Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Steve Jobs was not just a titan of electronics. He was the very personification of tenacity, overcoming repeated failures and exile from the company he himself founded, only to return triumphant in the end. He lived a real-life Hero’s Journey. He was the Leonardo Da Vinci of our time, and he had a rare strength of character that was incorruptible by the politics of business and the allure of success. As Walt Mossberg noted:

“He was a historical figure on the scale of a Thomas Edison or a Henry Ford, and set the mold for many other corporate leaders in many other industries.

He did what a CEO should: Hired and inspired great people; managed for the long term, not the quarter or the short-term stock price; made big bets and took big risks. He insisted on the highest product quality and on building things to delight and empower actual users, not intermediaries like corporate IT directors or wireless carriers. And he could sell. Man, he could sell.

As he liked to say, he lived at the intersection of technology and liberal arts.”

I’m truly saddened for his passing, and my thoughts go out to his family and friends. The world lost some of it’s child-like wonder today. And I did as well.

This news has really struck home within me; Steve held a demi-god status to me and many other people, both in technology fields and outside. I’m grateful for the things he gave to the world, and similarly excited for all the people that his life has and will inspire.

As some have already noted, I love the tribute to this man’s life’s work that I first heard of his passing on a device he created, and am now reacting with these words on another device of his making.

Thank you Steve. Godspeed.