All About Steve – Part II – Riding Into The Sunset

Steve Jobs died today. He was 56. RIP Steve.

In Part I of my “All About Steve” post, I said I wasn’t looking forward to writing Part II of this series. I knew it would be to post that he died.

I am going to celebrate his life.

He has been my business role model since I moved to the bay area in the mid-1980′s. I had the honor to meet Steve once. And I have watched with amazement what he was able to do at Apple (the first time), NeXT, Pixar and back to Apple.

There are certain things I don’t believe in. I don’t believe in “perception is reality”. You can change perception. I’ve done it many times over as a tech marketer. I don’t believe in “sacrificing for your art”. I believe that we make choices. That’s the beauty of being a human being – free will – I make a choice. If I wanted to watch TV over working on my acting craft, I made a choice. If I wanted to go to a casting director workshop instead of socializing with friends, I made a choice. And, I don’t believe in “regrets”. While I say that, I will say I would have loved to have worked with Steve either at Apple or NeXT.

Some things that make Steve stand out for me are his focus in following his path, and not letting the naysayers sway him – he was known to say “fuck em” a lot. I found his drive and being a perfectionist to get that perfect product to the masses amazing. He understood business, marketing and knew that products need to appeal to peoples’ emotions and need to have a value-added function in peoples’ lives. He was a minimalist, only focusing on the things that mattered. He was more focused on success than being right. He was difficult and not the easiest to work with – this is what he said about people: “My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” When you are driven, you are focused on the vision. That means that you have to expect your people are self-managing, do not need hand-holding and can be counted on to get their jobs done. In an old video about the Macintosh, he talked about individual contributors being the best managers. He understood people and how to communicate with them. He was definitely ahead of his time. When I am challenged with a decision, the question, what would Steve do, comes to mind frequently.

I think what I really like about Steve which is what I find in myself – never being satisfied, always searching, and trying to re-invent himself.

Steve will continue to be my business and tech compass.

I want to leave you with this quote: “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Always strive to be insanely great. Be hungry. Be foolish.