Steve Jobs’ Greatest Success

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By Ravi Singh

In the coming days and weeks we are going to hear about the impact that Steve Jobs made upon our world. We’ll hear how simple and fashionable he made technology. We’ll hear about iTunes and how the iPod changed the way we consume and listen to music. Those in communications related professions will without a doubt have much to say about how brilliant a communicator Jobs was and the fact that Apple products are quite possibly the most successfully branded and marketed in history.

Being a relative novice in the field, I’ll leave it to those who are more expert to tell break down the science that Jobs and Apple seemed to have devised with regard to branding. I, however, would like to emphasize something else about Steve Jobs that not only communicators but everyone ought to learn from him. It’s something that will most likely be repeated elsewhere but it merits that repetition.

What Steve Jobs taught us was something very simple but often forgotten. Do what you love. It sounds rather clichéd and contrived, but it’s impossible to deny that the driving force of success is passion. Not a passion for fame or money, but a genuine love for what you do, whether it brings modest or major success or none at all.

In Steve Jobs there was such a passion for technology and the brand that he built. Each time he stood on stage, dressed simply and casually, the enthusiasm that he had for his work was not only vivid and undeniable but also contagious. Steve Jobs could not have done anything with his life other than what he did. Steve Jobs the accountant or lawyer or real estate agent would make no sense.

This, I feel, was his greatest success rather than the fame or fortune that he would accumulate. This philosophy is especially clear in his now famous 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, where he proclaimed, “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.”

Do what you love. The rest will work itself out. I am not by any means saying that it is easy to find this passion, but take it as a starting point and know that what you’re seeking is that sense that you are doing something that you want to be doing more than anything else. Do something that you would want to do even if it may not bring you the most lucrative success or garner the praise of others.

Steve Jobs taught us a lot as a communicator, a businessman, and a technology maverick, but as a human being he taught us just as much. As the great man once said, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Stay passionate. Stay inspired.

Ravi Singh has recently completed his master’s degree in political studies at Queen’s University with hopes of entering the communications profession. He has worked as a technical writer for a software startup and a copywriter for a small public relations firm in Toronto, where he developed and managed social media strategies and profiles and helped with online ad campaigns.

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