In all of the news stories being written about the death of Steve Jobs  I have yet to see one that begins with “Billionaire Steve Jobs.” When Warren Buffett and Bill Gates or some Saudi sheikh die I suspect that “billionaire” will be the leading word in the obituary. That word defines them in our minds; it was a by-product for Steve Jobs – not what defined his life in his eyes or ours.

 While he was #39 on the Forbes list of billionaires this year (a move up from #162 in 2010) that was not at all how we thought of him. The greatest part of his financial wealth ($4.5 billion) came from Disney due to Disney’s purchase of Pixar in 2006 and not from the company he created and led for so many years. In a sense he was already fully funded to do what he loved. The fortune supported the work and did not drive it. His vision drove it. His dream was not tied to accumulating wealth.  

It’s simplistic but H.L. Hunt once said “Past a certain point money is only a way of keeping score.”  Forbes has figured out that its market is people who are not billionaires…or only those whose identity is defined by what they have accumulated.  That is why Steve Jobs is such an enigma to them.  He didn’t give the money away and more than likely he didn’t spend it on a lavish life-style. It was simply the natural result of doing what he loved. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if part of his legacy was millions of young people losing interest in a list of billionaires and rediscovering the power of doing what you do for the love of it ? The Latin word for that is “amateur ” and in the end that’s what Steve Jobs really was.  He did what he did for the love of it and that’s why we were drawn toward being a part of that dream.