His adoptive parents - working class - never attended college. They used their life savings to send Steve to college, but he dropped out after six months. He hung around the college selling empty bottles to feed himself, and attended classes as a drop-in (or what we would call a hang-around) for a further 18 months. He remarked, in his commencement address to the prestigious Stanford University, that his attendance to speak to the graduates was "the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation".

Jobs recounted to the graduates of one of the finest universities in the world that he slept on the floor of the dorm room of students while he was bouncing about in college. On Sundays, he walked seven miles to get a good meal to eat! He considered every setback in his life as creating unusual opportunities for him. He was able to attend the classes he would not have been able to, were he still attending college as a "registered student".

No justification for failure

Here is a man who created a company, Apple, which started in his parents' garage with one other partner, and who was eventually fired from what had become, 10 years later, a US$2-billion company with more than 4,000 employees.

Why am I attracted to the Jobs story? It demonstrates that an adopted boy with ordinary working parents, a college dropout, thrown out of his own company, rejoined to create one of the most successful organisations in the world! It makes the excuse many of us make - that we had it hard - to justify failure, forced to take another look.

I recall that when the students of my high school met in Florida seven years ago to celebrate the milestone of attaining age 50, it afforded me an opportunity to reflect on our respective beginnings. Those of us who had it hard were, ironically, the ones who were ahead in our respective professions. Those whose parents were able to provide most of their needs were not the top achievers.

In an uncanny way, life seems similar to the laws of physics, which I edited to read thus: that every setback in life can produce an equal but opposite result - that of success.

Inspiring story

The brightest mathematician among us was my friend, who had to seek refuge at my house to study when his father used a wooden plank to smash the light bulb he was using to study for his O'level exams. He declared that his son, a now-successful land surveyor, was just lazy, reading books when he ought to have been loading stones as a side man on his truck!

Steve Jobs' story is inspiring. He suffered betrayal from someone he brought into his company, who conspired against him, and who eventually had him removed. He returned to triumphantly lead the company to a value in excess of US$75 billion! His belief in self and ability to rise up after having fallen make him an excellent role model for the many impoverished young people who desire to do well, but materially, their journey seems dark.

I trust that somewhere today, a child reading his story will be inspired to - despite the odds - believe in self, wake up and realise that dream of yours!

Adopted from The Gleaner