Comments

I loved reading that the one thing Steve Jobs got out of college to help him run his business was not an MBA or even Accountancy 101 - it was calligraphy - and he got that after he'd dropped out! What exactly was he saying to all those graduates?

"Okay fellas, let's face facts here. You're all gonna die. Really, it's true. Sooner than you might think, but the important thing is that you've wasted your parent's money for four years and now you all have the opportunity to live someone else's life for them, unless of course you have the chutzpah to follow your heart. Best of luck!"

Think he'll be invited back?!

Personally, I agree with everything he said. That's how I've been living my life for the last fifteen years and I don't mean attending college or thinking someone else's thoughts. We learn much more through experiencing life hands-on with a free mind and a free will than we ever could in a classroom and this applies particularly to business. You can study to be an accountant, but you can't learn how to do business from a blackboard. That's something you have to practice like driving a car, playing sports or working a craft.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 20, 2005 10:50 AM

I lost two relatives fast to pancreatic cancer - Steve is extremely lucky.

Maybe that is Steve's message: be lucky. And follow your instincts. PS: it really helps to cultivate awesome light-speed databases for your instincts to draw on - like advanced university degrees, plus high degrees of physical, emotional, and spiritual intelligence.

University grads today should know that opportunity abounds now [how many of them would have rather graduated 10-40 years ago = 1%] and that the degree is just a start - and once they realize they are a unique experiment of one - the only one of its kind in the known universe - then maybe they'll draw on that radical power and have fun with it.

Posted by Sean at June 20, 2005 11:47 AM

After reading Steve Jobs's address at Stanford, my sense is that he was saying that dropping out of college worked for him. He didn't necessarily go out there and, in my opinion, tell students that they don't need a college degree. Quite the opposite, in fact.

There's an interesting balance struck between classroom learning and learning through activities of daily living. There is, to be sure, something "lacking" in those who have a mostly "hard knocks" education with little academic background, as well as those who have spent seemingly too much time in a classroom and too little time in the "real world."

Personally, the academic part is the backbone to really finding the Wow! stuff in the working world. In the interest of brevity, I wonder: would Tom have searched for (and found) excellence if he had ducked out of school prior to graduating? My feeling is that such work is the outgrowth of a person who took strong academic experiences and built on them when he found points of interest in his work. There is something to be said about being able to rely on one's strengths in both the academic and "real" worlds.

In the end, what Steve Jobs did worked for him (and, apparently, for his legion of fans). And, yeah, it's pretty cool that he found calligraphy to be a source of inspiration. I'm sure there are many of us out there who had a favorite class that was indirectly related to our program of study. Such an idea is not mind-blowing, but it is pretty darn inspirational.

Posted by Lee H. Igel at June 20, 2005 12:49 PM

Lee, what exactly do you find "lacking" in those who have had a mostly "hard knocks" education?

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 20, 2005 1:45 PM

This is a wonderful and inspiring tribute to following your heart and trusting your instincts. I have tremendous respect for Steve Jobs and what he has accomplished and proven he can deliver many times over. Mr. Jobs is in a class by himself.

However if history serves, I believe there was one dot he forgot to connect and that was a trip to Xerox PARC in the late 70's where, as I understand it, the Xerox team had built the prototype for the MAC (and as Steve points out, Windows too). I'm sure the calligraphy class helped Steve, but if I was you I wouldn't take all the credit.

Here's to doing what you love all day long. Could anything be better?

Posted by Scott Mosley at June 20, 2005 10:27 PM

Am a 'techie' in the Valley and we had a big Steve Jobs following back in my college in India. To me, he is GOD!!

Posted by Anon1 at June 20, 2005 10:57 PM

I read transcripts of speeches by few successful people in the industry. I felt all of them were emotional.

When some one sees the death and comes back, definitely things will look different for them.
I have not faced the same. but I can understand this to some extent.

I feel there are inspiring and positive things to take home from his speech.

Posted by Aadithyaa at June 21, 2005 1:23 AM

Remarkable people, like remarkable companies, are different. And UNIQUE.

The only similarity between them is that there is no similarity. ( Seth Godin, of course!)

So, let's just inspire and be inspired. Let’s not look for trails to follow, because no example can ever fill your boots. We have to think, walk and dream on our own.

Posted by Jay, from Bangalore at June 21, 2005 2:52 AM

Steve, Xerox certainly did not build the prototype for the Mac. What they were developing and what they invited Steve Jobs to see was the very early stages of object-oriented programming which excited the bejesus out of Steve Jobs and became the foundation to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) that he and his people developed in the 1984 release of the Mac and that Microsoft subsequently came to copy eleven years later in Windows. The Xerox team had developed something extremely basic. It was literally just a pointer that could be moved around a screen, but Steve Jobs saw the potential and developed an entire interface that was visual rather than based on coded entry, as in DOS. We all get our inspiration from somewhere. For Steve Jobs it was a pointer that moved around a screen. For Bill Gates it was whole programs written by other companies!

