“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”, He Said

Steve Jobs was one of the greatest visionaries in the contemporary world. He was a great engineer, a brilliant designer, an excellent entrepreneur. He was the brain behind the genesis of two of the world’s most successful companies- Apple and Pixar. When people credit him with revolutionizing the communication process worldwide, they do so with good reason. He invented the PC, the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, each of them a turning point in communication as we experience it today.

He was also a college dropout. He quit Reed University because he couldn't see the point of what he was doing, but stayed on anyway, attending what class he felt like. He wasn't a rebel, he simply followed his heart. And he attributed his brilliant success to that sole habit. He had been brought up by adoptive parents Paul and Clara Jobs, none of whom were graduates, and he disliked the idea of them spending their life savings on a course that he wasn't even sure he would benefit from.

He started Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parents’ garage, building the first computers by hand, at the age of twenty. It took the two of them ten years to turn it into a billion- dollar company. In 1984, he was fired from that very electronic giant he had helped create, at the age of thirty. When it started going down, he came back, brought it back to the top and became Boss again. He was, as such, a living legend, and the best inspiration a youngster worried about their future could ask for, because he was as famous for his love of the work he did, as he was for his hatred of bureaucracy.

In 2005, Steve Jobs was invited to address the graduating class at Stanford University. It was there that he delivered his famous “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” speech, was originally meant as an admonishment for high- scoring academics who thought their college education was their strongest weapon for a good life- nay, for a good job and salary. Today, that speech is a talisman for any student scared of stepping into the outside world. In the speech, Jobs outlined the biggest dreams, successes, failures and constraints of his life, through three simple stories about “Love and loss”, Death, and “connecting the dots”. The speech is the last word in inspiration, encouragement and reassurance beyond failure. When one of the world’s most successful men tells you that “the only way to do great work is to love what you do …So keep looking till you find it. Don’t settle”, it’s a boost like no other.

Ironically, the man who had already won a fight against cancer once, fell prey to it again. After having undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, Jobs believed he was a free, healthy man again, and conveyed as much at the Stanford address. Yet, hw was diagnosed once more, and this time lost the battle. As the world mourns his death today, the most comforting words probably come from Jobs himself- “yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life”.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Jobs.