My own journey in life was just beginning.
I hadn't even applied for college yet at that point.
For you graduates, the process of discovering yourself, of inventing yourself, of reinventing yourself is about to begin in earnest.
It is about finding your values and commiting to live by them, you have to find your North star.
And that means choices, some are easy, some are hard. and some will make you question everything.
20 years after my vist to Washington, I met someone who made me question everything, who upended all of my assumptions in the very best way. That was Steve Jobs.
Steve had built a successful company.
He had been sent away and he returned to find it in ruins. He didn't know it at the time, but he was about to dedicate the rest of his life to rescuing it, and leading it to heights greater than anyone could ever imagine. Anyone, that is, except for Steve.
Most people have forgotten, but in 1997 and early 1998, Apple had been adrift for years. Rudderless, but Steve thought Apple could be great again. And he wanted to know if I would like to help.
His vision for Apple was a company that turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use, tools that would help people realize their dreams. And change the world for the better.
I had studied to be an engineer and earned an MBA. I was trained to be pragmatic, a problem solver.
Now I found myself sitting before and listening to this very animated 40-something guy with visions of changing the world. It was not what I had expected.
You see, when it came to my career, in 1998, I was also adrift, rudderless.
I knew who I was in my personal life, and I kept my eye on my North Star, my responsibility to do good for someone else, other than myself.
But at work, well I always figured that work was work.
Values had their place and, yes, there were things that I wanted to change about the world, but I thought I had to do that on my own tiem.
Not in the office, Steve didn't see it that way. He was an idealist, and in that way he reminded me of how I left as a teenager.
In that first meeting he convinced me that if we worked harder and made great products, we too could help change the world.
years and I ahve And to my surprise, I was hooked. I took the job and changed my life, it's been 17 years and I have never once looked back.