I am new to the religion of Apple. Even though I bought an iPod some seven years ago, I bought my first Mac three years ago, I had been a die-hard PC fan. But I’ve recently embraced the Apple ethos of “Think Different.”
You’ll read and hear a lot about the passing of Steve Jobs, the platitudes and honorifics describing what an innovator and visionary he was, how he changed the face of business, how life would be less productive without Apple products.
What you won’t hear much about is one Jobs quote from 2004 that struck me today: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life … Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."
Where’s the American heart, intuition, the fire in the belly? You don’t easily find that passion and entrepreneurial spirit today, and you won’t find that leadership in business anywhere else in the world.
In Europe, if you were not part of the right class structure, right school history, right legacy, you wouldn’t have the resources to start a business. In South America, where I lived for several years, if the accident of your birth puts you in a lower social status, you are destined to remain there.
This is the best country in the world where one can innovate, one can create something of themselves, one can become the next Steve Jobs. This is why people have been coming here for centuries. My family came to this country with that in mind.
Just a flick of the remote to the Occupy Wall Street protestsmade me wonder if those protestors, angry at everything business, could do something to innovate in this country that would create jobs and help grow this economy. Where is that passion today with American youth obsessed with "Jersey Shore" and jackass tricks caught on video?
The sense of entitlement by the protestors is palpable. As they use their iPods, iPhones and iPads to document what they describe as inequity, they should be reminded this is the most fair country in the world.
It is what you do with it that is most important. Steve Jobs didn’t wait for political change, didn’t wait for economic change, didn’t wait for government bailouts or handouts. They should take a page from Steve Jobs and harness their frustrations and fire in the belly into something more productive.
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