Much has been written and much has been said about the passing of Steve Jobs and it is quite clear that the shadow he cast and the legend he created will continue to grow and be scrutinized for generations to come. For me, my eyes teared up as I reflected on the early days at Apple and the time I spent with Steve while working for Synertek, and later  VLSI Technology developing custom integrated circuits for the Apple II, Lisa and early Macs.
 

Having survived cancer myself, I should not have been shocked by Steve’s death. He was fighting a very rare and deadly cancer, but the Steve I knew had always turned challenges into opportunities and it was somehow impossible to think of a world without him. I have many stories to tell about how he saw things from a different vantage point than the rest of us and how he almost instinctively understood how and when to create new paradigms, but what I remember most is a time when one of his engineers insisted that the goals he was setting for the release of the first Mac were impossible. Steve reacted by demanding that every dictionary at Apple was to have the word impossible crossed out. He then proposed a handsome reward to the engineering team if the release date was met and they moved in with sleeping bags and cots and Mac was born on schedule.
 

Many of us face serious challenges as we struggle with finding our next job. Steve, also found himself unemployed when the Board of Directors at Apple decided they needed a more traditional style of leadership.   I can tell without hesitation, that he knew who he was and moved on from Apple with a sense of confidence and purpose. I have often said that it’s not your circumstances that define who you are; it’s how you react to them that defines you.
 

Steve somehow knew that the best was yet to come.  When I met with him before his return to Apple, he needed a favor from VLSI Technology and instead of requesting the favor, he demanded the favor as if he still ran Apple. Some might call this arrogance, but as was customary his demands were met.
 

For the rest of us, we can only marvel at his achievements as a CEO and innovator, but what we can do is understand that the most important element of success is believing in yourself.