Understanding Steve

Think.
Every time you drink coke, or Pepsi for that matter, do you think of the CEO of the company for giving you such a refreshing drink?

Every time you walk or jog in gym, do you think of CEO of Nike ,Reebok or Adidas for making that walk so comfortable for you?

Every time you sink your teeth in that favorite chocolate bar do you think of the CEO of the company who has made it so delicious for your taste?

Think again.
Why is that every time you hold an Apple product in your hand you think of Steve Jobs?

What makes Steve Jobs different from the rest of the CEOs?

Now that Jobs is dead; every Tom, Dick and Harry is writing an obit note, on facebook, twitter, in press, on tube, blogs name the media and every one wants to say something about Steve. Every one wants to know or thinks they know the man called Steve Jobs.

Why?
Lets find out.
Like millions, I don't know Steve Jobs. And yet I am curious to"understand' him or I think I know something about Steve.

First time we bought an IMac, I fell in love with its package. Forget the Mac that came in it. I knew how it looked , but what blew me out totally was the packaging details. I had never expected that its package would be so beautiful. Like many, I had no heart to throw away such an beautiful box so, stored it neatly on my loft. I just had to know who made it and why?
It is like when you see Taj Mahal for the first time and you have to ask who built it and why?

We bought many apple product thereafter. Every time I would tell myself, "Man! it is @#$%^& expensive I am not gonna buy this one". But every time I laid my hands on it, I was totally seduced by it.

That's what Steve did it. To every consumer of the apple product
Seduction by design( pun intended) . Nothing of Apple comes cheap. and yet no one complains after having it. Steve was no great engineer, or even an artist according John Scully who fired Steve from Apple. And yet he controlled every aspect of the product. From software programming to the last button on the packaging product came from his head. He was control freak and a ruthless task master. Without which he would not have delivered such a vision. And his vision had a simple mantra "keep it simple". Something very hard to follow. Something which he followed diligently every time he brought a new product in the market.

Steve and design were inseparable
The way he looked( he was definitely a chikna guy ), the way he dressed, the way he spoke or the way he presented his product had an element of design, exactly the way he wanted to look . This definitely added to the Apple's persona. Every time you consumed an Apple product you knew you are consuming a bit of Steve. This was his way of touching millions of people he never met but cared immensely. It is a strange magical connection. An enigma in itself.

Magic is most cliched word today. And yet it is so apt for Steve.
Today every person is trying to understand Steve Jobs. His philosophy. His Vision. His beauty. His perfection. His ruthlessness. Pages after pages are being written on him.
Man who had everything under his control knew that only death cannot be controlled. So he made truce with death, making him his adviser.

All I can understand when I try to understand Steve Jobs, his life was full of struggles.
Not an easy life at all. Not a perfect life either.
But it is man like Steve Jobs who can set standards of what a human life can be.

R.I.P Steve Jobs!!