We knew it was coming. And yet, in the same way we all mentally pretend that we will be spared from our inevitable passing, it was still a shock, as the news filtered in via that old and resilient of media, the radio and the BBC World Service. I was driving my son to school, absent-mindedly took a wrong turning, and the nine year-old tapped me on the shoulder with that wise guy attitude that you only have when you are nine. Or when you are Steve Jobs.
Jobs changed our relationship with technology. He took it out of the domain of the geeks and specialists and made it an indispensable tool for our lives. Jobs will forever be associated with an ‘era’ and social change. From the way we interact with others via screens, to the way we readily use visuals, theatre and story-telling when we have to stand up and present to others – and in a short time, find a way of connecting, sharing and inspiring.
Just in case you are one of a handful of people who has never seen the Jobs Stanford address in 2005 – watch the clip below. And perhaps, the other seminal clip, when Jobs came back to reclaim the company he had built and this round up from the BBC Click team.
Jobs will will continue to inspire generations of misfits, trouble-makers, creatives, frustrated blue-collar workers, parents and dreamers.
“that wise guy attitude that you only have when you are nine. Or when you are Steve Jobs.”
We should be able to keep that attitude. Or at least to teach our sons to keep it through their lives.