Steve Jobs: A Job Well Done

One of my heroes is Steve Jobs. He stuck to his vision even though everyone disagreed with him. In the face of defeat, he was brave enough to start over because he had something he wanted to accomplish. When he finally was allowed to continue with his vision unhampered he didn’t just create the most innovative products in the world, but he also created new industries for others to express their creativity.

Did you know that Steve was an adopted child? He stopped going to college because he wasn’t sure what direction he wanted to go in, and he didn’t want to waste his parents’ life savings. Instead he took courses that interested him, one of which was a class in typography. The knowledge gained from that class enabled and inspired him to develop a computer with beautiful fonts, the first MacIntosh. Later he developed the first computer to use color graphics. Because of him we have the ability to create beautiful documents and an entire industry of graphic arts was born.

When he was fired from Apple, he could have retired on his stock in the company and lived a fabulous lifestyle. But he knew had had more to share with the world and he figured out a way to keep giving more of his creative genius. One of the companies he started became the best in another new industry of digital animated film-making. It created the first commercial computer-animated feature film, “Toy Story.” When Disney later purchased his successful Pixar company, it gained much of its wealth from the sale.

Steve was a positive thinker. He believed in himself and his vision. He also believed in hard work and pushed himself as well as his employees to go beyond their comfort zone. Not everything he did was successful but to his credit he understood the importance of acknowledging a failure and quickly moving on.

It was the world’s good fortune that he was rehired by Apple so he could combine his genius with his years of experience to create some of the most innovative products in the world. But his real legacy was not products, but opportunities for others because his products created even more new industries.

Some examples include: the iPod initiated an industry for portable digital listening devices; iTunes spawned an industry for downloading music legally; the iPhone created an industry for smartphone software and so far over 400 applications have been developed for it; and the iPad introduced the industry of modern touch-screen tablet computers. All of these innovations took Apple Computer from near bankruptcy to the most successful computer company in the world.

We can all be inspired by the gifts Steve Jobs gave to the world, the best one being a model for attitude. His attitude towards life and his dream kept him going through all of the career and health challenges he faced. That attitude made him successful and memorable. The attitude of following your heart and your intuition no matter what will make you successful too.

I’d like to leave you with his words that will be a continuous source of inspiration:

“Believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart even though it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference.” – Steve Jobs