iPause - Lessons from the life of Steve Jobs

Within minutes of the announcement of the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, news had spread everywhere online. Many people read about it on a device that came from Jobs' own creative legacy - an iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac. Much will be written about his accomplishments, but one of the words that I expect to see used the most is “Visionary”. To me this means the ability, at times, to go against the grain and persevere to build something that you see so clearly, though others can’t (unlike in politics, where it seems leaders need to see poll results before forming an opinion). Many people have visions but few act so passionately with conviction in attempting to realize them.  It reminds me of the lyrics from a Supertramp track, “Dreamer… can you put your hands in your head?”  Without a doubt, Jobs was our modern day Edison, who will go down in history and remain an inspiration for generations to come.

On the personal side though, Jobs’ illness created a context through which he saw his mortality vividly, and he spoke of how we should all pursue our passions as if each day was our last. The challenge for most of us is that we seem to be going so fast in our lives that we don’t pause often enough, or long enough, to really reflect on where we are going and where we want to go. Like many people, I’ve lost some friends to cancer and had my own personal scare going through the various diagnostics (just the mention of “Cysto”, the med speak for Cystoscopy, brings about memory-induced jolts to my nervous system), and it forces us to pause and reflect about what is important.

Stephen Covey suggests that we imagine going to a funeral in 3 years, where there are four people speaking about the deceased: A family member sharing what this person was like in their family, a friend speaking about the joyful caring friend they were, a colleague speaking of the times they had at work, and member of their community organization - perhaps their church, temple or place of worship - speaking about their values and the humanitarian efforts they chose to give back to. Then, Covey says, imagine it will be your funeral. What do you wish to be said of you - as a Family member? As a friend? As a colleague? As a community member?

It doesn’t need to be as public or as paradigm-altering as the legacy of Jobs. It could simply be the significance of the love and values you pass on to your children. It could be the forgiveness you pass on to others who have wronged you. It could be the passionate pursuit in helping your community in a specific area.  Whatever it is, don’t wait until you reach an illness-imposed reflection point. Make a plan to pause soon and ask yourself some questions. If you had 6 months to live, how would you spend your time? Where, and with whom?

Yesterday, I was thankful to be able to spend the whole day volunteering at my sons’ cross country meet in the sunshine, and I feel really blessed to work with colleagues and clients who are also friends. It is so important to have the pause time to remind ourselves, as Jobs did, of what is important and to be clear on what we value.



In the Spirit of Growth, keep well - and may you have an awesome weekend of reflection and rejuvenation.



P.S. Coincidently, we have been working on a program to direct some of our proceeds from Team Effectiveness work to benefit various Cancer-related charities. If you are interested in learning about how you can build better team communication and help in the cause to conquer cancer, email our client services group and they’ll add you to the list for email updates over the next few weeks.