In his 2005 Stanford University commencement address, Steve Jobs tells the audience three stories about his life and the lessons he learned from them. The first story was about dropping out of college only to begin dropping in classes of his choosing. One of those classes was a calligraphy class which, while fascinating to Jobs, had no real-world implications in his eyes. It was only after designing the first Macintosh computer, which used beautiful typography never seen before on a computer, that Jobs realized the necessity and value of that calligraphy class. His message: You can't connect the dots looking forward. you can only connect the dots looking backward. In other words, when you're following your heart, intuition, your gut, or whatever else you'd like to call it, you have to trust that the decisions you're making today will someday payoff, even if those decisions seem to lead you astray.
The second story Jobs tells is about his falling out with Apple executives that resulted in his termination from the company. Despite being let go from a company he started from scratch in his garage, Steve Jobs didn't let that deter him from following his passions. He started a new company called Next and also founded Pixar, "the most successful animation studio in the world," as Jobs puts it. Inevitably, Apple bought out Next, and Jobs went back to work at Apple. During this period, he also met his wife whom he started a family with. Jobs holds the opinion that none of this would have happened if he hadn't been fired. His message is that, while there may be setbacks and/or failures, you must not let anything deter you from following what you love. He goes on to say that we spend far too much time at work to not love what we do. Therefore, one must find their passion and under no circumstance should you ever settle for less than your dream. Jobs' last story is about being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Cancer of the pancreas is usually incurable and Jobs' doctor gave him 3-6 months to live. It turned out that the cancer was actually a rare, less aggressive form and was safely removed. Jobs explains to the crowd that the threat of death is, in fact, a terrific motivator and it's something that has propelled him to not waste time and live life to the fullest. While the cancer did return and ended up taking Jobs' life, I think he would still stand by his statement that "death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent." In his closing statements, Steve Jobs leaves the new graduates with advice he received himself from a publication called The Whole Earth Catalog. In it's final print, the publication printed the message "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." I think this is interesting advice coming from a man who is known to be very calculating when it comes to marketing and business strategy. But I get what he means. You can't always make the logical choice. Sometimes you must lead with the heart. If you aren't taking risks, if you aren't chasing what you yearn for, you aren't really living life. As a student, I can certainly relate to what Steve Jobs says. It took me quite awhile to graduate from college because I spent more time than I should have taking classes that I was interested in but didn't bring me closer to graduation. I haven't necessarily followed a path towards success or wealth. I've taken my time trying to find what I love and with teaching, I think I've found it. And I plan on following Jobs's advice; if someday it occurs to me that I'm no longer happy in the profession I'm in, I'll have no choice but to leave the world of teaching, not only for my sake, but for the sake of any prospective student who could end up having a teacher who lack the hunger and foolishness to be truly inspiring. Going forward, I will try to remain cognizant of the messages from this commencement address and I'll try to help students not settle for anything less than their dreams. Stanford. [Stanford]. (2005, June 12). Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.[Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc?list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp
2 Comments
Hannah O'Shea
12/5/2015 03:37:34 pm
I found it inspiring that you are willing to admit at you will leave a profession that you thought you loved because you are no longer as foolish or hungry as you were at the beginning. I think this is really important because as an educator your first interest should be the children, and if you are not the best teacher you can be then you are not what it best for the students. The willingness to step down is not a sign of weakness or lack of commitment, but a realization that you, and the students, would be better served if they had a "foolish and hungry" teacher.
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Ulysses Quintero
12/7/2015 12:27:56 am
Hello George,
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AuthorGeorge Porter, English Teacher at Sage Creek Archives
May 2016
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