Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech

Steve Jobs’ commencement speech was an address to graduating students at Stanford University. The speech was driven towards inspiring the graduating students by motivating them through his life experiences. The speech was short and straightforward and integrated a logical buildup of ideas (Stanford University, 2017). Jobs structured his speech to include an introduction, illustrations, and a conclusion. The foundation of his speech was that one could only be successful through attaining satisfaction from their work. Jobs commenced his speech by complimenting the audience. The complement offered by Jobs was critical in preparing his audience and getting the attention of the audience. The speech relies on ethos and compelling illustrations to deliver a strong message to the audience.

One effective strategy employed by Steve Jobs is the use of strong ethos. Ethos are an important persuasion technique that ensures that the audience understands the credibility of the persuader (Gallo, 2010). Jobs uses his life story to inspire the audience. He shares a story about his birth and the problems that he faced while growing up. His parents failed to accept him because they wanted a girl. His parents were also not present during his graduation. He explains that after graduation, he embraced an informal learning process. Though he faced various problems, Steve Jobs explains that he turned his story into a success story (Nan & Liu, 2013). 

Overall, Steve Jobs commencement speech is persuasive and inspirational. The speech is structured in a simplistic way but relies on the use of rhetorical devices to inspire the graduating students. He ensures that he uses his painful real-life stories to deliver the message of hope. Although he had been diagnosed with cancer, he was able to get his life back through an operation. The captivating conclusion makes the speech to be enchanting. 

References

Gallo, C. (2010). The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be insanely great in front of any audience. Prentice Hall.

Nan, Y., & Liu, L. (2013). Investigating the interpersonal and textual meaning of Steve Jobs’ Stanford speech in terms of Hyland’s metadiscourse theory. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 1(4), 90-96. 

Stanford University. (2017, June 12). Text of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005). Retrieved from https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/