This post has been inspired by the passing of steve jobs, a great and visionary man.
A personal hero of mine has passed. I remember the first time I laid eyes on a macintosh. It was 1984 and I was a graphic design BA student at central saint martins college of art & design. I immediately fell in love with the mac and have never looked back. Truth be told, I have never owned a PC until today.
In 2001 I heard about the iPod and although I didn’t quite understand what it was, I trusted that a product coming from Apple would be innovative, design-led and give me something I didn’t know yet I wanted. I bought it and was blown away.
I remember it as if it was yesterday. In january 2007 steve jobs gave his keynote speech announcing the iPhone. My whole body reacted. I knew that brilliance and excellence were staring me in the face. I felt that, once again, history was being made. I cried with joy.
In 2010, when us crazy Apple fans were all anticipating the announcement of a netbook by Apple, it took me a few days to digest the idea of the iPad. All I knew was that I trusted that steve jobs knows what we as consumers want or will want in the future and so my very short lived scepticism resulted in me buying the iPad.
Yes, my hero has died and today I am still angry, emotional and reflective that the world has robbed us of a human being that inspired so many people and enabled us to be creative and innovative in our own rights. What can we take from this? Well, if anything, steve jobs will be a legend in more than one way. He will always be remembered as the finest entrepreneur of his generation. More so, we can commit to following our hearts, both in life and work. We can strive to be the best we can be and create a good enough lifestyle for ourselves that will support our dreams and passions. We can look after our health. We can inspire others!
I will take comfort from watching and re-watching the utterly sublime steve jobs’ 2005 stanford commencement address.
steve, thanks for all the passion.