While I know most people are writing near-eulogies of Steve Jobs’ resignation, I felt the need to pile on the bandwagon. It’s the general consensus, including my own, that Steve’s role and influence will be exceptionally difficult to replace—mainly because his performance was driven by something greater than management roles and CEO duties; it was driven by who he was as a person. The latter half of Apple’s existence is an expression of who Steve is as a person—deeply ingrained values forged through fire—fire that the majority are not willing to endure. There are not many who get sacked from their life pinnacles and learn credible character and life lessons. The common response, rather, is embitterment toward institutions associated with the inconvenience. It is the blaming of others and the abdication of personal responsibility to discover and rectify the problems caused by oneself.
Without having read much commentary on his leadership ability, I surmise that Jobs’ trials helped him do away with debilitating remnants of self-defeating and interpersonally-handicapping views. And while it’s true that he was quite a developed thinker with uncanny foresight—before his first departure as CEO—I would go so far to say that, without his trials, Apple would still be viewed as the early-1990’s-odd-school-kid’s-fetish, if not viewed as fatally hobbled.
But clearly, that is not Apple’s fate, and as much as it was in his ability to choose, it is not Jobs’ fate. He learned the discipline and courage to creatively harness and express beauty, nuance, and technical knack to create products that many people undeniably love to use.
A prevailing question being asked now is how Apple changed the world. The response gamut underwhelms:
“Apple lets people download music from a store”
“The iPad revolutionizes browsing the internet”
“The MacBook Air is the slimmest netbook ever created”
If these are our common responses, we’ve missed the trees for the forest. As a large result of Job’s prior hardship, Apple gave us an incredible story—a modern day narrative of boldly pushing beyond known potential, shattering the standards of excellence, and conquering adversity.
And it is in this story that I had my God Sighting. The upside aspects to this narrative reflect, in part, how God has made us in His image. The potential He’s placed in us to accomplish great things, and the ability to undergo tremendous hardship and prevail, are not accidental. The desire to create, influence, and prevail are purposefully and wonderfully built into every person by God Himself, and are fully realized in believing the person and work of Jesus, His Son.
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