Steve Jobs Gives Lessons on Leaving a Legacy
Last week, on October 5, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple computers, PIXAR, and so much more, a man who has been compared to a modern day Thomas Edison, died at the age of 56. While the message is somber, the photographs and u-tube images that appeared in the past week or so since his passing, show a different story. My favorite is one of him holding what appears to be a thin MacBook with his index fingers alone and gazing straight ahead to the camera with the proud and happy look of a man who knows he holds something special and that he helped bring it to life.
On seeing that image, my thought is that Jobs mastered that rare combination of a life filled with purpose and extraordinary business success with a satisfying and joyful personal life, not without many bumps along the way, however. His legacy, while not insubstantial financially, was much more than gadgets or companies. He knew what he wanted, planned how to get there even if it took time, trusted his instincts, and then forged ahead without pushing others aside. This kind of legacy is something that anyone can do, with or without the financial backing.
Legacy comes not only to the wealthy but to everyone. Legacy is that small piece of us that remains here after we have gone. It could be a way of life, ideas to live by or habits and attitudes. It could be a skill, a passion, a belief. It could be positive or negative so someone could leave a legacy of anger and contention or of cheerfulness and reflection. To know what our legacy will be is, generally speaking, to know who we are now. One Merriam Webster definition of legacy is “a gift by will especially of money or personal property.” But another is “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.” The second definition fits what I am talking about.
Jobs discussed his beliefs in his commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University in June, 2005, portions of which have been quoted frequently over the past week. He began by saying he had three stories to tell. The first was about “connecting the dots” and he launched into the story of how he had used his experiences, both difficult and positive, to develop what came later. If finances had not forced him to drop out of school when he did, he would not have taken calligraphy and would not later have developed the fonts he did. Then he made this comment.
“ …You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life…”
The second story was about love and loss. Here he described his building of Apple, the crushing defeat when the board of directors of his mature company sided against him and his rediscovery of his talents since he still loved to do what he loved in the beginning.
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
He started PIXAR and NeXT. NeXT was acquired by Apple and Jobs was back in the driver’s seat again along with having discovered his wife who stayed with him to the end.
The final story was about death.
“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 others’ 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.”
He concluded with words from the Whole Earth Catalog, a publication of the 1960’s. “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”…”I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you…”
For more, listen to “50+ Planning Ahead” a weekly radio program on WCHE 1520 on every Wednesday from 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm with Janet Colliton, Colliton Law Assocs., PC, and Phil McFadden of Home Instead Senior Care.
About the Author Janet Colliton
Esquire, Colliton Law Associates, P.C. Janet Colliton has practiced law for over 38 years, 37 of them in Chester County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her practice, Colliton Law Associates, PC, is limited to elder law, Medicaid, including advice, applications and appeals, and other benefits planning including Veterans benefits, life care and special needs planning, guardianships, retirement, and estate planning and administration.