Brendan McManus ’12

Walk into just about any school in the nation, and you won’t have to look far to see just how far-reaching Steve Jobs’s influence was. In the library, students can be found listening to iPods while doing work. Instructors can be found answering emails and planning out lessons on their iPads in the teachers’ lounge. In classrooms, MacBooks are the clear choice of students taking notes.

Steven Paul Jobs, the former CEO of Apple Inc., changed the way the world sees technology. In 1976, Jobs, Steve Woziak, and Ronald Wayne (who left the company shortly after it’s inception), founded Apple Computer Company. Apple quickly grew, but in 1985, due to power struggles between Jobs and CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigned from Apple.

During Jobs’s hiatus from Apple, the company began to deteriorate, as the level of innovation decreased immensely. In 1996, Jobs returned to Apple as a part-time consultant to the CEO. In 2000, he became the full-time CEO of Apple.

Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal

In the decade following his reinstatement as CEO, Jobs released an almost unbroken line of successful products. The incredibly successful iPod was released and the iTunes Store was launched, both of which continue to be market leaders in their respective industries. The MacBook has consistently been the the top ranked laptop amongst consumers for its versatility and attention to design. The iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone industry, as it was lightyears ahead of any of its competitors, and the iPad, a new type of tablet computing device, captured 70 percent of the global market share despite extremely lucrative competition.

Steve Jobs epitomized the perfect innovator as he never wished to dwell on the past. On the NBC Nightly News in 2006, he stated, “I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next”. He was a visionary and a pioneer unlike any other. Our chapel theme this year is a Ghandi quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Jobs truly lived up to this, as he believed that he could make a difference. In his Stanford commencement address in 2005, he stated, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.…Don’t let the noise of others’ 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”.

As students at Episcopal and citizens of the world, should try to be like Steve. We should attempt to follow our goals and dreams, no matter what people tell us what we can or cannot do.  We should keep moving forward with our lives, and never dwell too long on what we have already accomplished. Most importantly, however, we should strive to be innovators as Steve was, always trying to change the world even if everyone around us tell us that we are crazy for trying. “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do” (Apple “Think Different” Ad Campaign).