STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH - STEVE JOBS

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, 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.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

喬布斯三個故事 24 Nov 2005

今天要說一位傳奇人物，蘋果電腦的創辦人及行政總裁史提夫‧喬布斯（Steve Jobs）。　　

喬布斯在今年史丹福大學的畢業禮上，向在場的二萬三千多名來賓及畢業生發表了一篇是為「Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish！」的演講（《財富》雜誌中文版把這題目譯為「好學若飢、謙卑若愚」，非常貼切）。　　

眾所周知，喬布斯只在大學唸了六個月便退學了，之後在大學旁聽了一年半的課，便徹底地離開了大學。在二十歲時。他和朋友創立了蘋果公司，展開他三十年富傳奇性的事業。演講當天，他身穿Ｔ恤牛仔褲，腳踏拖鞋，外披黑色大學禮袍。演講的內容，也並非甚麼大道理，而只是三個故事，所說含意甚深，至今所引起的迴響和討論，還是連綿不斷。　　

第一個故事講的是點與點之間的關係。喬布斯的生母是一名年輕的未婚研究生，她決定將喬布斯送給別人收養，一心讓他唸大學。可是喬布斯就是看不出唸大學有甚麼意義，也不知道大學是否能夠幫助他弄明白究竟他想幹甚麼。於是他決定退學，但決定選一門書法課旁聽，學習寫好字，學習藝術造詣。　　

後來，蘋果電腦推出了最好的產品Macintosh，便採用了不少他設計的多種印刷字體和間距安排合理的符號，而個人電腦便從此多了不少漂亮的版式了。亦因此，Macintosh至今仍然是設計師必備的桌面工具。喬布斯說生命就是這樣由虛線連繫，你「必須信賴直覺、歸宿、生命還有業力」。　　

第二個故事關於好惡與得失。喬布斯三十歲那年，竟然被蘋果公司的董事會解僱了，之後他的整個生活失去了重心，心力交瘁。可是，他知道他仍然深愛他的事業，於是決定重新開始。他創立了NeXT軟件公司和Pixar電腦動畫公司，生命中亦進入了最有創造力的時期。而亦在此時他遇上了他深愛的妻子。世道輪迴，NeXT後來被蘋果收購了，他又要返蘋果。Pixar則製作了《玩具故事》（Toy Story）、《海底奇兵》（Finding Nemo）和《超人特攻隊》（Incredibles）等出色的動畫電腦。他的生命再創高峰！喬布斯認為：「生命要不斷尋找，找到自己喜歡的東西，不要半途而廢。」　　

第三個故事關於死。一年前，他被診斷患了癌症，只能多活數個月，可是，最後竟奇蹟地被醫活了。他記起十七歲時讀過的一段說話：「如果你把每天都當作是生命的最後一天，總有一天你會如願以償。」喬布斯認為，生命時間有限，所以不要按照別人的意願或喜歡去生活，要跟直覺做自己熱愛做的事，終有一天會成功得到自己想得到的東西。　　

最後，他贈給所有人兩句話：「好學若飢、謙卑若愚」。

現代管理學之父 17 Nov 2005

「現代管理學之父」彼德‧杜拉克（Peter F. Drucker）於上星期五與世長辭，終年九十五歲。他亦被同時譽為繼開創「科學化管理」（Scientific Management）的費特勒克‧泰萊（Federick Taylor）以來，最影響現代企業營運的宗師泰斗。美國《商業週刊》表揚他是「這個時代最歷久常新的管理學思想家」；前美國眾議院議長金里奇，亦稱讚杜拉克為「有效管理和有效公共政策的最重要開發者」。　　

杜拉克生於奧地利維也納，後來為逃避納粹德國，輾轉從英國跑到美國。他曾經是新聞工作者，亦當過證券分析員。當然，最他選擇了學術研究為終身職業，自四十年代起已是美國不少大企業的顧問。　　

他一生有超過三十本的著作，成名作是《經濟個人的終結》（The End of Economic Man），主力鞏固自由世界抵抗法西斯主義的意志。但其後發表的兩本名著，包括《企業的概念》（The Concept of Corporation）和《管理實踐》（The Practice of Management），才真正為企業世界建立起學術的框架。這兩本書，均是他出任通用汽車（General Motors）和西爾斯（Sears，Roebuck & Co.）的顧問時，親身觀察、體驗和實踐的精心傑作。　　

今天，管理學上的一些「普通常識」（Common Sense），其實正是杜拉克在四十年代時所提倡和搭建的。比如目標（Objective）、策略（Stratagy）、管理層的角色、目標為本的管理（Management by Objectives）、創業精神（Entrepreneurship）、激勵（Innovation）等任何一本企業書籍都當作普通詞彙的用語，其實均源自杜拉克的著作。甚至誇張點說，杜拉克為不少刊物、教材、方案、建議書訂立了其中必要的框架。其影響不可謂不深遠。　　

