There are two pictures that are circulating of Steve Jobs that still really affect me. The first is of him and his wife after his final Keynote address, and the second is a picture that was released of him about a month before he passed away. He was barely able to stand. It was shocking.
There’s been a lot of talk about Jobs over the last 2 weeks. He has swiftly been elevated to a heroic status, and in many ways I suppose it is well deserved. Ultimately, Jobs was a human being, but there are a few things he did not do that would have been so completely human. So completely understandable. And yet, he refrained.
Steve Jobs could have told the world a few years ago about the depth and severity of his illness. He could have said, “Hey, I’m on borrowed time here.”
Steve Jobs could have used his illness to sell more products. He could have said that a certain percentage of all sales would go towards pancreatic cancer research and support organizations.
Steve Jobs could have marched his family out and said, “Hey, I’m going to have to leave these beloved people a lot sooner than I would like. Buy my company’s products so I can rest assured they will remain in good stead financially.”
All of these things would have been understandable. They would have been forgivable, certainly. Maybe barely noticed had he walked that path, that ever so human path, of wanting sympathy and attention.
Instead, Steve Jobs got angry when people wanted him to discuss his health. He kept it as low-key as possible. He diverted the focus away from him and away from his situation and reflected everything outward, all towards his company, his product, and his customers.
As you contemplate your online content and what you are putting out there, consider this very unexpected path that Steve Jobs traveled. Consider how he recoiled from attention-getting tactics and merely worked on building his legacy.
Which path do you want to travel?
Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Mattox
Good post Margie. It should not be the unexpected path. “It” whatever it is or turns out to be for each of us, is never really about us. Is it?
martinamcgowan
@Doc_1martinamcgowan Well said, as always.Thank you!
While I get what you’re saying, who’s to say that he didn’t do all of those things without having to use his illness to ask the world to buy his product?
There’s a branding implication in asking people to buy products to do something for an individual. He knows his stuff’s good enough and that the legacy he left on his company would secure those types of things.
I know if I were in his position, I wouldn’t want to talk about my illness because I’ve got better, more important things to do than sound like I’m whining about my illness. I know a few really amazing men who unload huge percentages of what they make on organizations without other people knowing it. That’s a legacy.
I can’t say what Steve Jobs did or didn’t do, but I can say that there are many, many people who do acts of greatness that will never be known for those acts of greatness…and that’s what makes a great man (or woman).
@RealChaseAdams Hi Chase, as I said over on Facebook, and I said above to @dashingly I think my writing just wasn’t clear enough in that part. Sorry for that! Thanks for commenting 🙂
When musicians and actors use their fame to push an agenda I immediately want them to evaporate. There’s something about the way Steve Jobs went about this that I deeply respect.
I guess people who have the same illness that he did might not feel the same way.
@dashingly I think I didn’t word this the right way because you and Chase thought I was criticizing Jobs. What I meant was that he could have used his illness to guilt people into buying more products. “Hey, look, I’m sick, you should buy from me.” But he didn’t. He didn’t even want people to know how sick he really was. That is what I was trying to get at. Sorry I was unclear there.
@margieclayman No no, I didn’t think you were criticizing him… But I guess I DID think that you assumed people would think he should’ve used his illness.
He was heroic (in the J Campbell way), in that his great joy and the world’s great desire met so well. To the best of my knowledge he tried to be the “everyman” without creating a cult (many have speculated on this). I think it’s to his credit that he, to an extent, kept his private life private.
He wasn’t in the business of saving souls; he was in the business of improving life through technology. The world would have him be the king, president, or a demigod; the way to eschew this is to keep an eye on a transcendent purpose (“I want to put a ding in the universe”).
In short, well said, margie : the criticism of Job’s work habits may be autobiographical (that is, it says more about those who took issue with his greatness….)
@Mark_Robertson Thanks, Mark. Beautiful comment as always. Interesting note regarding Joseph Campbell. I think you are right there.
And yes, I agree. With all of the publicity surrounding him and Apple, the fact that Steve Jobs was able to keep his private life private is pretty darned amazing.
@Mark_Robertson I’d say he was in the business of improving life through technology, as long as you played by his rules in his ecosystem. I never bought into the Apple closed ecosystem, as freedom is of great value to me.