The Hero Within
Autor: Mauro Ivan Vasquez | Publicado: 2011-10-07T05:21:00-07:00



Steve Jobs
died. The whole world mourned. Everybody and your aunt suddenly have a story to
tell about Jobs. People get emotional and at the verge of crying remembering
their first Mac, the first iPhone, or start bragging themselves: “I had a
Newton!”, as if this sort of thing gave them a connection, some intimate tie to
the man and his mind.

Why is
that? Why is the world mourning a man who was the CEO of the world´s largest
corporation? Aren’t corporations supposed to be bad, mean, soul-less behemoths
that crush the common man? Not Apple. Apple has made us feel something more
than common. Apple made us feel that we could share the power. The i power. The
power of me. Bestowed upon us by the man himself at every product launching
event.

How has
that come to be? Every time has its heroes.&nbsp;
Steve Jobs was a kind of modern personification of the classical hero.
He could not have asked for a more perfect reenactment of the Hero’s Journey:
the formation years, the battle against giants, the fall and betrayal, the
return home to lead his people to the promised land.

It was
almost a messianic journey, that of Steve. And that his name happened to be
Jobs was the ultimate coincidence. He lived it all, and conquered all. With a
spark of genius every time and again. 

He knew
what he was doing. He was quite conscious that his was not a common challenge,
and that his appeal to the people wasn’t just about products and marketing. And
he made certain it had the right feeling. Everything. Not just the products,
the communication, but his appearances, his speeches.

From the beginning,
the story unfolds as an epic tale: the young man who invented a magical
computer in a wooden box that would change the world. Along with him, his best
friend and faithful sorcerer. Both of them live their homes to go on a quest
against the dragons that menace to enslave humankind. The big blue, cold corporation.
As the young Steve Jobs himself stated in the launching of the Macintosh and the now historic Chiat, Day 1984 commercial, directed by Ridley Scott. He forged
alliances with people by clearly identifying the common enemy and fearlessly
taking the lead of the fight against it. But – and that’s instrumental to his
success – he delivered. The products, the technology and his conduction of the
fight touched, and inspired the imagination of countless advocates. He was
legit. The dragons could not have been so terrible, but he certainly made many
of us feel this way.

Then, he
was trapped. Betrayed. Expelled from his own palace, from his land, and from
his people. By some of his own mistakes, some bad alliances, and some ill-fated
choices. The hero had fallen. But the whole world watched in awe as he started
to get up slowly. On his knees, he took his sword and managed to get up. Now,
what is Next? Everybody asked. The battle that ensued was slow, bloody, and
almost destroyed the palace that he had built years before.

But he
triumphed and returned to his people. But the fight wasn’t over. It can’t be,
for the flame has to be kept alive. The original enemy had been beaten to death
(at least on the personal computers market). But a new enemy, even more
terrible, and also blue, was there. A dragon at the gates. Its name: Microsoft.
It had a powerful weapon, that it had stolen from Apple’s lands: Windows.

But our sorcerer’s
apprentice had evolved beyond that. With his new powers, he took his people far
beyond the realms of personal computing. He opened up the worlds of music,
entertainment, magical touch screens. Time and again giving people the
sensation of power in little gestures that could change the world. All the
power to our fingers. Pure enchantment.

Then, the
leader announces: the fight is over for him. He is stepping down. His poor
health stands like a testimony of the life of fights, of the long and glorious quest.
He fought for us. In the process, he happened to turn his company into the
world’s most valuable corporation. 

That’s the
power of a story. As Joseph Campbell would have put it: the raw power of myth.

That’s the
challenge that lies ahead for Apple: now that the hero has gone, will it turn
into the next dragon? Can it go on with the quest? And what is it fighting for?