As such, Apple has been significant presence in my life for a number years now. It’s part of who I am, as cheesy as that might sound. And above all– I’m going on about Steve because he exemplifies a principle that resonates deep within me– that of living a life you love.

I’ve long been a computer geek and a gadget freak. I remember mocking the first iPod, making jokes about Apple and even Steve Job’s remarkable ability to sell products. I hadn’t yet come to comprehend just what made those products so good– great user experience, not just great hardware specs.

I remember I first started to become acquainted with who Steve was. In fall of 2005, not only was I an iPod user, but had just committed to pursuing a BFA in Graphic Design. This path inevitably pulled me into the world of Mac, even if I started out as a kicking and screaming PC nerd. So I started paying attention to keynotes delivered by Steve Jobs and events put on by Apple. I started to understand the enthusiasm Steve had for what he did– though I didn’t have a clue as to the the scope of his vision at that time.

I bought my first Mac in winter of 2006– a 15″ MacBook Pro. Best computer I had ever owned. I was officially part of the Apple cult.

Since that time, Apple has gone from a company making the best portable music player, amazing software and cool computers, to transforming the way people live. I’m sure most of us still do not comprehend the magnitude of where Apple is headed, the influence they have on the world, and the vision that had to first exist for any this later become reality.

Before Jobs was CEO, but right after he had returned to Apple in the late 90s, he spoke to developers at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. He was about to take the helm and turn that ailing company around. He spoke of focusing and simply “making really great products.” And that he has done, and that much is apparent. What wasn’t apparent by that statement alone was that by “really great products” he meant products that make people’s lives better, that change the way we live.

It seems appropriate that the last new product that Steve introduced was the iPad. The iPad took what Steve and Apple had started with the iPhone to the next level. In many ways, I do still think of it as a luxury item. Who actually “needs” an iPad?

But it was not created as a toy or even just a device to consume with, but as a tool as well. One with so many yet undiscovered possibilities. The reality is that it’s changing the world– the way many people do their jobs, the way people learn, and so on. It could be viewed purely from a technology standpoint as changing and forking the way personal computing is done, but the world is so largely technology driven today that such a change is not simply felt within an industry, but in many aspects of life, directly or indirectly.

And while there is no other company like the one Steve conceived, created, and grew into what it is today, no one that shares that same vision– we have seen benefits from that vision in other companies and technologies developed outside of Apple, because Apple has always reminded people to not only invent, but to think different, even about existing tools and technologies.

(Can’t forget that Steve founded Pixar, too. Some of my favorite movies came from that animation studio.)

The greatest part of all of this, to me, is not the benefits we enjoy as both consumers and creators as a result of this man’s vision. The greatest part, to me, is the example, the influence that Steve Jobs has had on so many people. You see, he wasn’t relentlessly pursuing money. So many people get distracted or misled into chasing that.

He was pursuing what he loved most. Steve taught us to find what we love and to do it– that the only way to be great and do great was to do what you love. Steve lived and died great– doing what he loved. It’s not only the path to greatness, but the path to happiness and satisfaction in life.

I’ve already rambled too much, but here are some of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs that illustrate his philosophy and the way he lived his life.

“You’ve got to find what you love… Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking — and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking — don’t settle.”

— Steve Jobs, Commencement Address at Stanford University, 2005

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

— Steve Jobs, Commencement Address at Stanford University, 2005

“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 others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

— Steve Jobs, Commencement Address at Stanford University, 2005

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

— Steve Jobs

Thank you, Steve for being one of the very few people who have inspired me by living a life they love. For having vision, and for so meticulously bringing it to life. I can’t find any more words to express the gratitude I have for you and what your life’s work means for mine– you made tools for creators and dreamers by creating and dreaming yourself. I’m grateful that legacy has been instilled in others and will live on.

This last quote I think is appropriate, I think, even in the context of this life and the leadership Steve exemplified not only to Apple but to the rising generation. For he will live on through the legacy he’s left behind.

“Great men have the ability to see clearly into the heart of things. They discern truth. They think independently. They act nobly. They influence strong men to follow them. Small men sneer at them, ridicule them, persecute them, but the critics die and are forgotten, and the great man lives on forever.”

— David O. McKay

Thank you for living the life you lived, and for leaving such an inspiring example, Steve. You are already missed.