Por Pedro Ribeiro...ao 2º concerto ao vivo no Rivoli, no Porto.

Esta escolha será um pouco óbvia. Sim, estou a falar do discurso de Steve Jobs em Standford, realizado em 2005.

Se calhar houve muitos que só tomaram contacto com este discurso, após a sua morte, em Outubro de 2011. No meu caso, não consigo localizar no tempo, quando tomei conhecimento. Sei que não foi em 2005. Foi algum tempo depois, mas fiquei imediamente conquistado pela mensagem que transporta este texto. É um texto que fala por si e que aqui deixo em formato escrito e vídeo.

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

 

 

The first story is about connecting the dots.

 

 

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

 

 

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

 

 

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

 

 

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

 

 

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

 

 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

 

 

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

 

 

My second story is about love and loss.

 

 

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

 

 

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

 

 

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

 

 

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

 

 

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

 

 

My third story is about death.

 

 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

 

 

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

 

 

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

 

 

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

 

 

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

 

 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

 

 

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

 

 

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

 

 

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid- 1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

 

 

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

 

 

Thank you all very much."

Conan O'Brien é o autor que se segue.

Este texto é o discurso de despedida da NBC, depois de todo o caos provocado pela tentativa de voltar a colocar o Jay Leno no espaço que pertencia ao Tonight Show, apenas 7 meses após a saída do Jay Leno, algo que tinha sido acordado 5 anos antes.

Perante a injustiça que parecia estar a ser feita, o fiel público que seguia o Conan revoltou-se e gerou uma onda de apoio nunca vista, realizada sobretudo através da web. A própria NBC, absolutamente cega e demonstrando desconhecimento de como funciona o social media e as iniciativas virais, chegou a pedir ao próprio Conan para parar com tudo aquilo, sendo que, o Conan nada tinha feito para além do que iam fazendo diariamente no programa, gastando todo o orçamento que tinha disponível.

No último programa, Conan O'Brien fez um discurso de despedida. Começa por fazer os habituais agradecimentos, até mesmo à NBC, apesar da situação. Mas o final é arrebatador.

"Before we bring this rodeo to a close, I think a couple things should be said. 
There's been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. 
And this isn't a joke. 
To set the record straight, and this is true, tonight I'm allowed to say anything I want. 
(Man laughs) 
Um, and no it's not a joke, but thanks sir. Tonight I really am allowed to say whatever I want and what I want to say is this. 
Between my time at "Saturday Night Live," "The Late Night Show," and my brief run here on "The Tonight Show," I've worked with NBC for over 20 years. 
Yes, we have our differences right now, yes we're going our separate ways, but this company has been my home for most of my adult life. 
I am enormously proud of the work we've done together. And I want to thank NBC for making it all possible. 
I really do. 
(Audience applauds) 
A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind and I'll be honest with you, walking away from "The Tonight Show" is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. 
Um, making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world. 
I absolutely love doing it and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. 
I will fight anybody who says I don't, but no one would. 
But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian...every comedian dreams of hosting "The Tonight Show" and for seven months, I got to do it. 
And I did it my way with people I love. I do not regret one second of anything that we've done here. 
(Audience applause) 
And yeah. 
And I encounter people when I walk on the street now who are just uh who give me sort of a sad look. 
I have had more fortune than anybody I know. 
And if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven Parking lot we will find a way to make it fine. We really will. 
I have no problems. And, I don't want to do it on a 7-Eleven parking lot. 
(Audience laughs) 
But whatever, uh, finally I have something to say to our fans. 
This massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming for me. 
The rallies, the signs, all the goofy outrageous creativity on the Internet uh, the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain. 
(Audience cheers) 
It's pouring! It's been pouring for days and they're camping out to be in our audience. 
Really, you...Here's what all of you have done. 
You've made a sad situation joyous and inspirational. 
So to all the people watching I can never ever thank you enough for the kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. 
And all I ask is one thing...and this is...I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch...please do not be cynical. 
I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. 
It doesn't lead anywhere. 
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. 
But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. Amazing things will happen. (Audience claps) I'm telling you. 
It's just true. 
As proof, let's make something amazing happen right now."

O primeiro texto que vou destacar é da autoria de Fernando Alvim.

Não me recordo qual foi a primeira vez que tomei contacto com este texto. Sei que me "atingiu" de imediato. Tudo aquilo me fazia sentido. Apesar de todos nós conhecermos o cromo que é o Fernando Alvim, de quanto em vez, é alguém que se sai com textos absolutamente brilhantes.

Durante muito tempo, pensei que o texto era exclusivo de um dos livros do Alvim, mas em Agosto de 2011, no seu blog pessoal, o texto voltou a cruzar-se comigo.

