ADES 5522 Christopher Ryan | Rhetorical Criticism | Final Draft | April 12, 2012
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. A rhetorical criticism of the 205 Steve Jobs Commencement Speech at Stanford University. The 2005 Stanford Commencement address by Steve Jobs has been praised, glorified, vilified, quoted and critiqued by many. The words of inspiration within have been studied by many and the speech itself is widely regarded as “classic” and one that has had an impact on a much larger audience than just that graduating class of Stanford. This rhetorical criticism takes a deep look at the speech itself, using a cluster criticism approach to attempt to discern why this speech has resonated with so many others. When many think of the iPod or iPhone, the image of Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computer, Inc. and PIxar Animation Studios, immediately comes to mind. His signature black turtleneck and jeans have become an iconic part of his persona. As the co-founder of the company, he eventually left in 1985 only to return again in the late 1990s with a plan to return his former company to profitability. Since then, with his personal attentive touch, he has become closely associated with Apple. Steve Jobs is Apple as much as Apple is Steve Jobs. After Jobs return to Apple, he rarely made appearances outside of official corporate keynotes and special events. In 2005, he made a rare exception by giving the commencement address at Stanford University. While Stanford wasn’t Jobs’ alma mater, he shared a very close connection with the university. It’s proximity to Apple’s headquarters and strong engineering programs meant Stanford was often the source of many of Apple’s talented engineers. As mentioned earlier, this criticism uses a cluster approach to make meaning from Jobs’ words. After creating a word cloud of the speech (attached) and removing the most commonly used English words, a pattern emerged based on the frequency of keywords used in the speech. In particular, this criticism looks at the words “college,” “life,” “apple,” and “looking” as foundations for understanding Jobs’ own life and the connections we can, and some have already attempted, to draw from it. College There is a bit of irony in Steve Jobs giving a commencement address to a budding young group of college graduates, being that he was a college dropout himself. In fact, Steve Jobs is part of a larger cohort of “tech visionaries” like Bill Gates or Michael Dell who have experienced their own proverbial rags to riches stories of success. Given today’s somewhat shaky economy, these stories are not unique to an previous era of prosperity. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was a Harvard dropout himself. Beyond this irony, Jobs’ own college experience, which he alludes to in his speech, is quite the opposite of the Stanford audience, yet it still seems to strike inspiration. The crux of his college story was about how he learned
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ADES 5522 Christopher Ryan | Rhetorical Criticism | Final Draft | April 12, 2012
to not only challenge himself, but also to take interest in activities that were a passion for him. While many have attempted to turn their own passions into a “rags to riches” story, few have succeeded and even fewer have achieved the notability of individuals like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. Yet, the idea still remains strong. When one examines where these stories have met success, many often do not align with the major fields of study that one pursued in college. This is an interesting insight and seems to be the strongest connection for graduating students to take to heart. It seems that success is completely within reach, even if the area doesn’t match your field of study from college... or even if you didn’t complete college. Life Jobs’ own life is another area of interest. Given his propensity to keep his history to himself, his speech is, second only to his biography that was released after his death in 2010, one of the most revealing stories of his life. His own outlook on life was rather simple. As someone who followed Buddhism, Jobs tried to embody the Buddhist ideals in his own life, including the three major tenants of virtue, concentration/meditation and wisdom/enlightenment. Much like the Ghandi’s connections to Buddhism and Hinduism, Jobs let his religious beliefs guide his life in a very private, yet inspirational manner. When he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2003, his Buddhist beliefs guided his response to the deadly disease. While his initial response was to seek non-traditional and more medicinal approaches, it proved to be a dangerous choice as the surgery that prolonged his life could have potentially prolonged it even longer had he opted for it much earlier than he did. Still, the lessons of his life have impacted others. His embodiment of Buddhist principles, whether people agree or disagree with them, have inspired others to find their own system of beliefs and to let them serve as a guide. The most famous quote of the speech, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish,” while not even a direct quote from Jobs himself, embodies this idea of continually seeking personal enlightenment and allowing it to serve as a guiding path. Apple Apple is a unique aspect of Jobs’ life and according to some, something that had a bit of a transformational effect on him. Since Jobs co-founded Apple and left in 1985, only to return in 1997 and help return the company to profitability, many have regarded these two “eras” of Jobs as being very different — both for Apple and for Steve Jobs himself. Surely as time passed, he became a more mature individual, but his return to Apple started a symbiotic relationship that is seemingly missing from many other modern companies. Many attribute the success of Apple in the late 90s and the 2000s as a direct result of Jobs’ return. While that comparison is beyond the subject of this criticism, the distinct contrast of perception of Apple during Steve
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ADES 5522 Christopher Ryan | Rhetorical Criticism | Final Draft | April 12, 2012
Jobs 1.0 and Steve Jobs 2.0 is notable. In the speech, Jobs refers to this idea as “connecting the dots looking backwards” and how different life events, many of which have been touched upon in this critique, have focused and enlightened his own life and vision and as a result, have had a positive impact on Apple since his return. According to Jobs, his passion with Apple has always been not about just making boxes, but by making “insanely great” products that help people change the world. While that seems like a bit of a cliché, the reign of “Steve Jobs 2.0” has led some to characterize his leadership style at Apple as having a “fine attention to detail” and a strong “aptitude for taste.” While his own leadership has led Apple to deliver some products that were considered flops, the successes of products like the iPod and iPhone have inspired others to realize that the tiniest of details can have all the impact on the perception of a product. For the first time, many who have used Apple’s products have realized the value of an attention to detail and how it can make all the difference in whether a product is successful or a failure, or desirable or repulsive. Looking The idea of “looking” is the perfect summation of this critique. Again, as Steve Jobs had mentioned, “it’s often easier to connect the dots looking backwards than looking forwards.” While I dare say this with a degree of certainty, nobody really knows what their future may entail. But whatever one’s goals may be, the process of finding one’s focus or passion is easier with a conscious attempt to be aware of oneself, interests and passion. Perhaps that is the most insightful aspect of Jobs’ entire commencement speech. As many speakers seem to use these speeches to inspire others, the end result seemingly becomes a piece of imparted advice, although perhaps with more credibility given the background of the speaker. As mentioned earlier, while one’s own personal thoughts toward Steve Jobs, or other ideas he is associated with, such as Pixar and Apple, can have a direct effect on one’s reception of the speech, the words of this speech will continue to live on beyond Steve Jobs. Regardless of the effect of Jobs’ speech on this reader, or the value or feelings evoked by the interpretations given above, this criticism sums up with the most quoted line of his speech — Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
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ADES 5522 Christopher Ryan | Rhetorical Criticism | Final Draft | April 12, 2012
Bibliography Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print. "'You've Got to Find What You Love,' Jobs Says." Text of Steve Jobs' Commencement Address (2005). 12 June 2005. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. .
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