It’s amazing what you find in the depths of your hard drive. In the middle of a recent conversation with my friend and colleague Ian Hawkins about Apple’s impact on the world as we were both writing a keynote speech for an upcoming event, he reminded me that I’d interviewed Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak. I went looking for the footage and once I’d picked myself up off the ground to discover it was filmed some 16 years or so ago, I gave it a rewatch and thought “this is too good not to share”.
Just to give some background on the interview, I had dinner with Steve the night before this recording. The dinner was an opportunity to get to know each other, and I think you can tell from the get-go that he was in a relaxed and playful mood, ready to talk.
With a big name, you want to strike a balance of talking about the things they’ve probably been asked about thousands of times before (but which the audience will expect again) along with fresh insights on familiar themes and questions they perhaps haven’t been asked before.
I think we struck the right balance here, and if memory serves me right, this was one of the first fireside chats he had undertaken in public because he was by his own admission quite shy. Of course, we talked about the early days of one of the world’s most iconic companies and Steve shared fascinating stories about the birth of the Apple II, the challenges of raising funds and the pivotal role of Steve Jobs, the other co-founder.
It’s interesting to see what themes are still relevant today: the importance of innovation, the power of simplicity and how ever-more powerful personal computing is shaping the world around us. I particularly enjoyed Steve’s insights into the design process and the early days of the Homebrew Computer Club. It all built a unique perspective on the history of technology.
Later in the interview, we talked about the future, which is now the past of course: the potential of cloud computing features heavily. It’s a reminder that storing data remotely was initially met with skepticism before we took it for granted. It’s just one of a number of paradigm shifts we’ve seen in our lifetimes.
Steve’s passion for education shines through in his experience as a teacher. He highlighted the importance of practical, hands-on learning and the need to bridge the gap between academia and industry – yet another theme that hasn’t gone out of date. By providing students with real-world experiences and opportunities to explore technology, we can inspire the next generation of innovators.
A Personal Note
It was truly an honour to sit down with Steve Wozniak. Watching this again years later, I’m struck by his passion for the power of technology to support rather than replace innovation, creativity and human connection.
What I’ll be taking away is a reminder of the power of human ingenuity and the importance of pursuing one’s passions. I hope you’ll watch the video yourself and find things for yourself that inspire and connect.
This article appears on Nadine Dereza’s website as well Babaco Media’s website.
