Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: Advice Given in Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech

College commencement speeches represent not only the end of college but the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. To be asked to speak at a college commencement holds high honor as the speaker is leaving the graduate and their families a parting message to look back on for the rest of their lives. 14 years ago Steve Jobs delivered his brilliant speech “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” to the multicultural graduates and families of Stanford University. However, throughout the whole speech Jobs only uses his personal experiences to use in his commencement address.

Even though this is all Jobs has to offer the audience he uses love and loss, connecting the dots, and death to play with the audience heartstrings. Jobs also uses repetition and his innovations to encourage the graduates of Stanford to pursue their dreams.

Although Jobs is known for his technological advances and being one of the founders for Pixar he is also recognized for his speaking abilities.

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Unlike Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey and many more many viewed Jobs as the modern day Thomas Edison. Jobs can also relate to the average human being by being vulnerable about the obstacles he had to face in his lifetime. Due to Jobs amazing speaking abilities he was invited to give a speech at one of the nations most elite universities, Stanford University. His use with pathos, ethos, and logos helps engage the listeners and convince them to chase their dreams even if they weren’t part of the original plan.

At the beginning of his speech Jobs open up his address with stating “I am honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.” He then continues on to say “this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation” by admitting that he never graduated college he already made the audience giggle a little bit and feel good about themselves because they accomplished something he never could. By making those two statements Jobs already set a more comfortable and relaxed tone for himself and the audience.

Throughout the rest of his speech he shares with the audience bits of advice that he has learned to help them on their new journey with life. Jobs knows that his audience is filled with intelligent individuals who are eager to get out in the real world and with some who don’t know what they want to do yet. After his simple yet blunt straight to the point introduction Jobs goes on to talk about three different life changing stories that everyone in the audience can relate to at some point. As we know Jobs loved simplicity as he showed that in everything he did with Apple. His love for simplicity was visible in his speech structure making it easy for anyone to understand the points he’s trying to get across. While attending Reed College in Portland, Oregon Jobs was not certain with what he wanted to do so after six months he dropped out.