Yesterday’s post on decision-making from one of the most prominent Founder CEOs in the world brought to my mind a speech from another one of the most prominent Founder CEOs of all time, Steve Jobs. I tend to enjoy commencement speeches and have watched several on YouTube from the likes of Jobs and Bezos to David Foster Wallace and Will Ferrell. I recommend all four of those but none moreso than Steve Jobs’ address at Stanford. Two of the three parts that I recall most often are about the dots and the mirror. The third is when he says, “remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” I have also had the back cover of The Last Whole Earth Catalog as my iPhone’s lock screen background since college. You will know what that says if you listen to the speech.

While Steve Jobs had his own set of flaws like anyone else, I have taken a lot of wisdom from the things that he had to say and the things that others had to say about him in books and otherwise. I hope you will take the 15 minutes or so to watch or listen to his speech here.