On losing a personal hero
It’s difficult to describe the rainbow of emotion that comes up at a time like this.
The news talking heads, the preponderance of Apple centric sites, the Internet in general is awash in send ups to Steve Jobs, who left this life yesterday. Many are poignant, touching, thoughtful. The aggregate information rush is — and will be for some time — overwhelming.
For me, Steve’s story — and the story of Steve’s Apple — are close to home. I never met the man personally, but his legendary vision, and the way he passionately believed in the work that he was doing, in what Apple was doing, that is to say, a belief that one could do amazing positive things that change the world — and be successful doing it — have been a model of how to approach work.
It was a couple of years after Steve came back to Apple, that I took the measured but daring step of quitting my full-time support job to go out on my own as a freelance Apple consultant — to embrace as my primary professional pursuit the notion of helping individuals and small businesses use this amazing technology. I was in my home office when I digested the news about the original iMac introduction, the original iPod introduction, and other cornerstone Steve Jobs moments. Creative Goose evolved not so much on the coat tails of Jobs, but as a water carrier on the ground for Steve’s visions of how technology can be harnessed.
I will, along with much of the tech world, miss Steve Jobs. His legacy of a thriving Apple Inc., his example on how to lead, his validation of “the crazy ones,” his embodiment of the “think different” principle, will live on. Through the Creative Goose consultancy, and through my own life choices in matters of work and technology, I will continue to carry Jobs’ water, his message, his vision, as best I can.
2 Responses to “On losing a personal hero”
Leave a Reply
David,
While I understand admiring Jobs, don’t worship the billionaires!! There were so many amazing innovators at Apple, and yes Steve Jobs was killing it as an exec, but if you’ve ever known any exec’s at any companies — how many have you met that actually added to the company’s performance?!?!?
Anyway, he’s a legend of modern capitalism and seen as an industry innovator. Glad the iPhone hit, and too bad about that old Newton thang.
rekzkarz.com
Hey Ari… I agree that we shouldn’t necessarily worship billionaires, and I am not arguing that Jobs was perfect. Nevertheless, he was larger than life and an important figure in my world. To your point, yes; I have known execs who contributed measurably to their companies’ performance and Steve would be one of them. I mostly work in the small biz sector, and have been privileged to labor alongside more than one “CEO” (small business owner) who embodied their organization and its’ mission. I’m sure that there are plenty of execs out there who siphon more than they contribute, but that is a different story.