Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech Review
Javier Hernando Ortega Cuellar Universidad Nacional De Colombia Philology and Languages: English Written Communication IV
August 20 – 2010
Steve Jobs Commencement Speech’s Review.
“I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.”
With these humble words, an American magnate and inventor, initiates an address which really shows the personal characteristics of a successful but simple man; who has learnt from every single event in his life and has followed his own heart’s feelings towards a likely future for himself. The speech is divided in three parts, as he said. Three different stories which converge in one idea – Do what you love and Love what you do – that is an invitation for every alumnus of Stanford University. Jobs takes his personal life lessons and shares his thoughts and experiences in order to encourage people to feel a real passion for their professions without caring about superficial matters. His first story is very revealing. It is called “Connecting the Dots” and while he advances in his narration, people are able to understand the real meaning of this title. Jobs talks about his parents; he was adopted by a couple who promised to his biological mother he would study in a university. It turned out to be that the university was Reed College, the place in which he studied only one semester and then dropped out. He had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life and it did not make any sense to spend his parents’ money in such an expensive college. However, he did continue studying, he studied calligraphy and he found this was beautiful and artistical, he found it fascinating. In this point we can “connect the dots”. Every single dot is a meaningful event in his life and each
August 20 – 2010
Steve Jobs Commencement Speech’s Review.
“I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.”
With these humble words, an American magnate and inventor, initiates an address which really shows the personal characteristics of a successful but simple man; who has learnt from every single event in his life and has followed his own heart’s feelings towards a likely future for himself. The speech is divided in three parts, as he said. Three different stories which converge in one idea – Do what you love and Love what you do – that is an invitation for every alumnus of Stanford University. Jobs takes his personal life lessons and shares his thoughts and experiences in order to encourage people to feel a real passion for their professions without caring about superficial matters. His first story is very revealing. It is called “Connecting the Dots” and while he advances in his narration, people are able to understand the real meaning of this title. Jobs talks about his parents; he was adopted by a couple who promised to his biological mother he would study in a university. It turned out to be that the university was Reed College, the place in which he studied only one semester and then dropped out. He had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life and it did not make any sense to spend his parents’ money in such an expensive college. However, he did continue studying, he studied calligraphy and he found this was beautiful and artistical, he found it fascinating. In this point we can “connect the dots”. Every single dot is a meaningful event in his life and each