Michael Peterson
March 19, 2024
Jobs Speech
Even at the age of 50-years-old, Steve Jobs never graduated from college. The Apple and Pixar Animations CEO was gifted the opportunity to speak at the Stanford Commencement ceremony. Deciding to give a speech on three life stories he experienced throughout five decades. Turning these stories into potential lessons for those attending the Commencement Ceremony.
His first story was about connecting the dots. He spoke about dropping out of Reed College after and then stayed as a drop in for about a year and a half before quitting. Speaking on how his mother put him up for adoption with one important rule. That the adoptive parents were college graduates. This set the stage for who his adoptive parents would be.
His adoptive parents were set to be a lawyer and his wife. However, for the then infant Steve Jobs, he would not be adopted by them. They pulled out at the last minute because they wanted a girl, not a boy.
This would not be the end for Jobs, as a couple on a waiting list was informed about an unexpected little boy. They jumped at the opportunity to take him in.
The only problem was that the wife did not graduate college, and the husband did not even graduate high school. This led to his biological mother refusing to sign the final adoption papers. But, after a few months she caved in due to a promise. The promise that Steve would go to college. And with the promise set in stone, she put down her signature.
When Steve thought he was ready, he set off for Reed College in Portland, OR. But after six months, he backed out, not seeing the point in college.
Before leaving, Jobs decided to drop into a calligraphy instruction class. And that would shape the future of Steve Jobs.
His second story was about love and loss.
Jobs talked about how he founded a company in his parent’s basement with Woz. At the early age of 20, Jobs started apple with his co-founder. ‘Woz,’ full name, Steve Wozniak, helped Jobs at the start, before Apple became a two-billion-dollar company.
In ten years, Apple was a two-billion-dollar company. And Jobs decided to hire John Sculley. At first the partnership worked. Until the falling out. And when that happened, the board of directors sided with Sculley, pushing Jobs out of the company that he himself founded ten years prior.
This led to the creation of Pixar. Jobs’ new creation became his new love, along with a woman who would later become his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs.
Jobs pushed Pixar into becoming the most successful animation studio in the entire world. His brilliant mind had done it again.
The third and final story, was about death. Jobs started the story with a quote he read when he was 17, “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you will most certainly be right.”
He would look in the mirror and ask himself if it were his last day, would he do this action. And when the answer was ‘no’ too many times in a row, he knew he had to change something.
Remembering that he would be dead was the most powerful tool he utilized, and it led to some big decisions in his life.
He went on to talk about his cancer diagnosis, and the miracle that took place to cure it. Showing that life has miracles any every corner.
He closed out the speech with the phrase, ‘stay hungry, and stay foolish.’
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