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  • Essay / Analysis of Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech

    In 2011, the world lost one of the most successful people in high-tech: Steve Jobs. He is the creator of Apple, Pixar Animation and NeXT. On the day of Stanford University's 114th commencement ceremony in 2005, he shared his personal anecdotes and urged graduates to pursue their dreams and discover the opportunities presented by life's obstacles, as well as death itself. From the first line of his speech, Steve Jobs compliments Stanford graduates by immediately appealing to their emotions. “I am honored to be with you today as you enter one of the best universities in the world” (Jobs). He then states that he never graduated from college. He humbles himself a little, which gives the audience a sense of accomplishment at the same time. We cannot deny that Steve Job's continued modernizations of technological work have permanently transformed the world. His objective in this speech, namely to encourage students to achieve their dreams, was expressed in a very simple and convincing manner. Jobs recalled three stories from his life and used them to illustrate his philosophy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay His first story was about connecting the dots; pursue the things you desire and by having faith in doing so, everything will fall into place. “You can't connect the dots by looking forward, you can only connect them by looking backward, so you have to trust that the dots connect somehow in your future. You have to trust something.” And that will make all the difference. He told his second story related to love and loss. In his early years, he discovered what he loved to do; It was at this time, at the age of 20, that Steve truly loved what he was doing as the beginnings of Apple emerged in his parents' garage with Steve Wozniak. Through his hard work, 10 years later, Apple Inc. has grown into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. At the age of 30, the first and best Macintosh was released. During this time, Jobs was fired from his own company that he had started. He compared his emotions to a baton being passed to him. He shared that he still loved what he did and decided to start again. Obstacles are inevitable and will disrupt your path, but don't let a loss of confidence take over. There is always good in a bad situation. In his third story, he describes his near-death experience. He skillfully connects with his young audience on how to find success again while finding your passion. Here is a part of his speech that really fascinated me. “When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like this... 'If you live each day as if it were your last, one day you will certainly be right' (Jobs). This idea of ​​remembering that one of us will soon be dead was a wonderful tool to help him make the big choices in life. Jobs suffered from a rare form of pancreatic disease which he was diagnosed with in 2003. He found himself in an extremely hostile situation, but then prepared to overcome the catastrophe. It is essential to understand the difference between the two types of verbal messages, both denotatively and connotatively, as this allows us to give clear messages while communicating. “Denotative meaning is the literal definition or dictionary definition of a word. Connotative meaning is the interpretation of a word based on personal experiences.” Steve uses the denotative meaning of the word “.