Sunday Snippet: Steve Jobs and Apple

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

I’m not an iFanboy. If anything, it’s probably fairer to say that I’m against much of how Apple runs its business. The only Apple product I have ever owned in my life is an iPod nano and I’m not even the one who bought it. But that’s not the point.

You may not agree with some of the business practices and business decisions that Apple has made over the years, but it is absolutely undeniable that Steve Jobs and Apple have had a profound impact on consumer electronics. The mouse was popularized on a Mac. The iPod dominated the MP3 player market with its click wheel. The iPhone wasn’t the first touchscreen smartphone, but it sure made that form factor the kind of smartphone to get. And you can owe much of that innovation to one Steve Jobs. And let’s not forget about his contributions to Pixar and Disney.

The quote above comes from the “Think Different” campaign a little over a decade ago. It reminds us that being normal isn’t how you advance society. It isn’t how you push onward and upward. It’s only when you’re one of the “crazy ones” that you believe you can change the world… and it really is only those people who do change the world.

Think Different. That’s what Jack Layton did. That’s what Bill Gates did. They didn’t accept the status quo. And we can all learn to do the same. If you’re not happy with how things are, then do something about it. If you want the world to change, you have to be the one who instigates that change.

Steve, you and I may not have always seen eye to eye, but I have a profound respect for what you’ve done and you will be dearly missed.