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Speech

The Speech “How to Live Before You Die” by Steve Jobs Essay

March 14, 2022 by Essay Writer

Introduction

Listening to the speech by Steve Jobs is fascinating. Specifically, Stanford University speech is very motivational to anyone who aspired to build a successful career. The strengths that Steve Jobs talks about are the attitude of not settling for less and doing things that make an ina dividual happy.

This speech is heavily based on encouragement to the 2005 class of Stanford University. Steve Jobs encourages this group to always pursue their dreams. He classifies the setbacks in life as a bridge of opportunity for improvement. Steve then proceeds to narrate past three bad experiences that he used as a stepping stone to success.

Summary of the speech

Steve is assertive and use commanding language across the speech. He has full control of the direction of the speech and strong mastery of the subject. The first story narrated by Steve is on what he calls connecting the dots. He reflects on how his mother intended to adopt him. Unfortunately, at birth, the family that was to adopt him changed their mind. However, another family adopted him and he joined Reed College at the age of 17.

Despite the fact that his line of action to drop out of collage was risky at the time, he has learnt to follow instinct by only studying the courses he liked. Consequently, his success was based on personal initiative and not largely influenced by perceptions and views of people surrounding him.

The second story narrated by Steve is loss and love. Steve reflects on his humble beginning of a career alongside Mr. Woz. After years of hard work, the two developed the brand Apple from the family garage office into a multibillion company.

Despite this success, Steve found himself jobless after being fired by the Board of Directors over ideological differences. Steve then started the Next Company. Interestingly, through acquisition, Steve found himself back in Apple after it bought his company.

The last story narrated by Steve is on the sensitive topic of death. Steve reflected on his ordeal with cancer of the pancreas. Unfortunately, in the words of his doctor, this type of cancer is incurable. Upon going for biopsy, the results indicated that his cancer was curable through surgery.

Fortunately, Steve was able to go for the surgery and he was able to perform the roles he could not do before the surgery. He concluded that death is a transitional part of life that replaces the old with the new. Therefore, Steve opines that we should not let the fear of death determine our lives.

Summary

Steve’s personality is modest. In fulfilling his role as the speaker, Steve reminds the audience of the need for determination and personal initiative when handling dreams. As a matter of fact, the title of the speech reaffirms this personality. Interestingly, the aspect of multiple personae plays out across the speech. From the beginning through to the end, Steve is a socialite who uses polite words to trivialize sensitive issues in an appealing way to the audience.

Conclusively, Steve’s speech indicates dominance, as the language used, is commanding, emotion-free, and assertive. Despite the emotive aspects in the speech, the author is plain and prefers a formal approach in discussing them to the audience. Steve Jobs’ story is very fascinating and encouraging to young people who want to have successful careers.

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