Follow your heart
Steve Jobs "Fearless Leaders" © Doug Menuez
Today, October 5th, 2011 I heard the news that my mentor Steve Jobs had passed away. All I could do is to leave my office, go down to my car and drive down 280 on this rainy evening in Silicon Valley. I felt the waves of emotion hit me as the images of the past flashed through my heart and trickled down like tiny rain drops from my moist eyes. Nothing can describe the feeling driving home tonight, with deep, dark clouds of the first winter rain parting far away with bright rays of sunshine lighting up the sky facing south towards Cupertino.
Words from the Lament in Evita came rushing up in me:
Remember, I was very young then…
The choice was mine, and mine completely
I could have any prize that I desired
I could burn with the splendor of the brightest fire
Or else, or else I could choose time
Remember I was very young then
And a year was forever and a day
So what use could fifty, sixty, seventy be?
I saw the lights, and I was on my way
And how I lived, how they shone
But how soon the lights were gone
I realized as I started to write this blog post that the last time I wrote was about my letter to Steve when he left Apple. There was so much to said, so much history, so many feelings since that moment to now.
Changing the world, one person at a time
Apple Quote, circa 1984
I know there will be thousands of people talking about him and what he did for computing, I feel all I can do is talk about how he changed my life. The only way to tell the story is to start at the last incidence that brought up how deeply he influenced my life.
I was passing through Kyoto, taking in the beauty and energy of it in last time, and through the knife maker “Aritsugu-san” whose family generations ago made samurai swords, discovered a wonderful Japanese hinoki and sugi wood craftsmen. After seeing his art, I asked if I could get a few items, to which he replied—please write down what you would like. he opened his book, all in Japanese with orders, and I started to order the items I had selected, only to see that the last entry was for Steve Jobs, with his Silicon Valley home address.
I guess your best teachers are the one that light up parts of you that you didn’t even know you didn’t know about.
Steve was like that for me.
My love for design, creative artists, technology, products, hardware, software, engineering, architecture, music, movies, innovation, and changing the industry would never have been actualized if it was not for Steve. Having a visionary that brought together these sides is not something you see in a leader or mentor in the US. I was always told growing up that I needed to choose- Science or Art. Sports or Nerds. Design or Engineering. Management or Finance. Innovating or Scaling. Media or Technology. Advertising or Consumers. Marketing or Evangelism. Products or Sales.
Steve showed that you don’t have to choose either/or, but can choose both. A products can be beautifully designed, but also advanced technically. There is no other person that has embodied that better than Steve.
And of course, for me it was even more personal—I came to the US to work for Apple because of Steve. That’s the whole reason I got to do everything I did and have lived the life I have.
How do you look back and say how one person changed your entire life?
Tonight, all I can say is:
Thank you. And Goodbye Steve, Seriously.
