Late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs had a variety of powerful friends, and they’re honoring his legacy by sharing their recipes for success.
To celebrate his birthday on Tuesday, the Steve Jobs Archive released two collections of letters from business leaders, designers, writers, and more.
The entries were originally distributed to 2023 and 2024 fellows of the SJA program for young creators, and they’ve been compiled into two volumes titled “Letters to a Young Creator.”
The volumes feature the words of advice from tech trailblazers like Tim Cook and Jony Ive, to successful businessmen Bob Iger and Arthur Rock, to creative minds like Pixar’s Pete Docter and filmmaker Jon Chu.
Some wove their lessons together with personal anecdotes about their relationships with Jobs, while others laid out lists to aid in the creative process.
Tuesday would’ve been Jobs’ 71st birthday. The former Apple CEO died in 2011 after living with pancreatic cancer for a number of years. Jobs became known for his inspirational public speeches and quotes shared by those who worked closely with him.
Volume one of “Letters To a Young Creator” ends with an email Jobs sent to himself in 2010. In the note, he reflected on how his appreciation for human creativity.
“I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being,” Jobs wrote.
In volume two, Jobs referred to himself in a 1984 quote as a student.
“Don’t take it all too seriously,” he concluded.
Here’s what his friends had to say about pursuing success as a young creator.
Tim Cook posed one question to young creators
Cook took over as CEO in 2011 after Jobs stepped down to focus on his health. Before his death, the pair worked closely together at Apple. Cook has been with the company since he met Jobs in 1998.
In his 2024 letter, Cook described the fateful meeting that led to a decadeslong career at one of the biggest tech companies in the world. He said he was warned against taking a job at Apple as the company had been struggling around that time. One conversation with Jobs changed everything.
“I had never met someone with so much passion and vision,” Cook wrote. “I knew I had to be a part of it.”
His advice to young creators facing similar decisions on their future career paths was to ask themselves one question.
“And so when you imagine your future, and the winding path that is laid before you, remember the question you should ask is not ‘What will happen?’ but ‘Who will I be when it does?'” Cook said.
Jony Ive said that Jobs liked to focus on ideas
Ive, Apple’s former design chief, worked with Jobs for nearly 15 years. The pair would often have lunch together as they came up with ideas that led to successful products like the iPhone.
Ive wrote about his relationship with Jobs.
“His insatiable curiosity was not limited or distracted by his knowledge or expertise, nor was it casual or passive,” Ive wrote. “It was ferocious, energetic, and restless.”
Ive and Jobs connected over their shared curiosity. He encouraged people to be like Jobs and show their admiration for humans by being creators themselves. According to Ive, Jobs was focused on ideas rather than the problems that come along with them.
“Ideas are fragile. If they were resolved, they would not be ideas, they would be products. It takes determined effort not to be consumed by the problems of a new idea,” Ive wrote.
Pete Docter listed tips that help his creative process along
Docter is the chief creative officer at Pixar, which Jobs owned before Apple’s comeback. In recent years, Docter has been vocal about the intersection of tech and animation, saying artificial intelligence won’t fully replace humans in filmmaking.
He’s known for directing hit animated movies like “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Soul.”
Docter laid out nine tips that he uses in his own creative process. Here are three of them:
- Start with whatever shows up. Go as far as you can on that initial confidence and enthusiasm.
- Start fast and rough; worry about details later.
- Each day, start by pretending you’ve never seen it before, with no expectations or preconceptions. Take it in as your audience will: see what it is, not what you HOPE it is. Then change or add to make it better.
Bob Iger said to take risks
Iger has had two stints as Disney’s CEO, starting in 2005. The media giant acquired Pixar in 2006. Jobs became a member of Disney’s board of directors as part of the deal.
In true Disney fashion, Iger wrote about “magic and wonder” in his letter to creators. He remarked that creativity can’t be reduced to math or science.
Being risk-averse, he said, is the “death of creativity.”
“Second-guessing creative decisions is a perilous endeavor. Learn from creative mistakes, and never second-guess why things were made,” Iger wrote. “Instead, ask how they could have been made better.”
Arthur Rock said it’s all about who you keep around
Rock is an iconic Silicon Valley investor behind Intel, Xerox, and Apple. The 99-year-old wrote his 2025 letter about what makes a good leader.
“A good leader chooses good people,” he said.
Execution outweighs ideas, according to Rock, and finding people who can execute is essential. It’s the traits that money can’t buy, like “fire in the belly,” that Rock learned to identify throughout his decades as a venture capitalist.
“You want people who know what they can do, and do it. Even more important: You want people who know what they don’t know,” Rock said.
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