Steve Jobs: The Visionary Behind the Revolution

Before Steve Jobs died, he said, “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!

Why did he say that? It remains a mystery for us to know it. Did he say it because he had achieved something extraordinary? Did he say it because he was proud of him for the work he had done? Did he say it because his loved ones were with him when he died? Or did he say it because he saw, felt, or imagined something special dying? Unfortunately, we don’t know.

But we all know that Steve Jobs was one of the greatest thinkers, founders, and marketers of our time. He changed the world in so many ways. If you don’t know, he was the person behind the personal computer revolution, NeXT, Pixar, iPhone, iPod, iPad, and so many other great technologies.

Now this begs the question: was Steve Jobs born talented?

I believe he wasn’t. But to understand how he achieved monumental success and how he truly changed the world. we need to go through his life’s journey and find out what made him special. 

Let’s get into it.

1. Childhood and Early Days

Steven Paul Jobs better known as Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco California. His biological mother Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah “John” Jandali were graduate students at the University of Wisconsin. But due to the circumstances and societal pressure, they made the difficult decision to give Steve up for adoption shortly after his birth.

After adoption, Clara and Paul Jobs became Steve’s parents. They both were a working-class couple who had struggled with infertility. When searching for adaptation, Steve’s biological mother said “I have an unexpected baby boy, do you want him?” to which Clara and Paul Jobs responded, “Of course.”

Clara and Paul raised Steve in Mountain View, California, where he grew up alongside his adoptive sister, Patty. Paul was a mechanic, so he often took Steve with him, where Steve would get his hands dirty with machines and technologies he would access in the workspace.

This was the first impression Steve had about technology, and he really started taking an interest and passion in this field because he loved it. Though Steve was a smart kid often known for his creativity, he found that school and college weren’t made for him.

Steve would spend most of his time playing and tinkering with electronic devices like radio and telephone. He would take them apart just to see how they worked, and this led him to develop a deep interest in technology.

2. Adult Life and Education

At this point, Steve's test was different than other kids. He didn’t find school & college interesting. He was more interested in technology and machines.

After graduating from high school in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. However, he quickly found out that the traditional education system was broken and wouldn’t help him. 

So after just the first semester, he dropped out and only continued to attend classes that he was interested in like Calligraphy and design, for example.

During this time at Reed College, Jobs experienced a profound spiritual awakening that would shape his worldview. He developed an interest in Eastern Philosophy and Zen Buddhism, which emphasize simplicity and mindfulness — principles that would later influence Apple’s design.

So in 1974, Steve Jobs traveled to India with his friend. 

The journey exposed him to new cultures and philosophies that changed his worldview. When he returned to the United States from India after 7 months, he had shaved his head, started wearing Indian traditional clothes, and understood the importance of simplicity that he had seen about how Indians find meaning in simple things. 

After coming back to the United States from India, he started pursuing his passion and interest in technology, said differently he was an entrepreneur!

3. The Birth of Apple Computer

In 1976, one of his friends Steve Wozniak, whom Jobs met in his school, was working on a personal computer project called Apple I. As Jobs knew about it, they both started working together at Steve Jobs’s garage.

Apple I quickly gained recognition in the market for its simple design and easy user-friendly interface. In 1977, they came up with the Apple II, which was the most mass-produced microcomputer. This early success of Apple II allowed Steve Jobs to secure funding from investors and expand the company rapidly.

In 1980, Apple went public with an initial public offering (IPO) that made many employees millionaires overnight. However, this rapid growth and expansion brought struggle in the company too.

4. The Apple Success SAGA

As Apple grew in size, tensions began to mount between Jobs and board members of Apple. In 1985, Apple’s board of directors showed concern about Job’s company management style, which led Steve Jobs to leave Apple, as a result, Job quit Apple the following year.

This was a hard time for Steve. After quitting Apple, Jobs didn’t know what he should do for several months. But then his new adventures journey began with a company called NeXT, a company that focused on creating high-end workstations for universities and businesses. 

During this time, Jobs also acquired Pixar Animation Studio from Lucafilms’ computer graphic division in 1986 for $10 million. Under his leadership as CEO, he turned the software company into an Animation powerhouse for producing high-quality toy animations.

Later, Apple acquired NeXT for $429 million — a move that brought Jobs back to Apple. However, Apple had a challenge thriving in the market, which Jobs needed to fix to make Apple successful. Since Apple was directly competing with Microsoft Windows-based PCs, Apple was struggling financially. 

But he was Jobs, and he knew how to get his jobs done lol!

He strictly followed and focused on the quality of Apple’s products, and encouraged employees to make the best possible products for its users and customers.

From here, the next 10 years were one of the most innovative periods for Apple. They launched the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad — making Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world. Apple not only outcompeted Microsoft, but it also stood out as completely a different brand.

Since then Apple has been known for its innovative products and design.

5. Health Issues and Death

In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. 

In mid-2004, he informed his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. According to biographer Walter Isaacson “For nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer — a decision he later regretted as his health declined” Instead he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal, remedies, and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. 

In 2009, Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) offered a portion of his liver to Jobs. But Jobs refused and yelled “I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never do that.” Soon Jobs underwent a liver transplant, which Job’s prognosis was described as “Excellent.”

Despite the transplant, it was time for Jobs’ resignation. On January 17, 2011, Apple announced that he had been granted another leave of absence. Apple announced that Tim Cook would run day-to-day operations and Jobs would only make the major decisions.

Soon on August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation as Apple’s CEO, writing to the board, “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first person to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.” However, Jobs continued to work for Apple until the day before his death six weeks later.

Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California around 3 p.m. (PDT) on October 5, 2011, with his wife, children, and his sister. 

His sister Mona Simpson described that, before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, and then his life’s partner Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them, Steve Jobs’s final words were: “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.” He then lost consciousness and died several hours later. RIP Steve Jobs.

6. The Legacy

Steve Jobs’ contribution to humanity is remarkable.

Because of his innovative ideas, we now have personal computers, digital devices like the iPhone, iPad, iMac, iPod, and many amazing devices that allow us to get the work done anywhere in the world. What’s more…Steve Jobs truly inspires today’s generation of founders and entrepreneurs.

His life philosophies are also profoundly famous in the tech community. There are so many things we can learn from Steve Jobs. However, he also made many mistakes. For example, he didn’t take his health seriously, which he regretted later. And this is a great lesson for us that we shouldn’t take our health for granted, no matter what. 

Much love to Steve Jobs. Thanks for changing our lives. 

Thanks for reading.