When Steve Jobs’ announced his official resignation from Apple, the news saddened me. At first, I didn’t understand why this news upset me. Most importantly, Mr. Jobs is very much alive. But, this announcement affected me.
I couldn’t understand why this news depressed me.
Is It the Design and Marketing Icon Who I’ll Miss?
No. Several excellent articles talked about Mr. Jobs many accomplishments. I’ve respected and admired the innovative products Apple created under his leadership. Plus, he successfully lead and revived Apple twice (after being forced out the first time).
And, his ability to successfully lead Apple while dealing with personal illness is unbelievable. His professional and personal resiliency are remarkable.
Here are my favorite articles highlighting Mr. Jobs’ professional career:
* Walt Mossberg’s Essay: Jobs’ Departure as CEO of Apple Is the End of an Extraordinary Era
* Fast Company: What Makes Steve Jobs So Great?
* Forbes: One Big Idea – A Look Back at Steve Jobs’ Accomplishments
And, Apple Will Continue Innovating Unique Products Without Mr. Jobs. This Fortune article about Apple’s innovation culture and infrastructure to keep learning from its successes and failures is one of the best articles I’ve ever studied. Check it out. It provides great insights on:
- How Apple Indoctrinates Accountability
- Apple’s Organizational Structure
- Apple University and The Top 100
Jobs Asked What Can It Do?
The Difference Between Adults and Children. “What Can It Do” drove Mr. Jobs in his product design and marketing strategies. The following quote is from David Sheff in the Fast Company article, The First Time I Met Steve Jobs. It describes Sheff’s conversation with Jobs on why Jobs enjoyed spending more time showing a nine-year-old boy a Mac computer versus two famous New York artists:
“Later, I asked him why he had seemed happier with the boy than with the boy than with the two famous artists. His answer seemed unrehearsed to me: Older people sit down and ask, What is it? but the boy asks, What can I do with it?”
Show Me. These videos for “If You Don’t Have an IPhone” or “Learn” are classic examples “what can it do”:
Making Artistry Accessible For Guys Like Me
The Intersection of Technology and the Humanities. Steven Johnson wrote this emotionally moving article in The Wall Street Journal called Marrying Tech and Art. These two quotes from Mr. Johnson’s article said exactly what I couldn’t express about how Mr. Jobs resignation affected me:
“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing. He illustrated it with the image of a street sign at an imagined intersection between Technology and the Liberal Arts. He meant it as a description of the kind of thinking – multidisplinary, sensitive to human needs and potential – that created the products. But it also describes the broader social impact of his company. Before Apple, that intersection was largely deserted. Today it is a virtual Times Square.”
“It isn’t just that he made computers cool or put them in pretty boxes. It’s that he put those computers in new conceptual boxes. A machine originally designed for processing equations and building bombs turned out to have a wonderful hidden potential: for song, laughter, poetry, community, family.”
I'm a Frustrated Artist. All my life, I always envied my friends / classmates with natural artistic ability. The painters, architects, writers, photographers, cartoonists, etc. who created something from nothing. They created beautiful art.
And, I always wished I could do that.
Blogging Became My Personal Art. Blogging fuels my creativity unlike any other hobby or passion. And, if it weren’t for Steve Jobs’ and Apple’s influence on other companies to make technology easy to use and learn, I probably would have never pursued it.
Conclusion
I Wrote This Post With a PC. The computer I’m using to write this post is my personal PC (a laptop from the HP Pavilion line). I’ve used it for the past six (6) years. It runs Windows 7, but it still seems slow (especially when resuming from sleeping). It’s an improvement over Vista, but all the things my wife loves about her MacBook (i.e., instant on, easily connecting to a Wi-Fi network, using a touchpad instead of a mouse) aren’t matched by PCs.
For example, I spent an hour Friday evening finally getting my 10 year-old goddaughter’s new Dell Inspirion laptop to connect to our wireless network. My wife kept telling me to let it go, but I didn’t want to disappoint my goddaughter. She wanted to show me how good she was in navigating the Web (so I kept at it till I finally succeeded).
Maybe It’s Time to Go MacBook Pro. I love and lust for Apple’s products. I swear by my iPod and iPhone. And, my wife swears by her MacBook. My seven-year-old daughter creates her own videos with my wife’s MacBook.
It’s probably because they learned what Macs can do. And, I haven’t. Yet.
Good Luck Mr. Jobs and Get Better Soon.
Photo Credit by Joi via Flickr
Your Turn
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Good article Tony. While I am not an apple fan at all (yes I am a PC guy) I also hated to see Jobs go. I think for me it was because I have seen what Gates leaving Microsoft has done to it. I worry about the future of technology. I try to tell myself that there will be other leaders with “Vision” for the future at either of these companys. I have seen a few at Microsoft (see Scott Guthrie for one) but I think the management of Microsoft is taking the company in the wrong direction and they don’t seem to have a vision for the long term future like Gates and Jobs did. I could be wrong and hope I am.
@Ted, I absolutely agree. Your example of Microsoft’s current direction after the Bill Gates departed is spot-on. I think this Wall Street Journal article says it all about Microsoft’s current direction — Disney, Walton, Ford, Gates: Tales of When Legends Leave. Here’s the link: http://on.wsj.com/pvkGzN.
Here’s a direct quote from the article: “The Gates era was characterized by leadership that reveled in technology, in creating new products that would change the world. In Ballmer’s era, I’d argue that it’s more of a professional manager focus,” said Richard Williams, a senior software analyst for Cross Research.
Thanks again for stopping by and writing your thoughtful comment. Much appreciated!