October 7, 2012

Speech Critique: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address

On June 12, 2005 Steve Jobs gave his commencement speech “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish,” to Stanford University’s graduating class. There can be no doubt that this man was one of the most influential people in the world, this speech was not the most profoundly moving speech ever heard, but it was authentic and real. Steve Jobs chose to share a very personal part of his life with the world in a very genuine way.
He began with a strong opening, and kept his speech simple and structured, as it is structured around three main points, by sharing three personal stories of his journey through life. He began with, “Today I want to tell you three stories.” The first is about connecting the dots, the second is about love and loss, and his third story is about death.
In the first story, Steve Jobs talked about how he was adopted and how he never did graduate from college. Dropping out of college after about six months because he felt he was wasting his parent’s money. So he dropped out of the classes he was suppose to take, and began to take the classes he wanted to take. It was during this time that he took a calligraphy class, ten years later he put that knowledge to use while working on the first Macintosh.
The second story in the speech dealt with love and loss. Steve Jobs had gotten fired from the very company he started, Apple! However, he also said that getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to him, because it was during that time that he started a company called NeXT, and another popular company called Pixar. Apple bought NeXT, and that is what brought Steve Job’s back to Apple. “You’ve got to find what you love. Love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. You’ll know when you find it.”
In the third and final part of the speech, Steve Jobs spoke about death. He