It is known as the "commencement speech" season in the US and refers to the period when celebrities give speeches to motivate graduate students. Despite their words, not all speeches are the same. Some are immediately forgotten, others fill newspaper headlines. But few can achieve the status that Steve Jobs's speech at Stanford University in 2005 has achieved , which is the most successful of its kind.
An icon of business and culture, Apple co-founder was a public figure who remained enigmatic; just as attractive as Apple’s new products. Jobs's distinctive view, using an aesthetic eye for his creations, was undoubtedly the gateway to Apple's success: it was beautifully made technology. But just as Apple erased the way products were created, so Jobs was an interesting but mysterious figure.
When he spoke, people listened to him and rarely did Jobs tell details as in the case of graduates in California.
Jobs's speech focused on three stories from his life: one, in which he tells an anecdote about dropping out of college; another, about the lessons he learned when he was fired from Apple in 1985; and finally, his reflections on death.
If the first two stories related to the importance of believing in oneself, the third was deeper. In 2005, Jobs was facing his first period of cancer after a successful operation.
"This was the closest period I have faced to death and I hope it will be the closest for a few more decades."
Describing death was for him "probably the single best invention of his life."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know in order to avoid the trap of thinking I have something to lose," he told the graduates.
"Your time is limited, so do not waste it living someone else's life ... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you really want to become."
Unfortunately, Jobs never had the other decades after he died of cancer in 2011 when he was 56 years old. "His death strengthened the speech in everyone's mind," says Carmine Gallo, a trainer and communications author.
Source: CNN
