Sanders Says - A Love Letter To Steve Jobs

August 25, 2011

A Love Letter To Steve Jobs

Today marks a new era in Apple-Lore, the post Jobsian one.

And Steve, I want you to know how much I admire and appreciate what you've done for all of us. Throughout your career, you've innovated and battled for what you believe in. You've improved my tech life, inspired me to obsessively focus on the customer experience and gainfully employed hundreds of thousands of people through the ecosystem of products your work has enabled (including my son, Anthony). Here are my favorite contributions from you:

1- The Original Rebel. You flew a pirate flag over a cubicle back in the day, to symbolize your resolution to change the world and defeat the empire.

2 - You adopted a "Less Stuff and Less Steps" approach to computing hardware, starting with the iMac and through the iPad. Before you, new gear was daunting, time consuming and stressful. It takes 15 seconds for my Mac Book Air to launch - that will save me a few years over my old Dell-From-Hell machines.

3 - You launched the iPod at the bottom of the market in 2001, teaching future leaders to seize blue ocean opportunities as well as to understand the primacy of platform (eg., iTunes).

4 - You inspired us with a host of great sayings. Some of my faves include: Real artists ship! I want to put a ding in the universe. Find what you love. Stay hungry, stay foolish. The only thing wrong with Microsoft is that they have no taste - I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way. We make the buttons on the screen look so good you want to lick them. Innovation distintinguishes a leader from a follower. I'm as proud of what we don't do as what we do ... Why join the navy when you can be a pirate?

You've made a difference Steve, as Chairman, please take a break (driver 8) and know that there are millions of people like me that are deeply appreciative of your point of view. I wish you health and happiness and hope in some small way I can pay your contributions forward.

See his commencement talk at Stanford in 2005

Posted at 9:08 AM in Business Effectiveness | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)