Steve Jobs died today. He was one of the most visionary human beings ever to grace our earth, and he will leave a lasting imprint. I say that not because of the companies he founded or the products he created- although those are earth-shattering- but because of the singular way he led. He is an example to anyone who ever believed that they could create something of value.
Steve had no specific expertise in programming or hardware when he founded Apple Computer. What he had was the ability to imagine the future and what the demands of a modern world would require. How else could he have taken one look at the first prototype of a mouse and say of course this is how we will interface with computers. Only, he improved that device, and now when one utters the word mouse, the first thought that comes to mind is not an animal but a piece of computer hardware. Were it not for his vision, how could he have conceived that music would be cut up and sold so that we could purchase what we wanted whenever we wanted it. He not only convinced the record executives but every music lover on the planet who now consumes music this way.
Who does not have an Ipod? Who does not have an IPhone? How fitting that I heard of his death after logging on to the New York Times on my Ipad and that I could have chosen between my Ipad, my MacBook Air, my MacMini, or this MacBook Pro to write this post. We do not just buy these products. New research shows that we love these products, literally, and that using them activates key pleasure centers in the brain. I could not agree more.
The world is a lesser place without Steve Jobs. His memorable quotes and the ways he changed the world are far too numerous to count. Fittingly, I heard one of my favorite Jobs' lines today from one of the endless stream of remembrances of Steve on Twitter. It came from a commencement address at Stanford in 2005- perhaps the best such address I have ever heard because of its poignancy and its call to arms. In it Steve speaks of life, loss, and death. In many ways it was the story of his life and all of our lives. He closes with a message that is both sweet and simple- much like the many products he helped to create- "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."
A comment on the New York Times by a reader said now I know how they felt when Henry Ford died. While I am sure the country mourned Mr. Ford's passing, I am confident that the depth of emotion felt around the globe over Steve's passing eclipses the loss of nearly any other person who has ever lived. That is the definition of legacy. I know that I have never felt so sad about the death of someone whom I never met, although I feel as though I really knew the man who introduced me to computing with that first Macintosh model some 27 years ago and who changed the way we live our lives... forever.
I leave you with one of his quotes that captures his essence- "Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones that do."
Stav Hungry. Stay Foolish. I know I will try to.
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