Steve Jobs’, the physical being has completed his work here, but his spirit, the iconic Steve Jobs, The Steve, The Apple Man in the black turtle neck, is ours forever.
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What makes The Steve such an iconic figure?
He walked the hero’s journey.
He represents the success we all hope to achieve, not by virtue of his fame, his wealth, his company, but because of the journey. Along the way he claimed him Self. Only when he did that was he free to do something that mattered to others.
Hero and heroine archetypes often feature a child who has lost or been lost by his/her parent(s). Consider Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Pippi Longstockings, Telemachus, Moses… The list goes on.
Steve Jobs was born to a single mother. She “lost” Steve to the adoptive family who “found” him. His challenge would be to find himself. We are all faced with this challenge, whether we have physically lost our parents – or not.
The hero’s work is to grow up and become an adult. His journey involves discovering his own identity separate, and separating, from parental ties and expectations. The child-would-be-hero aligns with these expectations – until he doesn’t.
Steve Jobs’ biological mother designated one condition for his adoptive family. Send him to a good college. Steve’s adoptive parents were not wealthy. They were working class heroes who worked hard to fulfill this promise. The implied expectation was that Steve would graduate. And he aligned with these expectation – until he didn’t. Breaking the tie was hard especially as Steve’s first mentor was his Dad. Steve dropped out of college, nevertheless, but continued to attend classes. This time he studied what he loved – calligraphy.
This seed grew into Apple’s initial market differentiater – a variety of fonts from which users could choose. Computers became a design tool; a tool for design. They become a design. They become a work of art and they made art work. They represent beauty in simplicity with a sense of flair. They became Sexy. They became user friendly and users befriended them. All because a man, once a boy, took the heroes journey. Along the way he met with failure. He learned. He got up and tried again. Better. Stronger. He became more of him Self.
The hero’s task is to discover his true Self and to live life as that person. Steve Jobs did it well. He represents the hope that the rest of us will do likewise, and that we too might make a contribution that matters.
His body is gone. His contribution lives on in our hands. It is up to us now, that’s you and me, to continue the heros journey, each in our own way.
