Steve Job's stirring speech

Follow your heart, do what you love

In 2005, Steve Jobs gave a rousing and powerful commencement speech at Stanford University in which he explained how he succeeded in life. He captivated the audience by narrating three separate stories about his life: Connecting the dots, Love and Loss, and Death.  The purpose of this paper is to summarize those life-changing events.

The first story referred to his adoption experience and dropping out of college. After dropping out, Jobs decided to attend a calligraphy course. He found the course fascinating, and thanks to it, the first computer Macintosh was designed. He stated that you can only connect the dots looking backwards, and never looking forward.

The second story was about how he built Apple with his friend Woz in a garage. What is amazing is that it grew bigger becoming one of the most popular technological creations. However, 10 years later, Jobs was fired from his own company due to different views on the company’s future. Being unemployed, he started again and another brilliant idea was created. He built NeXT and Pixar, one of the most important animation studios in the world. Later on, NeXT was bought by Apple and he returned to the company. All was done by doing what he loved. Furthermore, he also fell in love with a woman who later became his wife.

The third story was related to death. After a diagnosis, a tumor was found on his pancreas. At first, doctors said it was lethal, but then, during a biopsy they realized it was curable. After he had surgery, Steve Jobs could live a normal and healthy life again.

Finally, he rounded-off his speech by capturing the students’ attention and inspiring them to do what they love regardless of criticism.  Using emotional and inspiring words, he quoted the expression "Stay hungry. Stay foolish".

In sum, Job’s (2005) stirring speech intended to convey to the graduates that following their heart and intuition is the most important in life, and that they never have to give up doing what they love.

References

Stanford. (2008, March 7). Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc