The beginning of the video of yesterday’s event lingered on an empty reserved seat in the front row. I thought then, “oh. shit.” I knew it was intentional. I knew it was a sign. A missing man formation had been flown. Steve’s time was limited.
There are two people who greatly influenced the path my life took: Steve Jobs and my father. Both died this year of pancreatic cancer.
In the 90s, I had just finished a failed attempt through architecture school. The day I walked out of Wentworth, the building industry collapsed. I would never work in the field I spent five years learning. Around six years earlier my Dad had bought me a Macintosh. As the desktop publishing industry was growing out of nothing, I was there in the early days. I helped steer two print shops into the digital age. One of them with my dad. Had Jobs not created that industry, I would have likely enlisted in the Marines.
When I looked back on the last months of Dad’s life, I remembered there was a point where he could no longer do the things he loved to do: cook and photography. When he died in February, the new camera he had bought in December had less than ten photos on it.
In August, when Steve sent out his note saying he was no longer able to function as CEO, I thought that was one of his turning points. He wasn’t able to do what he loved: Run Apple. I knew then he didn’t long have to live. Writing that letter must have been one of the hardest things he had to do. Today is a hard day. I can’t help but think of my Dad and the influence they had on my life. Thank you, both of you, I wouldn’t not the man I am today without either of you.
I love this bit from his Stanford commencement address:
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.
Go and live your own life.
