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Steve Jobs's Stanford Commencement Address
, subject: Stanford commencement speech
A primary-source talk David repeatedly praises and applies for its lessons on reinvention, connecting the dots, meaningful work, and mortality.
82
Coverage Score
15
Scored evidence
About this work
Delivered to Stanford graduates on June 12, 2005, the talk uses three stories from Jobs's life to discuss trust, loss, love of work, and the urgency created by remembering that life is finite.
Why explore it
Best if you want a short Steve Jobs primary source that connects career setbacks, love of work, intuition, and the urgency of a finite life
Key themes
- Loss can create a new beginning
- Trust the path, remember the limit
Evidence and original sources
This record is supported by 15 public evidence rows linked to original Founders episodes.
- Phil Knight (Nike) — David applies the address's account of being fired from Apple to Phil Knight's loss of a supplier forcing him to go all in on Nike.
- Becoming Steve Jobs — David calls Jobs's Stanford speech perhaps the most viral commencement speech ever and describes its lesson about loss and renewal as possibly the most important thing Jobs ever said.
- Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography — David introduces the address's mortality passage as some of the best advice Jobs ever gave.
- Michael Bloomberg — David applies the address's firing-and-renewal lesson to Michael Bloomberg losing the only full-time job he had known.
- Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader — David calls Jobs's Stanford commencement speech amazing while quoting its account of failure, enduring love for the work, and starting over.
- John Malone (Cable Cowboy) — David uses the address's last-day-of-my-life question as a framework for John Malone recognizing that he needed to change how he spent his time.
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