Steve Jobs: "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" Commencement at Stanford University (2005)
Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself -- at the university's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.
SOURCE: Stanford (2008), posted on YouTube, Duration: 15:04 mins, URL: https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc
In 2005, about a year after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs stood before the graduating class of Stanford University to tell three stories of his life about connecting the dots, love and loss and death. Jobs's address is extremely moving and powerful, as it instills confidence in the form of reality paired with personal reflection.
He concludes his speech with a quote that he once saw and remembered forever, which read, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." Steve Jobs was a visionary, creative genius and revolutionary innovator who has transformed the world and continues to inspire individuals from beyond the pearly gates.
Speech Breakdown: Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Address
In today's Speech Breakdown, we're looking at Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Address. In this reaction video, you'll see professional speaker and founder of The Speaker Lab, Grant Baldwin, break down the talk and show you what worked, what didn't and give you practical public speaking tips so you can nail your next presentation.
SOURCE: The Speaker Lab (2019), posted on YouTube, Duration: 23: 43 mins, URL: https://youtu.be/HXuZMA6kVZ4
Summary: Job's 3 Key Points
His 3 key lessons:
1) You can only connect the dots looking backwards Steve dropped out of college, unsure of what he was going to do. He took a calligraphy course at Reed college as it was simply something he was interested in. At the time he never thought it would be useful, but ended up helping him design fonts and typefaces into the wildly popular Macintosh. The lesson is that you have to have faith in what you are doing. If there is something you are drawn to and deeply interested in, just trust that it will be useful in the future, even if not now. It will all make sense once you look back on your life and see how you got where you are, but you can't guess how it's going to turn out. Most people give up on things when they don't see where it will take them right away. Have more faith and do what you love.
2) Love and Loss Steve built up apple with Wozniak into a billion dollar business because it was something he loved. Then when he was 30, he was fired. While devastated, this freed him up to create Pixar and NeXt. He was sure this would not have happened if he wasn't fired. The key was that he still loved what he did so he was able to start back up from scratch and produce something even better than before. Find what you love - keep looking and don't settle. When you find what you love you'll be able to do your greatest work, and it will get better and better.
3) Death "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." Steve explains how he had pancreatic cancer, expecting to die. Luckily (at the time) it turned out the cancerous tumour was a rare form that was treatable by surgery. He always used the idea of death as a motivator to push through difficulties and ignore other's opinions, but after having experienced it first hand he is much more confident in the concept. You're going to die anyways, so have the courage to follow your heart and intuition - fear of embarassment and what others think of you is hardly important.
He signs off with the famous "Stay hungry, Stay foolish"
Transcript: Steve Jobs "Stay hungry. Stay Foolish."
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| Biography of Speaker | Biography: Steve Jobs | Close Reading: Stanford Speech |