We are totally (inter)dependent

This email Steve Jobs sent to himself (a year before he died at age 56), is both poignant, and (I think) relevant to today, where the rate of change is so fast, new technologies are creating new uncertainties and trade barriers between countries are being proposed and implemented.

No matter how upside down the world feels, we need each other.

From:Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com

To:Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com

Date:Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:08PM

I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.

I do not make any of my own clothing.

I speak a language I did not invent or refine.

I did not discover the mathematics I use.

I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.

I am moved by music I did not create myself.

When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.

I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.

I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.

Sent from my iPad

We all rely on each other to survive and thrive, we are all interdependent. It’s true of Product Development, as well as families, communities, workplaces, within national boundaries and beyond to the whole planet. Worth remembering.