Steve Jobs: The Man Who Invented The 21st Century

Creativity and absolute genius are perhaps the two words most people think of when they hear the name Steve Jobs. Some say he is the inventor of the 21st century. And this is not just a metaphor. The way people work, communicate with each other, and engage with the world can mainly be traced back to this genius.

He found success early in his career. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why he always claimed that neither success nor money impressed him, nor motivated him to continue working. He simply wanted to fulfill his dreams. Dreams that were taken from him by old ideas and big stock meetings. However, Jobs never lost his visionary spirit. He never gave up.

Like many other very creative people, Steve Jobs lived his life between success and frustration, between a new project (which no one had thought of before) and the pursuit of a more meaningful life.

The early years

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California in 1955. Jobs’s biological parents were two students who gave him up for adoption at birth. Fortunately, little Steve was adopted by a family that both encouraged and supported him.

He grew up in California and then moved to Portland to continue his schooling. His time at Reed College was of great importance, as it was here that he developed the excellent qualities that stand in contrast to his indifferent personality.

His spiritual quest

In 1974, Steve Jobs went on a trip to India to find a meaningful purpose for his life. He spent some time in the ashram of Shri Neem Karoli Baba, in Kainchi. In fact, he also studied Buddhism at a late center in Los Altos in the 1970s. Jobs developed a lifelong friendship with his Zen master.

His biographers claim that Zen Buddhism changed both his life and the way he worked. I 2005 sa Jobs:

During the 70’s, Steve Jobs also became part of the counterculture in the United States, where he experimented with psychedelic drugs. Jobs said that this period of experimental nation was fundamental to him, as it put his own life in perspective and allowed him to visualize the future he wanted for himself.

Steve Jobs and the first computers

His first job related to computers was for the company Atari, where he met Steve Wozniak, a computer technician who would later become Apple’s co-founder with Steve Jobs. They were the perfect duo. Wozniak’s intelligence as an engineer met Steve’s talent for business, which they used to start the project which in the future would become an entire empire.

During the time the two worked for Atari, computers were an exclusivity only for large companies and often cost more than a house. Wozniak built the first personal computer when he wanted to have one at home. That was when it all started.

Two visionaries began selling the first personal computer from the garage to Steve Jobs’ parents. Although they eventually went their separate ways, they achieved two wonderful things together.

The Apple adventure

In the years that followed, Apple computers became a big part of the market. Apple’s shares went public, and things got a little complicated for Jobs.

In 1984, they designed the first Macintosh, an invention that revolutionized the computer industry. However , it did not sell as expected. Apple had become a large company, and the group management did not share Jobs’ vision or passion.

They believed that Steve’s demanding and perfectionist attitude undermined his creativity and visionary skills. Like all great people who have made history, Steve Jobs needed a team that worked with the same passion and shared his vision.

Finally, in 1985, Wozniak left Apple. A year later, the group management took away Steve Jobs’ management duties, and thus he had no control over his own company’s future. Therefore, Jobs also left Apple. It was at this time that he created Next, and began participating in Pixar projects of producing animated films on computers. His time at Pixar led him to great success and allowed him to develop a respect for his own work.

Back to Apple

Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, a period in which the company had been recaptured and fell behind Microsoft’s technology. Apple was almost bankrupt, but Steve came back and gave the company a new direction. He canceled all ongoing projects and regained control of his company. He was not quite done creating history.

Jobs then designed a new generation of innovative products, such as the iPod, iPad and of course, the iPhone. He established a baseline and a standard for portable digital music.

By 2008, iTunes had more than six million downloads and more than 200 million iPods had been sold. In 2010, Jobs introduced the iPad and the entire tablet system. In 2012, Apple became the most valuable public company in the world.

During an interview in 2007, Jobs said:

Steve Jobs for early death

A perfectionist, a visionary and a man full of passion. These qualities were both his angels and demons.

In 2003, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which led to a number of health problems. Nevertheless, he continued to work until 2009, the year the illness forced him to leave his job. He died in 2011, at the age of 56. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Palo Alto, California.

Steve Jobs came up with the slogan “Think different” when he got Apple back.