Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

Steve Jobs delivered a commencement speech at Stanford University on June 12, 2005.  He was the CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios.   In his speech, he tells the audience that he did not graduate from college and goes on to tell three stories. 

 The first story is about something he calls “connecting the dots”.  In this story, he tells of his college years and how he dropped out of college, taking only courses that truly interesting him, including calligraphy.  At the time, he did not think this course would have any practical application.  However, ten years later, when he was designing the MAC computer, this knowledge was in fact helpful and he states that it is not until much later in life that he connected the dots.  He stated that you can only connect the dots when you look backwards and that you have to trust that dots will somehow connect your future.

The second story he tells is about love and loss.  He tells the story of getting fired from Apple, starting all over again, starting Pixar and NeXt and returning to Apple.  He tells the graduates that they should never lose faith when life hits you in the head with a brick.  He suggests that the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and to keep looking until you find that work. 

 The third story he tells is about death. He tells of his cancer diagnosis and how he has always lived each day as if it was his last.  He states that all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure all fall away in the face of death and that remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.  He wraps up his speech by saying that no one wants to die and yet we cannot escape it.  He reminds the graduates that their time is limited.  He closes his speech by quoting from one of the bibles of his generation.  “Stay Hungry, Stay foolish”.   Steve jobs died in 2011.