當然，杜拉克提倡的概念，不少仍然不被大部分人接受，比如：　　

（一）終身聘任制及最低工資；這些認為與自由市場的競爭有所牴觸。　　

（二）萬事均應盡量簡單，這是說易行難的東西。在現在社會中，愈簡單可以是愈有效率，亦可以是愈敷衍馬虎的事。　　

（三）杜拉克認為企業中最高受薪僱員的收入，不應高過最低者的二十倍。在這個管理者帶動生產者主宰企業營運的商業社會中，根本沒有可能會發生。　　

無論如何，杜拉克作為一位受尊敬的管理學大師，其睿智和洞察力仍然是毋用置疑的。亦多得杜拉克，今天不少專上學院，才開辦有「管理學」這門課程！

今天的成都 10 Nov 2005

一九八六年，筆者與同學們一起自組「艱苦團」，從香港坐火車經桂林、貴陽、昆明到達終點站成都。當時的成都給我的印象是一個鄉下地方，道路沙塵滾滾，毫無基建設備，食的都是「勁辣」的東西，所有菜都鋪滿紅辣椒。唯一好處是成都是峨眉山、樂山大佛、九寨溝、都江堰等名勝的最佳中途站。不過，那些風景區卻是深入不毛之地，坐旅遊巴必須長途跋涉，衛生設備更是極度惡劣。二十年前的成都給我留下不好印象。　　

踏入二零零五年，筆者經常有機會到成都公幹。今天的成都，絕對可以用一日千里來形容。其人口遠超過八千五百萬，是內地的二級城市中最繁榮的都會之一，更是內地「開發大西北」的龍頭城市；成都更是國家級西部博覽會的永遠會址。　　

內地的經濟發展，由珠三角開始，以香港為窗口，深圳成為第一個發達的經濟特區，然後輻射至廣州、東莞、珠海、順德、佛山，作為海外投資者的低成本生產基地。　　

第二個發達起來的，便是長三角一帶，即以上海為首，加上南京、無錫、蘇州、杭州、寧波、昆山、溫州等城市。主力開拓金融服務業，以及高新科技，吸引了大量來自台灣、韓國和日本的資金。　　

現時，內地的發展已延伸到東三省，作為重工業的生產基地，以及以成都為首，重慶、南寧、昆明、西安為輔的西部省份。西部最多的是天然資源，潛力無限，可是今天的成都還有相當不足的地方：　　

（一）成都人不夠創意。他們太務實，太循規蹈距了，相比起靈活多變通的上海人和廣東人，成都人比較老實。　　

（二）成都人不夠勤力。在成都機場路豎立了一塊大廣告牌，寫：「成都是一個你來了便不想離開的城市」。原因是，成都人享受寧靜悠閒的生活，不喜歡加班捱夜，甚至在工作時間也喜歡偷閒。這樣大大影響了他們的生產力。　　

當然，今天的成都公路網已四通八達，到九寨溝旅遊還可乘飛機直達；其食物質素之高亦可說是中國罕見，嗜吃的人絕不能錯過其特色「麻辣火鍋」，以及街頭小吃如紅油抄手、麻婆豆腐等；成都人說的四川話也十分易聽！　　

相比起上海，成都的物價約只是三分一之低，有朋友因此笑說她將會移居成都做生意，為開發大西北作出貢獻。

狙擊營銷策略 3 Nov 2005

世界盃足球賽的體育用品官方贊助品牌是adidas還是NIKE呢？攝影用品的官方贊助商是Fuji還是Kodak呢？各大品牌花費巨資成為主要運動員項目的官方贊助商，無非是為了爭取與各項目的受眾增加宣傳渠道，樹立正面的品牌形象。可是，大部分受眾就是分不清楚在眾多相同類別的品牌中，哪個品牌才是官方贊助商。　　

就以二零零二年世界盃決賽周為例。其實，官方的體育用品贊助商是adidas，可享有世界盃賽事場內外廣告牌的宣傳位置，更可獨家採用世界盃的官方標誌，印在其生產的體育用品上。可是，NIKE卻贊助了包括該屆世界盃冠軍巴西的球衣，還贊助了包括朗拿度在內的超級球星的球鞋，而且還大量在電視、電台、報紙和雜誌上刊登了這些球星舉NIKE產品的廣告，成功地跟世界盃這賽事取得「聯繫」（association）。不幸地，當屆的亞軍德國隊，其球衣贊助商便是adidas；而adidas還贊助了法國、英格蘭、阿根廷等熱門但卻失敗而回的球隊，以及施丹及碧咸等巨星的球鞋。自然地，adidas跟世界盃的「聯繫」似乎比NIKE還不及。　　

NIKE用的策略，正是所謂的「狙擊營銷」（ambush marketing）。即是說一些非正式贊助商，採用了一些「游擊」策略，令受眾誤以為「狙擊者」才是「正牌」，從而贏取商戰。　　

事實上，adidas也推出了黃色類似巴西隊的正式球衣的Ｔ恤，NIKE也推出了白色類似英格蘭球衣的Ｔ恤；雙方均企圖「魚目混珠」。而一不見經傳的品牌，也推出了譬如橙色荷蘭隊的球衣，背上印上十四號（荷蘭球王告魯夫的球衣號碼）；和白色印上七號類似英格蘭的球衣，也爭取到不少商機。這些，都可說是極具創意的「狙擊營銷」策略。　　

記得一九九四年在挪威利利咸馬（Lillehammer）舉行的冬季奧運會，信用卡的官方贊助商為VISA。當時VISA的廣告訊息，除了宣稱自己才是官方信用卡外，還突出了美國運通（AE）卡並非該奧運會的官方贊助商，在奧運村內絕不通用。當時AE的電視廣告，卻用以下的訊息：「美國遊客到挪威不需要VISA」，作為反擊。這句訊息語帶相鬧，深入受眾的心。而且，更令美國遊客誤以為AE卡才是官方贊助商，而並非高調打擊對手的VISA卡。AE卡用的策略，也是「狙擊營銷」的一種。　　

從上述例子所見，「官方獨家贊助商」已非品牌的致勝保證，具創意的「狙擊營銷」策略似乎更奏效，亦是更物超所值的宣傳新招！