To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Steve’s commencement address at Stanford, we are sharing a newly enhanced version of the video below and on YouTube. It is one of the most influential commencement addresses in history, watched over 120 million times, and reproduced in media and school curricula around the world. The talk even helped inspire an unlikely NBA title comeback for the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron James played a clip from it in the locker room before a critical game three against the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
It’s not an obvious candidate for a classic. A commencement address by a college dropout. A talk aimed at 22-year-olds that warns “You will gradually become the old and be cleared away.” A text as shadowed by reality as soaring with inspiration: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
It is a speech by a tech founder who scarcely mentions technology. A few years earlier, Steve told an interviewer, “People sometimes forget that they are very unique and that they have very unique feelings and perspectives. The whole computer industry wants to forget about the humanist side.” Steve had not forgotten. At Stanford, under the guise of great simplicity—“Today I want to tell you three stories from my life”—Steve touches on fundamental truths that make us human: love, death, fear, authenticity, hope.
The talk generated no small measure of anxiety for Steve. He had attended Reed College for only a few months before dropping out; now he would be speaking to graduates of one of the world’s top research universities, a place that meant a great deal to him. An intensely private man, Steve was not in the habit of talking about his personal journey—but he knew the occasion required it.
He did not know he wasn’t the students’ top choice for a speaker. They wanted comedian Jon Stewart, who had given a popular commencement address the year before. Arnold Schwarzenegger, movie star-turned-governor of California, was the third choice.
In the six months between the invitation from Stanford president John Hennessy and commencement, Steve sent himself notes, outlines, and drafts of ideas. As the date grew closer, the PR team at Apple began offering suggestions. He did not use them. Steve requested ideas from the four senior class co-presidents; they sent him thoughts and didn't hear back. He asked friends for advice. In the end, in the final weeks before graduation, Steve, working in close consultation with his wife Laurene, wrote the speech himself.
In the weeks leading up to commencement, Steve emailed himself speech ideas. Courtesy Apple.
Standing at the podium on a scorching day at Stanford Stadium, wearing jeans, a black shirt, and Birkenstocks under his black robe, Steve showed only one sign of nerves—and you had to really know him to recognize it. From his opening comments (“This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation”) to his closing wish that students “stay hungry, stay foolish,” he read his text verbatim.
Fifteen minutes, and it was over. In the audience, many students had been too distracted to pay full attention. There were beach balls to bat away, drinks and fans to deploy against the sweltering heat, families to find in the crowd, and a game of “Commencement Bingo” to play. Many graduates only recognized the importance of the speech later, when others asked.
Steve moments after the conclusion of his speech. Photograph by Linda A. Cicero. Courtesy Stanford University.
A few days after the ceremony, the class co-presidents sent Steve an appreciative email. This time, he responded. “Thank you all very much. It was really hard for me to prepare for this, but I loved it (especially when it was over…).”
