June 15, 2005

A College Dropout Talks to College Grads

This post is a little off topic, but bear with me.

I am becoming a real fan of Apple Computers--I use iTunes, have an iMac at home (one of the old, multi-colored units), and drool every time I see an iPod ad. Up until today, however, I did not know that much about Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Apple Matters just published the text of a graduation speech given by Mr. Jobs to the students at Sanford University. What he says--though colored by the fact that he is most likely unsaved--generally makes a whole lot of sense.

Here is an excerpt:

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories in the Bible, found in I Samuel 30:1-6

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Steve Jobs and David both found themselves in desperate (and completely unexpected) situations, both of them involving disloyal friends and circumstances beyond their control. Their individual responses to those situations are strikingly similar.

Steve Jobs:

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

David:

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

Now I understand that David's response was ultimately much better, because he put his trust in the Eternal God, not some internal voice (in another part of the speech, Jobs encourages students to "trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever"--you can't win 'em all). The point is, NEITHER ONE OF THEM GAVE UP!. There was no self pity, no bitterness towards the faithless friends, just a dogged determination to keep going.

And the results?

Steve Jobs:

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. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

And David:

And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all. And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

Many times God has led me through valleys from which there seemed no escape. Most recently, there have been times in our journey to get to Brazil when I felt like giving up, packing it in, and looking for work in the food service industry. The past couple of weeks have been such weeks for me, for a number of reasons. Yet, God always brings to mind the story of David, and how he encouraged himself in the Lord, and I am motivated to persevere.

Whether it is starting a computer company, going on deputation, or kicking some Amalekite tail, perseverance is a necessary character trait.

I would encourage you to read the rest of Mr. Jobs address, bearing in mind that it was given by an unsaved man on the campus of a secular college. It may just make watching Toy Story with your kids a lot more meaningful.

Even more important, I urge you to read the account of David and the Amalekites, and encourage yourselves in the Lord.

Posted by Andrew on June 15, 2005 4:37 PM.