By Odeisel
I’m probably an anomaly in the entertainment field in that I could care less about Mac computers, iPods, iPads or iPhones. The cult of the Apple, where engaging commercials and a hip chic have people paying money to stand online for overpriced products “just to be like n***a you ain’t up on this.” But as someone trying to find their way in life and in business, it is impossible to not tip your hat to the life of Steve Jobs, Apple progenitor who passed away yesterday.
Jobs’ arc was almost Solomon Grundian with its definitive pit stops. Discarded(put up for adoption) at birth, rich by 25, CEO by 26, ousted (from Apple) at 30. Survived at NeXT. Restored by Pixar. Returned at Apple. A bit of poetic license but you get the idea. Steve Jobs had lived the good life, challenging himself as a man, getting punched in the mouth, and most important, getting back up. It’s everything we always point to when we envision the American ideal.
Jobs had an occasionally charming arrogance that, when delivered with his trademark conviction was annoying as hell to opposition and inspiring to those under his wing. Of course that arrogance got him put on his ass, but it also gave him the gumption to change the music industry. Angry at the singles driven mainstream market? Thank Jobs for effectively deading the album model with iTunes, taking advantage of a paradigm shift in the commercial consumption of music.
With all that is “i,” Steve Jobs conceptually changed consumerism; mass couturing both computers and music players with a methodology of “hipnotising” (convincing buyers that something reserved for cult-like following a decade ago was now the hippest gotta have it shit out…for double the price) the public. Some people have to have the latest Apple stuff and even as Apple became the most highly capitalized tech company (even surpassing the Microsoft juggernaut) they are still convinced they are the underdog. That mentality is a marvel of showmanship that involved intense leadership, supreme belief, an inordinate amout of arrogance and a subtle twinkle in his eye that softened all of that. Jobs was all that and more.
Jobs had a tight circle and other than his Apple-related appearances and public guest spots, he kept his life and personal issues off the table. He managed to get people to feel like they knew him, even though they knew nothing about him. In comparison Bill and Malinda Gates have given tens of billions of dollars to fight world hunger and poverty and have convinced others to share in their mission but don’t engender the fraction of pizazz and common connection that Jobs did.
When you aspire to be a leader of men, or even to simply get your own movement going, you look to these examples for elements you can co-opt and use in your own mission. I left something I was known for to start this site and lost a lot of the muscle behind the name. It takes a lot to build something from the floor and the capital spent in sleep, time, money and arguments with loved ones over allocating attention is more than you could ever imagine. Those people who used to seek you out now give you their ass to kiss because they don’t think you have as much force behind you. They couldn’t be more wrong.
The example of Steve Jobs is evidence that conviction, relentless drive and a genuine love for what you do can go a long way towards moving your mountain. You should buy an Apple product because he asserted it. “Why wouldn’t you? I’m me and I believe it!” And that kind of belief is infectious. He got off the mat and returned in one of the greatest second acts of American history to get his baby off the mat. Let that be his epitaph. R.I.P. Still ain’t buying a Mac but if any of you readers got the hookup, send one for Steve
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