With the news of Steve Jobs passing away it reminded me of an exercise I’ve done in different forms over the years…

Write your own legacy/eulogy/what people would say about you when you died.

Do you think Steve resigned as CEO knowing he was close to passing and realized he needed to do other things with the remainder of his life?  I would like to think the answer is no.

There are very few people I know who could honestly say that there isn’t much else they would have done or done differently with their lives, but Steve Jobs has got to be one of those people.

He fundamentally changed four of the largest markets of our time.  Personal computing, music players(anyone remember a walkman anymore?) and music, smart phones and tablets. 

Before you go thinking I’ve drank the apple koolaid please know that I don’t have an iphone, mac, ipad, etc.  I have an old ipod I inherited from my daughter, but that is all.  I like their products, but don’t see the cost benefit although my wife and kids have their products so I can see the benefits, just not the cost benefits in relation to other products.

What I think is the most interesting thing is that he was basically an entrepreneur and visionary who never lost the spirit even when apple became the larget company in tech/world/life.  He was able to inspire an entire corporate entity to follow him and make followers out of customers.  He was the epitome of a leader.

I guess you can add a fifth, sixth and seventh industry that he fundamentally changed…  Design/UI, Marketing, and sales as well because all of those industries/markets were handed their butts by a tech company that redefined cool.

RIP Steve!  Your legacy will live on…