To illustrate, he bought DOS for $50,000. MS Word and Excel were copied from WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Windows was copied from the Mac and laid awkwardly on top of DOS right up until the last release of Dos-based Windows (Windows2000). Network printing was a feature of the Mac. USB and Firewire are Apple developed technologies. Internet Explorer was copied from Netscape. In fact, nothing Bill Gates has produced has he or his team developed themselves. And the company has a reputation for bullying and putting smaller competitors out of business. The only spark of intelligence I can see in Bill Gates is in his business acumen, the integrity of which is questionable.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 21, 2005 3:13 AM

HARD KNOCKS EDUCATION DRAWBACKS:
1. "Hard" is the main problem - almost no one wants it hard - business/customers like it easy - hard embeds hard as a primary flawed skill set
2. "Hard knocks" means negative emotional and mental experiences are etched in to a persons' being - therefore they have to filter through the negative to get to best solutions - a waste of time
3. Road kill: if the only education is hard knocks - say a high school only education or worse - then the measures on success are extremely dismal for the most part - a university education pays about $5M more over a lifetime - ala too many road killesque legends for the "Hard" boys/girls + more criminal records
4. Freak out: "Hard" breeds emotional challenges - sure it may be innovative at times - yet if the Hard one freaks out at the wrong moment a pack of customers could be freaked out - with subsequent anti-lovemarks that kills your business
5. University as start: the U lifestyle to me is mainly a social / emotional / even spiritual experience - with academics as frosting - the real learning seems to be how to love new IT, politic, team up, and collaborate with diverse thinking groups/people - how to benefit from networks & cool friends - anti-hard
6. Steve Jobs selected Reed College - a radical liberal arts/ultra expensive little old college in dreary, drizzly Portland, OR - an unwise choice - no wonder he dropped out!
7. Free World focus: education, education, education - everything "hard" tends to be anti that. Science, math, R&D to the max - that is the real challenge to embrace. Hard is the street element that yields a tiny % of ROI.

Posted by Sean at June 21, 2005 8:24 AM

Noel, I recall that Jobs saw more than just a pointer on the screen - the Smalltalk
integrated programming environment supported mouse, text selection, pop-up
menus, windows, and the rest. True - this was NOT the Mac GUI interface, but
certainly aspects of it.

It has been published that Jobs was so amazed by the "graphic user interface"
that he completely missed the potential of object-oriented software (until NeXT).

Jef Raskin (the Mac father), among others, has written that the Job's visits
were "inconsequential to the Macintosh development" - implying that Apple had already
developed its own GUI concepts and software by that time. (Raskin had been a
frequent PARC visitor and supporter).

Yes, Jobs DID generate the enthusiasm - but,the success of the Mac didn't hinge
on this one event, one stroke of genius, one only-Steve-could-do-it moment.

Often, brilliance is a hindsight perspective that GROWS.

Posted by Michael J at June 21, 2005 11:55 AM

Michael, fair enough. I might have been a little dramatic when I said all it was was a pointer on a screen. Here’s what Steve Jobs said about his trip to Xerox:

"And they showed me really three things. But I was so blinded by the first one I didn't even really see the other two. One of the things they showed me was object orienting programming, but I didn't even see that. The other one they showed me was a networked computer system ... they had over a hundred Alto computers all networked using email etc., etc., I didn't even see that. I was so blinded by the first thing they showed me which was the graphical user interface. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life. Now remember it was very flawed, what we saw was incomplete, they'd done a bunch of things wrong. But we didn't know that at the time but still though they had the germ of the idea ... and they'd done it very well and within you know ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day."

Was he shown a Mac prototype? No. Did he need a team of competent people to carry out the work? Of course. I don’t think Steve Jobs would ever suggest that no one in Apple besides himself had good ideas, but most certainly it was Jobs who had the vision for how to shape the company. Could Apple have done it without Jeff Raskin? Probably. Could Apple have done it without Steve Jobs? I doubt it. We’ve all seen what Apple was like without Steve Jobs.

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 21, 2005 2:01 PM

Great speech - heartfelt with messages that speak to the core of innovation and personal fulfillment. My take away was simply follow your own path - live an authentic life. Jobs speech wasn't about the merits of an education or lack thereof. I have never actually been a huge fan of Jobs but I certainly respect his accomplishments and I think he couldn't have been more on the mark for his audience.

"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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Well said Mr. Jobs.

Posted by walterwhite at June 21, 2005 2:56 PM

Hey Walter. How's business?!

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 21, 2005 3:23 PM

Noel. Let's not start that again!!! ;)

Posted by walterwhite at June 21, 2005 4:20 PM

Sorry Walter. I couldn't resist ; )

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 21, 2005 4:42 PM

Now now Walter and Noel - let's be good to each other :-)

I have found I learn much from the 'school of hard knocks' but I don't under-value my post grad training either.

I learned more doing my MA Management when I was 43 than if I had done it at 20.

'Life' is a great learning environment and I simply don't think there is a right and wrong 'school' to attend - both are relevant.

The thing that really gets to me is systems that do not allow people to play to their strengths.

Anyone who has suffered clinical depression will know that coming through that and learning new coping skills is one of the hardest courses of study in life. No classroom taught me those skills.

Wonderful discussion guys - I have been busy for the last week and have 'slipped' on my volume of TP postings - I hope to have a little more time in the next week or so - BUT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 22, 2005 4:59 AM

Noel, re: PARC, Steve, Apple.... very true!

I totally agree with most of what you say. However, the roles played by all have
been tarnished by time. My discussions with PARC members from that time yield
quite different perspectives.

However, your main point is well taken -- Steve's role in Apple is HUGE!
Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan - I've worked with him for a time --
Lesson #1 : Don't ever ever underestimate him .. on anything!

Posted by Michael J at June 22, 2005 9:46 AM

Michael, what do you say about Dell wanting to licence OS X? Think there are cosmic shifts ahead or will Apple keep it proprietary?

Posted by Noel Guinane at June 22, 2005 3:33 PM

Noel -- now THAT I would really like to know!!

Given the past history between Jobs and Dell, I'd be surprised if it happened.
But--given the past history at Apple - maybe it's time??

My guess? I think it's time.

Cheers

Posted by Michael J at June 23, 2005 12:42 PM