Steve Jobs and his resignation

Yesterday, Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple. This isn't news because it's plastered all over the Internet, wherever I go. What's surprising is all the eulogies being written about him... it's like he's no longer with us anymore.

Now I'm truly saddened that his health has taken a turn for the worse, and I pray that he will recover soon, but the man is not dead. He will be staying on as chairman of the board. Let's be a little bit more optimistic and look forward to more years of Steve's magic.

To close out, I recently watched this commencement speech Jobs made to Stanford's graduating class of 2005. It's a good video with a few nice quotes... favorite ones below. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

“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.”

“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.”

Moving on from consulting

I alluded to this in my previous post, but for the record, I've decided to move on from consulting. I went into consulting thinking it wouldn't be forever, and my last 3 years have confirmed it. Not that it's a bad career - I've learned a ton, and have a lot of respect for the people who choose to stay in the industry... and the economics become very attractive the longer you stay, but it's just not for me. As nice as high level strategy work is, I'd also like to get grounded in the reality of making things happen on the ground. I want to build a product or a business. I want to work in an industry that I'm excited about. Oh, and I want my life back.