When The Titans Turned Out To Be Wrong

During the year 1998, Apple Inc. was in the depths of despair. The sun it seemed was about to set on this icon of Silicon Valley. Having suffered from record losses, the axe fell on the then CEO Gill Amelio who ultimately ended up resigning. No one wanted a piece of this fallen star and everyone wanted to wash his hands of this problem child.

They say success has many fathers while failure is an orphan. Perhaps, at this point Apple was that orphan which was in desperate need of a knight in shining armour. And who better to claim this orphan than the long lost white knight Steve Jobs.

The script is familiar to all of us. Perhaps this saga and its glorious ending is amongst the most recited ones in history. Jobs turned out to be the technology industry’s foremost magician who left the world spellbound and resurrected Apple’s status amongst the pantheon of greats.

But back then when Jobs took control of this leaking vessel, no one thought that he could bring it back safely to the shore. For it is a rare occurrence for a man to have the tenacity to command a sinking ship, let alone bring it back safely to the harbour. The pundits predicted that doomsday was near and it was time to bid adieu. In sync with all the predictions, the Emperor of Microsoft, Bill Gates famously proclaimed:

What I can’t figure out is why he (Steve Jobs) is even trying (to be the CEO of Apple)? He knows he can’t win.

Another pioneer, Michael Dell on being asked what he’d do with Apple if he were in Jobs’ shoes said:

What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.

Now these two luminaries are amongst history’s most celebrated entrepreneurs and were instrumental in ushering in the personal computer revolution. But their statements in the backdrop of what eventually transpired just show how everyone, irrespective of their stature, is extremely incompetent when it comes to predicting future outcomes.

This episode drives home the point that it is better to keep your two cents to yourself rather than going about writing people off. For the next time someone is unkind to you and your dreams, just remember Steve Jobs. The following is an excerpt from his commencement speech to the graduating class of 2005 at Stanford University:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.