david hieatt

Erosion works over time.

Yes, there are big storms and the process is speeded up for a short time. But by and large, erosion is just the sheer monotony of the normal. Tide in. Tide out.  Multiplied by a million, trillion times.  A subtle action repeated to give an extra ordinary smoothness to what started life as a jagged rock.

In life I think we all start out as jagged rocks. But unlike erosion, I think it’s the big storms that knock us into shape.

Each big event takes another edge off of us. Until one day, we are fully rounded. And we are then at that time, the very best of what we can be. No edge can get any smother.

When I heard that Steve Jobs had died, I felt another edge fall off of me. A hero of mine had died. My first computer was a Macintosh. And I have never bought any other computer other than Apple.

I loved the simplicity. I loved the fight against the status quo. I loved that there could be another way. I loved he wanted to change something.

And his story of dropping out of college and having to leave the company he started struck a chord with me, because I went though that too.

And for me, he became my role model of how to bounce back. He inspired me to think that the pain of failing was something that I could put to good use.

I believe Steve Jobs left Apple as a creative man and returned as businessman and a creative man. The pain of those big events, well, they were some huge edges falling off of him. And yes, they were the making of him.

His convergence strategy changed music, and then phones and I am sure it will change Television next. And it will be where everything comes together, where music, film, apps, email all merge quite beautifully and simply together for the first time. And it will be his last piece in the jigsaw. It will be his masterpiece. And you and I will think why didn’t someone do that before.

So I would like to thank Steve Jobs for showing that the John Sculley’s of the world don’t win. That one man’s vision is better than any committee. And that you can come back stronger after failure.

My thanks to him for teaching me those things.