Channeling My Inner Steve Jobs — Cynics, Critics, & Dreams
| By Jessica Miller-Merrell | Life, Work
I said to myself last night, I would not write a blog post about Steve Jobs, and yet here I am. I’m writing a blog post about Steve Jobs.
Last night I received speaker evaluations from a conference where I spoke at earlier this year. My speaker scores were near perfect, and I received some amazing comments ranging from awesome, “Her session to changed my thoughts on social media,” to the following:
she did not give any backpack advice, just stories on how she bullies, tells random stuff about herself that nobody cares. Never let her present again
While I enjoying writing and speaking hearing criticism is very, very hard for me. Why? Because we all want to be liked, and I’m sure that Steve Jobs was no different. My goal has always been to push the industry to comfortable yet necessary places within the human resources and recruiting industries. And sometimes, changing an industry is hard. So imagine how hard it is to change the entire human race.
Channeling My Inner Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs didn’t always have raving fans, and he wasn’t perfect. He was an orphan who didn’t graduate from college and follow a traditional life or career path. He flourished, and didn’t let the naysayer and criticisms get in his way. He succeeded, and with his passing like many I am very sad. But I’m also inspired. Steve Jobs represents what one can do if they break all the rules and follow a different, crazy path.
Ryan Estis is also someone who I admire wrote about Steve Jobs on his blog this morning. Ryan shared a video, which I am posting below about Steve Jobs. While I’d like to tell you this blog post is for my blog readers and those that stumble upon this article, this blog post and accompanying video is really for myself. To remind me that being a success doesn’t mean that everyone will love and praise you. Being a success means that you’ve forced people to think, learn, and interpret the world differently. And if I was able to do that for one person when I speak in front of a group, I’ve accomplished my goal. Yes, this blog post is for me to return to, read, and remember that wherever we go there will be cynics and critics, but what matters most if your family, your friends, and your dreams. Life’s too short to worry about anything else.
You may also enjoy this quote…keep up the GREAT work!
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Thank you Ryan. I love that quote and will keep it in a special place.
JMM
I love this so much that I’m now putting it in my never-ending list of quotes on FB (yep, I’m one of those… but just like JMM with this post, its more for me than for others!) Thanks Ryan!
And Jess… I love hearing you speak, as well being able to present with you. I love watching how you and I have grown together as “the” 2 HR girls from Oklahoma bringing two very different, yet practical and complimentary perspectives to the space, and knowing we are both in such different places than where we were 4-5 years ago!! I’m proud that we both have the fortitude to wade into unchartered waters, are still willing to question the status quo and strive for results… and sometimes we’re gonna screw up, and even though we know, deep down, that we learn from our failures – its a little more challenging in this age of social when our failures are sometimes much more public, and our critics are much more vocal… but even when we are on our A games; there are always going to be those who are critical of something that we do and the higher you rise, the more of that there will be.
Keep doing what you do sistah!!
There’s always one hater in every bunch. Fuggedaboutit. 🙂
When I think about critics, I always remember this video by Brad Meltzer (NY Times Best Seller). He compiled all of the negative comments about his latest book into one awesome video. http://youtu.be/ZaDdj42HdPo
Thanks Breanne,
I will check this one out. Appreciate you taking the time to read the blog and leave a comment. Value your friendship.
JMM