I’m a total business geek.
I love to read and talk about business trends, marketing, finance and accounting. That might be somewhat obvious to you accountants out there due to the name of this blog (debit and credit being accounting terms). I’m also a total tech geek. Gadgets, technology and business — you combine these things into one and it really makes for some interesting conversation. Hence why I’ve been a fan of Steve Jobs, and consequently Apple, for the last decade.
As most of you likely heard by now, on Wednesday Steve Jobs passed away. He was 56 years old.
For some wonderful tributes to Steve Jobs read here, here and here. Mine is below.
There are a few people in this world who are an inspiration to me. Steve Jobs was one of those people. The passion he had for Apple and technology was unequaled and his business acumen rarely seen. The man was a genius when it came to business.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 – after being away from the company he founded for 12 years – the company was in a difficult financial situation and very likely near bankruptcy. He facilitated what may have been the greatest business turnaround ever. In fact, recently Apple became the largest company in the world when based strictly on market capitalization. From near-bankruptcy to the largest company in the world in just over a decade. That’s an amazing accomplishment.
The business geek in me looked up to Steve Jobs for this remarkable transformation that Apple has seen since 1997 and the tech geek has looked up to him for the plethora of amazing products he’s had a hand in creating. The iPod, iPhone, iPad and even Apple computers such as the MacBook Air are all amazing technology products. They just work, and they do it while looking beautiful.
Steve Jobs will certainly go down in history as one of the great minds of our time. He was a great man because he understood that a great leader needs a great team. Johnny Ive, Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Scott Forstall, even Steve Wozniak. These men are also amazing at what they do and I’m sure were all hand-picked by Steve Jobs at one point to help him build arguably the greatest technology company ever.
Steve Jobs always surrounded himself with greatness. That’s what made him great. May he rest in peace.
2 responses to “A tribute to Steve Jobs”
I believe that Steve Jobs left a road map for his company. I do not know of anyone who can fill his shoes, however I feel that someone will try. I think that Steve left the next 5 years of ideas on Apples plate. I hope they can continue to revolutionize personal technology. I think that Apple’s next project will be the television.
Thanks for the comment Thomas, I appreciate it.
I did read that he left a 4-5 year road-map as well. That’s not surprising at all. He was a meticulous planner it seems. I have heard whispers of an Apple branded television, I just find it hard to believe because TVs are generally so low margin and I can’t imagine what they could do to truly revolutionize the boob tube.
Of course, I’m no Steve Jobs either 🙂