Now I'd like to tell you one last story.
About my best friend. A guy who had lots
of crazy ideas, and taught me an
important lesson. My 30-year friendship
with Steve Jobs was made up of a
thousand walks. If there was something he
wanted to talk about, and there always
was, we'd go for a walk. We climbed to the
top of Windy Hill, hiked around Castle
Rock or through the sands on on the
beach at Kona Village over the years one
particular walk stands out we had a lot
to talk about that day so we jumped in
the car
put the top down and headed out to
Castle Rock Rock State Park in the Santa
Cruz Mountains it was over 20 years ago
back in mid-1995 Steve was finishing up
Toy Story at Pixar and running next the
computer company he founded after he
left Apple. Apple was in severe distress.
It had gone steadily downhill during the
ten years of Steve's absence. The
problems were now so serious people were
wondering if Apple would survive. It was
all too painful to watch and stand by
and do nothing.
So the purpose of that particular hike
through the Santa Cruz Mountains on that
particular day was to discuss
taking over Apple Computer.
My idea was simple. Buy Apple.
and immediately makes Steve CEO. Apple
wasn't worth much back then about five
billion dollars. We both had really good
credit, and I had already arranged to
borrow all the money. All Steve had to do
was say yes. Steve proposed a somewhat
more circuitous approach. First persuade
Apple to buy NeXT Computer, then Steve
would join the Apple board and over time
the board would recognize that Steve was
the right guy to lead the company.
I said okay, that might work. But Steve if we
don't buy Apple how are we gonna make
any money suddenly Steve stopped walking
and turned toward me we were facing each
other when he put his left hand on my
right shoulder and his right hand on my
left shoulder staring unblinkingly into
my eyes Steve said Larry this is why
it's so important that I'm your friend
you don't need any more money I said
yeah I know I know
then I came and I said but we don't have
to keep it we could give it all away I
was whining Steve just shook his head
and said I'm not doing this for the
money I don't want to get paid if I do
this I need to do this standing on the
moral high ground the moral high ground
I said well that just might be the most
expensive real estate on earth but I
knew I had lost the argument
Steve had made up his mind right there
and then at Castle Rock in the summer of
1995 to save Apple his way at the end of
the hike right before we got back into
the car I said Steve you created Apple
it's your company and it's your call
I'll do whatever you want me to do I
went on the Apple board and then I
watched Steve build the most valuable
company on earth
the lesson here is very clear to me
Steve was right after a certain point it
can't be about the money
after a certain point you can't spend it
no matter how hard you try I know I've
tried hard but it's impossible in the
end the only practical option is to give
nearly all of it away so why did Steve
go back to Apple why did he devote so
much of what remained of his life to his
job why do I I believe the answer is
that deep inside of all of us all of us
there's a primal desire to do something
important with our lives
