Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech Summary: Inspiring Life Lessons and Insights

Steve Jobs: The Intellect and Risk-Taker

After watching this speech, I soon realized how much of an intellect Steve Jobs was. He was a man who knew what he wanted and took risks to get to where he wanted to be. As a Reed College dropout, he explains after six months, he felt he was wasting time and not achieving what he wanted to do. The delivery of the speech and the knowledge he dished out was amazing!

Steve Jobs’ Background and Achievements

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, CA.

He was known for the invention of one of the best smartphones today, the Apple iPhone, which was released in 2007! Steve also was a co-founder of Pixar, which I did not know. His 2005 commencement speech credited a class he took in Reed College with forming the basis for the typography used in the first Macintosh computer, although Steve never finished university.

Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech: Engaging the Audience

The audience of his speech was Stanford University students, beginning his speech with, “I am honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities of the world.” The crowd was highly motivated and excited by Jobs never finishing school but still finding a way to get to where he had to be. He did this by telling stories and giving smudges on what it takes to overcome. He talks about how he was adopted and how he was a dropout, but also how to take advantage of your time. In the speech, he said, “Your time is limited; don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” You could tell how engaged the audience was when claps would come here and there, or distinctive laughing and them relating to what he was saying by head nods and dreamy eyes. The main purpose was to inform the students to find what they are passionate about and to find jobs that they can love to wake up to every day and fulfill their dreams

The Key Takeaway: Finding Passion and Fulfillment.

He also bounced throughout the speech fluently, tapping on each and every point, heavily and deeply, especially touching every mind in the audience with his stories. The tone of his speech is very serious, in fact, very serious, to where it seemed dry. It was a lesson after another lesson as the audience sat and soaked everything in. He often glanced at the crowd, but it wasn’t enough. The energy throughout the speech was also dull and stagnant, but in the end, he got the best points across.

The biggest takeaway from the speech was for the students to find what they were passionate about, and he discussed this throughout the speech clearly. He demonstrated it through his stories and by showing through words the steps he took and how he handled losing it all. Steve Jobs was a man ahead of his time, and this speech motivated every student who sat there, and they all left with important life lessons.

References:

1. Stanford University. (n.d.). Commencement Speech by Steve Jobs. [https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/]

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