"Esta coisa de gostar de alguém não é para todos e, por vezes – em mais casos do que se possa imaginar – existem pessoas que pura e simplesmente não conseguem gostar de ninguém. Esperem lá, não é que não queiram – querem! – mas quando gostam – e podem gostar muito – há sempre qualquer coisa que os impede. Ou porque a estrada está cortada para obras de pavimentação. Ou porque sofremos de diabetes e não podemos abusar dos açucares. Ou porque sim e não falamos mais nisto. Há muita gente que não pode comer crustáceos, verdade? E porquê? Não faço ideia, mas o médico diz que não podemos porque nascemos assim e nós, resignados, ao aproximar-se o empregado de mesa com meio quilo de gambas que faz favor, vamos dizendo: “Nem pensar, leve isso daqui que me irrita a pele”. 

Ora, por vezes, o simples facto de gostarmos de alguém pode provocar-nos uma alergia semelhante. E nós, sabendo-o, mandamos para trás quando estávamos mortinhos por ir em frente. Não vamos.. E muitas das vezes, sabendo deste nosso problema, escolhemos para nós aquilo que sabemos que, invariavelmente, iremos recusar. Daí existirem aquelas pessoas que insistem em afirmar que só se apaixonam pelas pessoas erradas. Mentira. Pensar dessa forma é que é errado, porque o certo é perceber que se nós escolhemos aquela pessoa foi porque já sabíamos que não íamos a lado nenhum e que – aqui entre nós – é até um alívio não dar em nada porque ia ser uma chatice e estava-se mesmo a ver que ia dar nisto. E deu. Do mesmo modo que no final de 10 anos de relacionamento, ou cinco, ou três, há o hábito generalizado de dizermos que aquela pessoa com quem nós nos casámos já não é a mesma pessoa, quando por mais que nos custe, é igualzinha. O que mudou – e o professor Júlio Machado Vaz que se cuide – foram as expectativas que nós criamos em relação a ela. Impressionados? 


Pois bem, se me permitem, vou arregaçar as mangas. O que é difícil – dizem – é saber quando gostam de nós. E, quando afirmam isto, bebo logo dois dry martinis para a tosse. Saber quando gostam de nós? Mas com mil raios, isso é o mais fácil porque quando se gosta de alguém não há desculpas nem “ ai que amanhã não dá porque tenho muito trabalho”, nem “ ai que hoje era bom mas tenho outra coisa combinada” nem “ ai que não vi a tua chamada não atendida”. 

Quando se gosta de alguém – mas a sério, que é disto que falamos – não há nada mais importante do que essa outra pessoa. E sendo assim, não há sms que não se receba porque possivelmente não vimos, porque se calhar estava a passar num sítio sem rede, porque a minha amiga não me deu o recado, porque não percebi que querias estar comigo, porque recebi as flores mas pensava não serem para mim, porque não estava em casa quando tocaste. 

Quando se gosta de alguém temos sempre rede, nunca falha a bateria, nunca nada nos impede de nos vermos e nem de nos encontrarmos no meio de uma multidão de gente. Quando se gosta de alguém não respondemos a uma mensagem só no final do dia, não temos acidentes de carro, nem nunca os nossos pais se sentiram mal a ponto de nos impossibilitarem o nosso encontro. Quando se gosta de alguém, ouvimos sempre o telefone, a campainha da porta, lemos sempre a mensagem que nos deixaram no vidro embaciado do carro desse Inverno rigoroso. Quando se gosta de alguém – e estou a escrever para os que gostam - vamos para o local do acidente com a carta amigável, vamos ter com ela ao corredor do hospital ver como estão os pais, chamamos os bombeiros para abrirem a porta, mas nada, nada nos impede de estar juntos, porque nada nem ninguém é mais importante, do que nós." 

Por muitos livros que se leia, por vezes, são pequenas intervenções, pequenos momentos ou figuras que nos marcam, que acabam por escrever ou dizer algo que tem impacto na nossa vida.

Repito, os textos valem o que valem, mas o seu verdadeiro valor está no seu significado, que neste caso, tem para mim.

No meu caso, há pelo menos, 3 textos que me vão acompanhando nos últimos tempos e vou destacá-los nos próximos 3 posts.

Ou como ver um sonho acontecer bem à frente dos nossos olhos.

O que vai acontecer oficialmente no próximo dia 17 de Dezembro, com o lançamento do livro "Crime na Praia do Zavial", autoria da Patrícia Santos.

Quis o destino que eu acabasse por conhecer a Patrícia e rapidamente percebi que estava ali alguém com um potencial imenso, com muitos sonhos e com vontade de os colocar em prática. Foi a fotografia que nos colocou em contacto, mas foi a escrita que a lançou para a Terra onde os sonhos acontecem, mesmo que o sonho estivesse guardado numa gaveta há oito anos.

