7 November 2009
The Power of If (Part 5)
The next four lines of Rudyard Kipling’s (RK’s) poem, ‘If’, are my personal favorites…
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
Though I had heard the twin admonitions; believe in yourself and never quit, many many times before, RK’s poetic delivery left a deep and indelible impression.
History parades before us a variety of champions of the soul. Thomas Jefferson said, “The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies,” and Winston Churchill exclaimed, “Never, never, never give up.” Even the tongue-tying Dr. of bedtimes stories, Suess, encourages us, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
This past week, Fortune Magazine named Steve Jobs, CEO of the decade, in the article, A Decade of Steve. And rightly so… Steve Jobs (SJ) is truly the personification of the killer one-two punch; personal conviction and tenacity. So much so, I almost expected to see SJ’s picture in the dictionary when I looked up chutzpah. Fortune’s editor at large, Adam Lashinsky, opens his piece on Mr. Jobs with, “How’s this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.”
One could easily argue that being “booted from his company” compares well with hearing “the truth you’ve spoken twisted,” and rebuilding Apple into “the most valuable company in Silicon Valley,” epitomizes “build ‘em up with worn-out tools.” Jobs is quoted as saying, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Borrowing from Apple’s famous slogan, I propose we allow ourselves and others to “think different,” and may we all find the courage to get up each time we fall. ~Russ
Sixteen lines down and sixteen to go.
2009-11-07 :: Russ Leseberg
8 November 2009 @ 9:45 am
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9 November 2009 @ 4:55 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
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10 December 2009 @ 11:03 am
I agree that Jobs is a remarkable man and has accomplished amazing things but there’s a dark side that isn’t mentioned much.
Example’s: Jobs has an enormous ego and much is said about the ‘realty distortion field’ that surrounds him. How much does it say about his character that he is best friends with l
Larry Elison of Oracle who’s stated business motto is that ‘It’s not enough that I win but everyone else has to lose’. How many careers have been destroyed or seriously damaged because some poor person couldn’t justify his job in 2 minute in one his tyrades? Is ruthlessness in business succes by ruthlessness really a virtue? And what about the the fact that as classy, stable and pretty Apple’s products are, they are so proprietary that is infuriating to be locked into them if anything goes wrong. The discontent of the Apple developers community is lendendary in that Apple is very unresponsive to their needs. I write this on an iPhone, which I love, but it took THREE iterations before Apple implemented the basic function of cut-and-paste without any justifaction for the delay.
As I contemplate whether I want to invest effort in developing software for the iPhone I have to contemplate, along with every other developer whether it will survive the black box of Apple’s approval process.
Jobs fits the ticket of the 20th century’s business ideal but I’m reminded a book I read about the man who singlehandedly invented the copymachine and through 20 years of hard work and failure after failure worked until he eventually saw it develop into a multimillion dollar business. To the end of his life, regardless of his immense wealth, he lived in a small, modest house, only adding a small addition. Once retired, he spent the rest of his life personally answering letters from and donating money to people who needed it. (Copies in Seconds)
There are many, many others like.him who don’t make the headlines and are not even interested in doing so.
How do you really measure succes?
16 February 2010 @ 3:01 am
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