This past week we learned of the unfortunate passing of Steven Jobs, one of the great technological gurus, and entrepreneurs of our time. I felt an uncanny sadness and connection to this person I had never met, although I had purchased one of his products - the ipod a few years ago. As I reflected on his life, I realized it was his entrepreneurial spirit that I connected with. Everything I had learned about entrepreneurship, from selling jewellery in the street, to the classrooms of business school, Jobs embodied the ultimate entreprenuer. When he spoke at stanford he mentioned how bad he felt as he had let down all the great entrepreneurs of history, when he got fired from his own company. But he came back, started Next and Pixar entertainment, and regained control of Apple. The ultimate entrepreneur's come back.
In the late 1970's I took a year off pf school to follow my heart and ski full time, I recall seeing a spectacular skier carving down the slopes of Big Mountain Montana with a large black pack on the front of his ski jacket. He had headphones that went from the pack to his ears and straps that rapped around his back so that the sound pack would not fly off in the bumps. As skiers, we would all be humming our favourite song for rhythm in the bumps. This was the first skier I had seen a product that had bridged the gap between technology and humming tunes!
During freestyle competitions, organizers would install big speakers on the side of the slope to pump music onto the mountain to motivate the skiers and the audience.
When I returned home from my travels, I purchased my own cassette player, sewed together a black pouch and straps, and strapped on this 8 pounds of technology on my body. It was cool to look at and ski with, but it sure left a lot to be desired. It was heavy, it would skip beats when you would hit a bump. If you fell, snow could get into the pouch and destroy the electronics. It was crude but fun, and eventually, I got tired of lugging the extra weight, strapping it on and finally put it to rest.
One evening in 2005, I purchased an ipod online directly from Apple. It was so cool. I ordered a silver one and it was shipped in a clean white apple box. It was shipped by UPS and I remember the face of the clerk when they saw I had a package direcctly from Apple. They were very impressed with my connections, and watched to see what I got, as anything from Apple was fun and cool. I found my product beautifully polished, shiney and playful. I learned the latest technology on how to connect to itunes, limewire etc. and loaded up that ipod with my favourite music. Now when I go skiing, I slip a thin light silver ipod in my jacket pocket and pump clean crips digital music into my helmet, and I feel like I am in a Warren Miller film. There are no skips in the sound when I hit a bump at good speed, and I can barely feel the weights. The volume control is easy to adjust and the ear buds are simple and comfortable to use. I am sure that Steven Jobs wasn't thinking about user friendly ipods for bump skiers, but he did it anyways.
Entrepreneurial spirit lasts for eternity.
RIP Steve.
The Adventure Guy
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