Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder being called the Thomas Edison of his time, revealed in a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005 why he dropped out of college — and why he thought it was one of the best things he ever did. Yet he had other advice for the students.
Jobs, whose death at the age of 56 was announced Wednesday night, started that speech by telling about being adopted as a baby, and why, 17 years later, he attended Reed College in Oregon for only six months before dropping out. He said:
“My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: ‘We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?’ They said: ‘Of course.’
“My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
Why? You don't quite know what your reaction will be until the moment actually comes. We all knew Jobs' day would come. We also knew it would come soon. That's why the thoughts that emerged when Jobs stepped down as CEO came out like obits. Few of use wanted to totally acknowledge it, but Jobs' fate was obvious when he stepped down as CEO.
Those CEO stories primarily focused on the business side of Jobs. His first tour at Apple. The NeXT diversion. Pixar. And then the rebirth at Apple, which appears to be set up for a nice post Jobs run. Frankly, setting Apple up to thrive beyond his tenure may turn out to be Jobs' greatest business accomplishment.
When Jobs stepped down as CEO I chose to look at his ride through the lens of Apple products. It was a natural path to take. Now that Jobs has passed it isn't.
Whether you love or hate Apple--or fall somewhere in between--it's hard not to acknowledge that Jobs was a brilliant man. He's also a man who we don't really know a lot about. But he's also a man who changed a lot of lives.
Here's what stuck out about Jobs for me:
Innovative.
Quirky.
Stubborn as hell.
Controlling.
Great leader.
An artist's eye for design with an engineer's brain.
Amazing legacy.
"Stay hungry, stay foolish."
I'd argue that Jobs is my generation's Walt Disney. He entertained. He delighted. And he built something enduring. Jobs was a disruptive force. Given the Disney comparison, it's a bit ironic that Jobs wound up being Disney's largest shareholder via the Pixar acquisition.
More importantly, Jobs loved what he did. And pursued that love with a passion. In a 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Jobs said:
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.
For now, Jobs' passing is garnering a bevy of statements--mostly canned like a lot of the stories tonight. But all you really need to know about Jobs and what he left behind can be found in his Stanford commencement speech from 2005 . As you ponder Jobs it's worth adapting some of these life lessons for your days ahead.
Jobs, whose death at the age of 56 was announced Wednesday night, started that speech by telling about being adopted as a baby, and why, 17 years later, he attended Reed College in Oregon for only six months before dropping out. He said:
“My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: ‘We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?’ They said: ‘Of course.’
“My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
Why? You don't quite know what your reaction will be until the moment actually comes. We all knew Jobs' day would come. We also knew it would come soon. That's why the thoughts that emerged when Jobs stepped down as CEO came out like obits. Few of use wanted to totally acknowledge it, but Jobs' fate was obvious when he stepped down as CEO.
Those CEO stories primarily focused on the business side of Jobs. His first tour at Apple. The NeXT diversion. Pixar. And then the rebirth at Apple, which appears to be set up for a nice post Jobs run. Frankly, setting Apple up to thrive beyond his tenure may turn out to be Jobs' greatest business accomplishment.
When Jobs stepped down as CEO I chose to look at his ride through the lens of Apple products. It was a natural path to take. Now that Jobs has passed it isn't.
Whether you love or hate Apple--or fall somewhere in between--it's hard not to acknowledge that Jobs was a brilliant man. He's also a man who we don't really know a lot about. But he's also a man who changed a lot of lives.
Here's what stuck out about Jobs for me:
Innovative.
Quirky.
Stubborn as hell.
Controlling.
Great leader.
An artist's eye for design with an engineer's brain.
Amazing legacy.
"Stay hungry, stay foolish."
I'd argue that Jobs is my generation's Walt Disney. He entertained. He delighted. And he built something enduring. Jobs was a disruptive force. Given the Disney comparison, it's a bit ironic that Jobs wound up being Disney's largest shareholder via the Pixar acquisition.
More importantly, Jobs loved what he did. And pursued that love with a passion. In a 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Jobs said:
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.
For now, Jobs' passing is garnering a bevy of statements--mostly canned like a lot of the stories tonight. But all you really need to know about Jobs and what he left behind can be found in his Stanford commencement speech from 2005 . As you ponder Jobs it's worth adapting some of these life lessons for your days ahead.
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