Letters
Steve Jobs Writes to Himself, 2010
Steve Jobs at age twenty-one, 1976. All photos courtesy Steve Jobs Archive
Steve Jobs lived his life with a sustained commitment to make something wonderful and put it out into the world. In everything he did, he drafted and redrafted, practiced, and obsessed over the details. He also asked for advice; one of his favorite things was to learn from people who had been there before.
That practice is the guiding principle behind a new publication series from the Steve Jobs Archive titled Letters to a Young Creator. Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet—one of Steve’s favorite books—these volumes contain advice, presented as a series of letters from respected leaders and thinkers in response to questions posed by SJA’s growing community of young fellows.
Volume 1 features letters from Tadao Ando, Paola Antonelli, Anders Byriel, Ed Catmull, Lee Clow, Tim Cook, Brunello Cucinelli, Pete Docter, Bob Iger, Jony Ive, David Kelley, Dieter Rams, Alice Rawsthorn, Ruth Rogers, Samuel Ross and Anna Deavere Smith.
Volume 2 features letters from Mario Bellini, Larry Brilliant, Jon M. Chu, Es Devlin, Mickey Drexler, Lord Norman Foster, Davis Guggenheim, Jenny Holzer, Jimmy Iovine, Rashid Johnson, Alan Kay, Marc Newson, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ben Okri, Arthur Rock, Cindy Sherman and Mona Simpson.
Their advice ranges from inspirational and instructive to deeply personal and candid. The series is a reminder of the importance of curiosity as an ongoing practice, and of how that practice is enriched when we learn from a wide array of sources. As Laurene Powell Jobs writes in her introduction, “To live a life of creativity and curiosity, one must constantly ask questions. Steve thrived by seeking out people who could offer knowledge and fresh perspectives, and he surrounded himself with diverse voices—musicians, artists, scientists, designers, engineers, writers and humanitarians.”
One night in September 2010, Steve wrote himself an email that reflected on how the work and knowledge of others directly enriched his own existence. His message, which is suffused with humility and care, speaks to what he saw as an obligation to give something back to the human experience. It is included as a prologue to the first volume of the series.
—Sarah Douglas
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Both volumes of Letters to a Young Creator are now available to read here.