A Tribute to Steve Jobs, One of the Best Innovators of This Century

Official Apple tribute to Steve Jobs

One year ago today, the world lost one of its greatest innovators, a man who brought technology, design, and liberal arts together in a way that no company has ever done before.  This man has inspired many young adults setting off in the world, including myself, to believe that we can do anything, that we can achieve even that that those around us believe is impossible.  At birth, the chance of this man succeeding in life was slim to none; his own parents gave him up.  However, through his life story, we truly see that anyone can become successful, so long as they hold the desire, creativity, and vision for change.

Thirty years ago, this man set out to “put a ding in the universe;” he wished to change the world and turn intimidating server rooms into compact devices available to everyone.  He accomplished this in his stepfather’s garage in Palo Alto, with the Apple I, a simple portable computer unlike anything seen before. This shows the true irony in the world.  A few miles away were some of the largest technology companies in the world: Dell, Hewlett Packard, Atari, and other flourishing computer makers.  However, none of them managed to do what this young man accomplished in his garage!  A young frizzle-haired man had created one of the greatest inventions the world had seen, an invention that not even they could live up to.  This would be just the start of a career for one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in history, Mr. Steven Paul Jobs.

           

Intelligence was not the single entity that made Steve Jobs one of the greatest entrepreneurial leaders of all time. His vision, distortion of reality, and determination were what truly set him apart.  He was a visionary that made the impossible seem possible.  No other entrepreneur managed to make people believe in themselves like Steve.  He would literally condense a couple-month project into a week by making it seem possible.  Those that worked with him have gone as far as saying that he carried a “reality-distortion field” that could trap people and make them believe anything.  This reality-distortion field resulted in major feats in numerous industries and fields, including technology, design, marketing, retail, and digital sales.  Apple is the only computer company in the world to hold a patent for a glass staircase, showing that Steve’s company represents style and culture as much as it represents technology.

           

Perhaps the thing that I admire most about Steve Jobs is that he was “a round peg in a square hole.”  He was unlike anyone around him.  In his twenties, he was more of a smelly hippy than a future CEO of one of the greatest companies in the world.  He did not care what others thought.  He would display whatever was on his mind, whether it was praising the greatness of a creation or telling others just how bad their products were with the more colorful side of his language.  He would cry in public, unafraid to show people what he was truly thinking.  Despite the fact that he appeared anything but clean in his twenties, he still managed to land a job at Atari, simply by displaying his determination. 

           

I am truly inspired by the work of Steve Jobs and through his story, I have learned that one does not have to be the best at everything to change the world.  Steve was not the best engineer in the world but after partnering with Steve Wozniak, he developed the vision necessary to make a successful product.  Steve had little experience in retail or design but by bringing together the greatest, he managed to accomplish things that seemed impossible.  He even managed to do something that no other person in the world could have done: unite the record labels with a digital service.  Dealing with many of these self-centered labels was anything but easy and without Steve, we may still be buying CDs, or the music industry may have been destroyed by illegal downloads.

           

I have always been a perfectionist, bringing out even the smallest flaws in things and fixing them. Being so, I truly admire the care that Steve placed into perfecting even the smallest details of products.  When the iMac launched with a retractable drive, he demanded that it be redone and replaced with a more elegant slot.  If it was not perfect, he would make it perfect, even if it meant revamping a product a week before launch.  The product release was just as great as the product itself.  Before setting the stage, Steve would check every minute detail in the room.  If the lighting was not perfect, he would make it perfect.  He would have the emotions of the audience in his grasp and would turn product releases into an international event, representing the best products of America.

           

Steve Jobs was truly one of the most inspiring people of this century.  I wish to live life to the fullest and be as different as he was when he walked into Atari demanding a job.  I hope to unite people around the world with a company that is more of a culture than a corporation.  I dream of creating a company as great as Apple, a company where individuality, as well as teamwork, thrive in a way like no other.  Steve Jobs truly set a perfect example of what can be accomplished when one works to his or her full potential.  He was a perfectionist and a genius and brought industries together that were as different as night and day.  After his passing, the technology industry was left in the Post-Steve Jobs era.  Now, Tim Cook must live up to the challenge of being compared to one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this century, and the world will have to wait for the next Steve Jobs, the next person to create something radically different than anything the world has ever seen.

Photo By Matthew YoheAido2002 from Wikimedia Commons