The grestest thing he did

Much has been said about Steve Jobs, who just passed away last week.

The following extracts of a speech made by him in Stamford was crazily quoted everywhere.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's 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.

I am not too impressed.

Well, the above quote, while valuable to some, is not practical for most people. 90% of the world population, including me, is ordinary folks doing ordinary, mundane things. We do not really have the luxury to follow our inner voice to do whatever we desire.  A functional society requires disciplined people who stick to their boring jobs, playing their tiny parts to keep this world moving. If you clean toilets or deliver letters,  you better do exactly just that. You don’t fucking follow your heart and pick up a pen and write books, or build the next operating system.  The world would be in an unthinkable position if everyone follows their hearts.

The top 10% talented an independent people, however, will certainly take on unique routes one way or another and they do not need much reminder from Steve Jobs.

To say that Steve Jobs was an idealist or someone who never compromised would be a mistake. To me, the most remarkable thing he did was not about shipping iPhone or iPad.  The most remarkable thing he did was simply this : when he went back to Apple in 1997, he did not get all cocky to do whatever he wanted to do. He flew to Seattle to suck the ball of Bill Gates, and painfully negotiated for a settlement with Microsoft, and also got a cool 150 Million investment, a lifeline very much needed that kept Apple going. He accepted IE as the default browser on Mac, however he resented it. He very skillfully laid out a pragmatic principle for his Mac crowds: For Apple to Win, we do not need Microsoft to lose.

He was simply a very good CEO who knew his position and played his cards right.