Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955. Today would have been his 68th birthday, had the co-founder of Apple Inc. had not succumbed to complications from pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011.
That day, the world lost a visionary genius, a brilliant showman, a focused perfectionist, and a charismatic disruptor all rolled into one.
We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it. – Steve Jobs
People with the most to teach live like they have the most to learn — and Steve loved learning. He was the most curious person I’ve ever met, which made him the best teacher I’ve ever known. Happy birthday, my friend. pic.twitter.com/J45swZfZQ8
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 24, 2023
MacDailyNews Take: Every day, we miss you, Steve! Gone far too soon. Image how far along we’d be if Steve were still with us today.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. — Steve Jobs
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The greatest CEO there ever was, wish he was still here with us. Happy Birthday, and Rest In Peace Steve
He embody me. I would almost were inspired by him. We almost had the same thinking. Even though he was older than me, 2 months 16 days, I felt close to him. He will always be my favorite CEO and Hero. Remembering always you and have Very Happy Birthday and R I P always.
Happy Birthday SJ, a brilliant man. He brought the power to be your best to others.
As time passes Steve Jobs’ unique insight and ideas continue to increase in relevance.
It’s an honour to share Steve’s birthday (international dateline adjusted!)
Tim Cook, Steve’s worst mistake.
Apple without Steve is running on his Magic, Apple needs new blood with vision.
Steve Jobs became a great CEO. He did not start out that way. The Steve Jobs of the late 70s and early 80s would never have made Apple great. It was his failures (NeXT, etc.) and successes (Pixar, etc.) after his leaving Apple in the 80s and before his return in the 90s that made Steve Jobs the person that led the saving of Apple in the 90s and led it into being the powerhouse of the 2000s.
Steve had the ability to learn how to be a great CEO. Some lessons were painful, but they made him great long, long before the end.
For those who think Tim Cook was (is?) Steve Jobs’ greatest mistake, you’re wrong. That was Sculley. Steve later came to realize that the worst thing you can do to a great company is put a marketing person in charge.
While most people don’t realize it, Steve Jobs greatest talent was the ability to recognize the future once something was shown to him. Unfortunately, early on in the 80s and early 90s when he recognized something that would be the future he often leapt too far (Postscript as the screen interface, optical drives, the combination of smart computers and really dumb printers, UNIX based operating systems for PCs, etc.). All of those and more eventually became standards, even though Steve Jobs pushed them a decade before the world was ready for them. Yes, Steve Jobs made mistakes (the hockey puck mouse!), but as a general rule Steve Jobs could recognize the future better than anyone else, before or since.
Plus when Steve Jobs came back to Apple he knew two things and vehemently pushed them. 1) You can’t be all things to all people. Thus he radically cut Apple’s product lines and the product lines that were left were more focused too. 2) You have to build the business and make the business great, i.e., you can’t cater to Wall Street; you can’t bend to the whims of the stockholders. Thus he focused on making Apple great first. This later made the stockholders (and indirectly Wall Street) happy.
Unfortunately, Apple has moved away from both of those in the last several years. Apple still does not have a marketing person in charge, so there just might be a little hope left for Apple to become even greater than it is.