Tim Cook does a Jobs: Apple CEO challenges GWU graduates to change the world

In 1997 Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had asked the world to ‘Think Different’. The magnetic CEO inspired a generation of young graduates to innovate. “You’ve got to find what you love,” he had said famously in his Stanford commencement speech in 2005. A decade later, Tim Cook, his successor, talked along the same lines in his George Washington commencement address on 17 May, challenging graduates to “change the world”, reported Fortune. [caption id=“attachment_2250496” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Apple CEO Tim Cook addresses graduates during George Washington University’s commencement exercises on the National Mall, Sunday, May 17, 2015 in Washington. AP[/caption] “You have to find your North Star, and that means choices,” he said. “Some are easy, some are hard, and some will make you question everything.,” The Fortune quoted him as saying. The Apple CEO, in his address, talked about the importance of values, making a difference and also about his mentor Steve Jobs. Cook urged young graduates to take the centre stage. “The sidelines are not where you want to live your life, the world needs you in the arena." recode.com quoted him as saying. Other media reports termed the address as “part motivational speech and part Apple marketing pitch”. Cook also stood for civil rights and equality as he talked about his values growing up in Alabama, and referred to Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy as his heroes. Tim Cook replaced Steve Jobs as Apple CEO before the latter’s death in 2011. Jobs founded the company in his parents garage with friend and hacker Steve Wozniak in 1976, which went on to become the first US company to be valued in excess of $700 billion. Apple, in 1984, launched Macintosh and grabbed the world of computers by the scruff of its neck, deposing the technological tyranny of IBM. The accompanying advertisement directed by Ridley Scott aired at the Super Bowl XVIII, became a watershed moment in Apple’s history and TV commercials. Apple took a bite into the technological apple and left its mark on the entire basket.

For a bit of inspiration, here’s the video of Steve Jobs giving his Stanford address