Tribute to Steve Jobs.

The Web is full of tributes to Steve Jobs, who died this week. I've used Apple computers since the early 1980s so everything I do and write about has been influenced in some way by his work.

In today's paper I read one quote saying "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

This is very similar to a quote from Merri Dee of WGN TV that I've borrowed and used for over 18 years. "If it is to be, it is up to me."

In another article I read about "Apple U.: A degree in Jobs". In this article the writer talks about how Jobs created a training program within Apple to teach new leaders to think and act like he did. Wow.

Last January I wrote an article titled The Problem is not Schools, It's Poverty. I wrote a similar article earlier this week.

In the January article I pointed to the Broad Foundation who has set up The Broad Center to educate principles, superintendents and others and place them in school districts all over the country.

If you've read many of my articles you can see how I'm looking for a benefactor who would combine the thinking of Apple U with that of the Broad Foundation and create a Tutor/Mentor Institute that would educate leaders from all sectors to use the ideas available via the Internet to design and implement long-term strategies that help kids in poor neighborhoods get the extra supports needed to move through school and into 21st century careers.

In this Tipping Points essay which I wrote more than five years ago I point out the need for new strategies to provide leadership for the thousands of non-school organizations that need to be available in cities across the world.

The only way to make this happen is to find visionary leaders with single-minded determination and unlimited energy who say "We'll Build It. They Will Come."