The day has come. We were afraid of that and at the same time, wanted to put it off as long as possible. Steve Jobs passed away this morning. When I saw the breaking news, I felt as if an era is finally over.
It was in mid 1980s that I saw the video of the round table discussion moderated by Peter Jennings (who was my favorite news anchor and passed away a few years ago to lung cancer.) His well known speech at Stanford was my favorite and I quote it many times. His “Stay hungry and stay foolish” is what I often tell myself when I feel discouraged as things do not go as I want or when things go wrong.
We are very fortunate that he lived until as long as he did…we have so much to thank him for. I am even more grateful that he believed in all of us as he made our lives both exciting and inspiring and his technology both beautiful and elegant.
May you rest in peace Steve Jobs!
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
