According to me, there are two kinds of people. People who changed the way we live, and the people who live the life others changed. Steve Jobs, who passed away on October 5th 2011, is one of those who changed the way we live. Knowingly or unknowingly, he has changed the way you live, one way or the other.
There are many heroes in my life, but Steve is someone who is completely different to me. I grew up watching Steve and Gates build their companies, from nowhere to here. I have not met Steve in person, but I know how he would talk during the calls and how he would respond to his team. All these years, I’ve been inspired by Steve, and the words he said during his limited public appearances, are still embedded in my mind.
The impact he has made in my life is huge. Two years ago, today, Steve Jobs passed away after battling with his pancreatic cancer for a long time. I still remember the time I heard about this news from my friend who called me from London to inform me about Steve. At first, I thought it was all wrong. I opened up my Facebook stream, and nothing was posted about this. But two hours later, the news officially broke out on social media sites. Everyone who were whining about the US Government’s problems suddenly started paying tribute to Steve Jobs. AP was the first to announce his death on Twitter:
BREAKING: Apple says Steve Jobs has died. — The Associated Press (@AP) October 5, 2011
I opened Tweetbot to see how people are reacting to Steve’s death. The reactions that was flowing in my stream was something which would not have come when a CEO of the company passed away. It was very clear that these reactions were personal, emotional and more than just a tech company’s CEO passing away.
During his Stanford Commencement speech, Steve said:
“for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
Steve lived up to his dream. He changed the world working on the products he loved and used every single day. Jobs was not a coder or an engineer unlike Bill Gates or Mark Zukerberg or Larry Page, but he was a designer by birth, who cared for every single detail in the products he made and the products he used. There are a lot of things which inspired me. One such thing is his keen interest for the style, minimalism and an agressive push for the next big thing.
I recently made a huge decision change in my career, and there’s this quote which Steve quoted during his keynote:
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
This quote by Wayne Gretzky which Steve quoted has been running in my mind for ever since I heard that from him. And today, this quote has been driving me to do stuff that are different, and work on the projects that would make an impact in the future.
I’ve been finding it hard to express the way I feel when we all lost this genius. But this is just a small way to pay tribute to Steve. He has meant a lot to me, and I still talk about him a lot to people who would come with me till the end.
On the other hand, a lot of people have been thinking about Apple’s fall ever since Steve passed away. And I’ve written enough about this in my earlier post. Today, I still think that Apple is running the same way Steve Jobs wanted it to be. As Steve noted in one of his keynote presentation, technology, married with liberal arts is still in the company’s DNA, and I don’t think its’ easy for ANYONE to rip that off from the people who work there.
Here’s a video which I loved watching over and over again about Steve Jobs, after he passed away.
Before I close this tribute, I’d like to share two of the best tributes and stories that high-profile people in tech shared about Steve Jobs, and those which are close to me:
The first story about Steve Jobs comes from Vic Gundothra, VP at Google:
Icon Ambulance
One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said “Caller ID unknown”. I choose to ignore.
After services, as I was walking to my car with my family, I checked my cell phone messages. The message left was from Steve Jobs. “Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss” it said.
Before I even reached my car, I called Steve Jobs back. I was responsible for all mobile applications at Google, and in that role, had regular dealings with Steve. It was one of the perks of the job.
“Hey Steve – this is Vic”, I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn’t pick up”.
Steve laughed. He said, “Vic, unless the Caller ID said ‘GOD’, you should never pick up during services”.
I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?
“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve.
“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”
Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject “Icon Ambulance”. The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.
Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced.
But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.
To one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.
-Vic
The second is from Steve’s long time rival and good friend, Bill Gates:
The next is from Steve Wozniak, the man whom I respect the most:
And the last one is something which I loved, the photo shoot that Marco made for TIME magazine with Steve Jobs:
This photo, is for some reason, is very powerful, and tell a lot of characteristics about Steve himself:
And here’s the making of Steve Jobs’ cover picture for TIME magazine video.