Já sabem, vamos estar todos presentes no lançamento, no próximo dia 17 de Dezembro (15:00), no Neya Hotels na Rua D. Estefânia, 71/77 em Lisboa.

Depois de um conjunto de blogs, depois dos podcasts, uma startup? um novo novo projecto?

Será este, o exemplo mais evidente de "connecting the dots".

Sabe bem, ter feito parte desse percurso, desse processo. Cá estarei para ver o que vai resultar a partir daqui.

Em virtude da minha presença na apresentação do livro "Steve Jobs", que se realizou hoje na Fnac Colombo, tive oportunidade de estar mais uma vez com o Vasco Casquilho (que vinha, como sempre, com a sua 5D) e naturalmente falar mais um bocadinho de fotografia e falou-se sobretudo dos últimos trabalhos que ele tem feito: HDR.

(Foto: Vasco Casquilho) 

É conhecido que existem muitos fotógrafos que não são propriamente adeptos de HDR. Eu próprio me incluo no mesmo grupo.

Mas o Vasco, como na maior parte do trabalho que faz em fotografia, consegue sempre reinventar o conceito e levar aquele tipo de fotos a um novo nível, mesmo que sejam HDRs. Sabemos que o HDR cria novos ambientes, novos mundos, por causa das potencialidades do HDR, mas o estilo Vasco Casquilho (eu acho que já existe um estilo Vasco Casquilho) faz o resto e repito, leva o conceito a um nível completamente diferente.

Mas olhando ao trabalho que o Vasco tem feito nos últimos anos, que se tem materializado nos workshops, no estúdio e nas brutais fotos que tem publicado e partilhado com todos nós, esse trabalho ou o seu resultado, são a maior motivação e inspiração que podemos receber, para irmos atrás do nosso sonho, seja ele qual for.

Pessoalmente, todos os dias, quando me levanto, é esse sonho que me faz correr. Não se esqueçam...como o Lance Armstrong: "It's not about the bike."

Nas últimas semanas, tenho feito diversas referências a um documentário, que vi em 2009, que descobri através do blog do David, um documentário deveras interessante, sobre os 6 Graus de Separação, a conhecida teoria que tenta comprovar que são necessários no máximo seis laços de amizade para que duas pessoas estejam ligadas entre si.

Considerando um conjunto de variáveis, muitos têm colocado em causa esta teoria. Portanto, em que ficamos...mito ou realidade...

Pois bem, o documentário australiano "Connected - The Power of Six Degrees" tenta confirmar a teoria e vai mais longe. Leva a teoria para diferentes campos da ciência, como a matemática (que permitiu criar alguns modelos baseados nesta teoria), como funcionam as relações humanas, estudo das redes sociais, estudo das proteínas e da cura do cancro.

Aqui fica o trailer...

Lá diz o sábio povo...que "o mundo é muito pequeno"!

Já agora, para quem estiver interessado em ver o programa pode fazer download do filme “Connected - The Power of Six Degrees” (300MB).

Para terminar a homenagem a Steve Jobs, aqui fica um vídeo com o tributo de Steven Colbert.

Este tributo, está naturalmente, no top das homenagens que foram realizadas nos últimos dias.

...ou o gajo é só maluco?

Via The Next Web.

Curiosamente, reparei que este senhor tinha uma sessão de autógrafos marcada para a Barnes & Noble da 5ª Avenida em Nova Iorque e hoje surge numa conversa com amigos.

A dica foi dada e aqui está o vídeo de Tony Robbins, na sua passagem pelo TED. Lembram-se quando eu falava do Empire State of Mind e do "sair da caixa"? Pois bem, vejam o vídeo e perceberão melhor o que vos queria dizer...

Atentem à história que Tony Robbins conta quase no final do vídeo, da senhora, cujo namorado tinha morrido.

Via Vincent Laforet Blog.

José Saramago | 1922 - 2010

Prémio Nobel da Literatura - 1998

Hoje, estará presente em Lisboa, mais uma vez, Don Tapscott, Professor da Universidade de Toronto, consultor e autor de 13 livros sobre o impacto das novas tecnologias na sociedade nos negócios e na Educação.

Casado com uma portuguesa, Don Tapscott tem sido uma presença habitual no nosso país e as suas keynotes são absolutamente inspiradoras e uma visão bastante optimista da forma como podemos tirar partido da tecnologia e das redes sociais na Educação, nos Negócios e na Sociedade em geral.

Hoje, estará na Conferência "A Escola do Futuro na Era da Economia Digital".