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Steve Jobs – The Man, The Entrepreneur, The Maverick


by Lola Hanson
When Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO on August 24 but stayed on the Board, the world did not have any idea that in less than two months after that he would be gone. At 56, one of the most visionary Americans of his generation and best known as the co-founder of Apple computers died "peacefully surrounded by his family," on Wednesday. The statement of Apple’s board did not state the cause of death but he has been battling pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer since 2004.

The millennials certainly know Steve Jobs because he has become synonymous with iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, all revolutionary innovations that have far reaching effects technologically and must-have gadgets for the digital generation. In the statement released by the Apple they said they had "lost a visionary and creative genius" and "his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." But his innovation did not start and end there because after Steve Jobs came back to the company who fired him ten years earlier he was able to transform and revived an almost dying Apple.

In 1976, he started Apple 1 together with Steve Wozniak in his family’s garage after he had dropped out of college. In 1976 they were able to get the funding from Mike Markkula who guided Apple to be incorporated as a company but was also the CEO of the Board when Steve Jobs was fired from the company. He then started NeXT Computer which was the technology that was bought by Apple and used for the OSX and which brought back Jobs to Apple. And when he came back he was able to revive the company with a very innovative advertising campaign called “Think Different”  then followed it up with the colorful iMac desktop computer in 1998 and a year after the brightly colored, clam-shaped laptop that enabled wireless Web surfing called the iBook appeared.

An overlooked technology called FireWire which is a tool for quickly moving large amounts of data between digital devices allowed the creation of iMovie which is the software that encouraged non-experts to make their own home videos. In 2001 the MP3-like player with room for thousands of songs popularly known as the iPod was introduced then in 2003 the digital music industry was revolutionized when the iTunes application came and allowed consumers to legally buy and download music.  The much touted iPhone came in 2007 and soon rolled over BlackBerry then to clinch the sweet deal came the tablet-based computer iPad which has sold more than 10 million units in its first year alone. Jobs had an uncanny knack for reading future trends in computers and consumer electronics, helping Apple to lead the market with must-have products.

Despite his business acumen, Jobs remained simple and almost always presents to the press while wearing  simple black long sleeve plain t-shirts and jeans. He was a maverick who forged his own path and valued lessons learned in life rather than in the academe. And though he did not stay long in college he was able to speak in the 2005 Stanford Commencement which he said was the closest he had ever gotten to a college graduation. He might have been one of his generations most celebrated and successful business executive but Jobs was said to have been a difficult man in the workplace. It has been said that he was a meticulous taskmaster and a control freak and he was very particular about keeping current and future projects secret and punished those who do leak details. But the one thing he has never been particular about is the corporate clothing on those who worked for him. In fact the Silicon Valley is known for creating the casual Fridays and taking down the level of business casual. The techie people wanted to emulate the Silicon Valley icons who are comfortable in t-shirts and jeans that have seen better days.  Jobs himself is always seen in jeans and plain t-shirts or the black long-sleeve turtleneck that has almost become his signature uniform because he always appeared to present Apple’s new product wearing that.

The statement released by President Obama is one of the truest tributes that anyone can give when he said “he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.” He has left a legacy that will truly be treasured by our generation and the next generations because all his technological innovations have touched us, one way or the other.

For me, Steve Jobs left his mark not only on my desk, on my ears and on my hands but left words and lessons that should be valued by everyone. He never let any failure stop him from doing what he really wanted to do in life and even turned these failures to something good.

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. – Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

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