It's all about connecting the dots

I have a good buddy W.E. in Japan that is applying to business school this fall. He asked me about b-school interviews. For me, they weren’t difficult at all. The questions at each interview are basically the same: Why do you want an MBA now? Why this school?

Then one of my newer friends S.I. posted a commencement speech Steve Jobs did at Stanford five years ago. S.I. is a university student here in Tokyo, and is dropping knowledge on me via facebook. Thanks, S.I.

Jobs says it’s all about “connecting the dots” when tying together dropping out of college to his success at Apple.

“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. 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.”

Business school applications are all about “connecting the dots.” I had no idea I’d be going to USC in two months when I moved to Japan 5 years ago. He’s right though when he says it is very clear looking backwards. I can tell you exactly why I am going there now, and how everything I’ve accomplished to this point leads to that path. The b-school application process is a very painstaking process, but once you finish it you know exactly who you are, what you can and can’t do, and what you will be doing with that information going forward. Even if you don’t get in anywhere.

Jobs goes on to give more insight regarding getting fired from Apple.

"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

This is where you really need to have faith in the stars aligning themselves. I’ve had jobs that I have liked, not loved. Will I get myself to that elusive job? Well, that’s why I’m going to back to school. Only time will tell but I’m following Mr. Jobs advice by not settling.

His whole commencement speech can be found here.

People keep asking me if I’m coming back to Japan. What nobody realizes is that Japan is pretty much home to me. Except for a short stay after university, I haven’t lived in the house I grew up in since I was 17 years old. It’s very possible I fall in love with Southern California but up to this point I’ve never enjoyed life more than my 5+ years here in Tokyo. Not even close. I wish my friends and family from PG County, Baltimore, NYC, etc. could have been here for the ride.

I met a guy last night that went to HEC Paris. He is from Argentina. He’s been here almost 3 times as long as I have and I asked him if he’s going to be here in the long run. He said yeah. He told me his reason in Japanese – Tokyo is sumiyasui. Sumiyasui translated directly into English means “easy to live.” The translation doesn’t really do the phrase any justice however. It’s more like as Miss N.S. says, “a great place to live.”

T-minus 2 months till LA and I still don’t have a place to live. Nor a car. Should I be worried?

I know I’m forgetting something, but I’ll leave it to next time.