Popularity often results in people following what you say versus what you do (think: politicians). In Steve Jobs case, you could argue he was not just popular, but was followed by a mass of people who had an almost cult-ish admiration for the man.
The trouble, then, is when you go out and dole bad advice. In his case, his famous Stanford commencement speech had 3 pieces of advice. Two of these were fantastic.
“You can’t connect the dots going forward”
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
The trouble is that he sandwiched this with a piece of advice that went on to define his talk – “You’ve got to find what you love.”
The trouble with great people making elementary mistakes is that their mistakes are often magnified. It is the same with Jobs. I’m sure he did it with all good intentions.
I reflected on it after spending time with some fantastic minds during the “workshop with no name” on Saturday when it felt like many of the members of the group believed Steve Jobs stood for the person who got to where he was because he never practiced and stayed “original.” It almost felt like the message they had gleaned from the hundreds of articles that glorify Jobs is that he did incredible things because he channelled some mythical natural ability. If they did the same by finding what they loved, they’d be just like him.
I’m convinced this is bad advice. Why? Because it strips away merit. And merit only comes from hard work and deliberate practice.
If you feel this is bullsh*t, I’d highly recommend taking a bit of time off and reading Cal Newport’s fantastic book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” He just gets it. You won’t regret it.
PS: As an appetizer, here’s a glimpse of Cal Newport’s approach to picking apart the passion argument in “Don’t follow your passion”
A Learning a Day 