We wanted to share this editorial by Steven Revkin from the New York Times reflecting on the wisdom and influence of Steven Jobs:
If you’re not among the 6 million or so people who’ve listened to or read Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University — a year after he was diagnosed with cancer — I encourage you to join the crowd. It was potent when I first watched it and particularly powerful this evening, given his passing.
First he spoke of the merits of a multidisciplinary life, noting how a stray course in calligraphy led to some of the richness of the typography he and the early Apple team developed for the Macintosh:
[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
He spoke of the liberation that came with being fired:
The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
And then there was his discussion of learning about his cancer, and the lessons that knowledge offered, among them that “time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” (At the time of the speech, he’d had surgery and the pancreatic cancer appeared to have been eliminated.)
That’s certainly not something anyone could ever have accused Steven Jobs of doing.
A full transcript of the speech can be found here.
Steven Jobs influence can be found in nearly every aspect of our lives – even architecture and design. This Pizza Express restaurant in London incorporates technology that helps the restaurant create a personalized experience for diners. For example, ipod docking stations at the tables encourage people to listen to their own music. Another high tech feature is customizable lighting for each dining area allowing customers to adjust the lighting to suit their mood and needs. Technology helps each diner create an experience that is uniquely their own.
This customized high-tech approach to living was clearly pioneered by Jobs. His vision directly and indirectly made personalized computing fun and accessible to so many.
Photos via Hospitality Style.
