I'm sad that Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple's CEO, mainly because I think it means that he will be leaving this earthly reality distortion field soon. When that time comes, my blog will be all about him. In the meantime, there's still time for hope and joy. I find myself hopeful that, despite Steve's unique genius, another genius will arise, and I think she'll be a she!
Think about what Steve gave to the computer industry:
- An uncompromising insistence that products must be beautifully designed
- A vision of how computers can help people enjoy life and make a difference in their local and global communities
- Empathy for "the rest of us" that results in easy-to-use computers, cellphones, tablets
- Collaboration skills that help tekkies and artists work together, for example to make blockbuster animated movies
- Advertising genius
- Fantastic online and in-store shopping experiences
He sounds female! Those are all capabilities that people cite as reasons that we need more women in the computer field. Sure, I know that many men have those qualities too. But most men in the computer field are better implementors than designers. They tend to jump right into coding and to ship products that are not fully debugged or easy to use.
In addition, in theory I agree with many post-feminists who say that the sex of a genius shouldn't matter. But girls and women need role models. (If you don't understand the importance of having role models that look like you, I bet you've never needed to consider it. You are probably white, male, straight, and from the middle or upper classes. Please develop some empathy. You're going to need it.)
But back to my main point, another reason I think that the next Steve Jobs could be female is that there are so many programs to encourage girls and women to go into the computer field. There's the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, the National Center for Women & Information Technology, AAUW, CompuGirls, and my new favorite, Dot Diva. We women are coming back!
The next Steve Jobs is going to be brilliant, dynamic, collaborative, empathetic, and able to think different. I can't wait to meet her.
