(85) Steve Jobs’ Success as Seen Through Saju

By Janet Shin

American businessman Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc., is undeniably famous around the world.

Innovative products such as the iPhone, iPod and most recently, iPad, have made Apple and Jobs technology icons. Jobs is a role model for young people around the world.

We are now looking at his saju to see the driving force of his success, his life and past frustrations.

Jobs was born Feb. 24, 1955 with his saju (Chart 1).

Looking at his saju, he was born with the yang fire energy (byeong) as a day master in the month of yang wood (the knowledge star).

Born in the month of the knowledge star and supplemented by expression stars, Jobs can be described as both knowledgeable and talented. He is someone who can make good use of his knowledge and talent to produce innovative goods.

In saju theory, it is usually said that people either with knowledge stars or expression stars are not so successful in achieving their goals. For example, people with only knowledge stars may make good scholars but not good teachers. That means they may have certain academic background, but they cannot utilize their knowledge for specific results. On the other hand, if the saju only has expression stars but missing the proper knowledge star, people usually boast of more ability than they actually have.

However, seeing both the knowledge and expression stars in the saju of Jobs suggests a great efficiency and intelligence in his life.

There are many books and articles about the adversities Jobs faced, as well as his management leadership and creativity. However, he has seen not only successes but also challenges and struggles.

He is considered an icon of the IT world as well as a top businessman, by his flashes of creativity and imagination, and the way he addresses his ideas.

On the other hand, lacking metal and water energy in his saju would make it difficult for him to fit into an organization and its regulations. Water energy restrains fire energy, which is a career star. Usually people without such a star are reluctant to follow rigid rules.

Now let's get into more specifics in his life.

In 1972 ― the year of Im-Ja ― he had to drop out of school for financial reasons. Im-Ja, in both stem and branch is strong water energy, which is a career star for byeong fire. He could have had conflicts between his freewheeling life style and the regulation and restriction of the school, on top of financial problems.

Then, 1974-1975 are the years of gap-in and eul-myo (wood), which are the knowledge stars, and he could gain all the knowledge for the output he was going to release.

In 1976, the year of byeong-jin (earth), which is an expression star, he released Apple 1. Between 1980 and 1981, the years of gyeong-sin and sin-yu (metal), which are strong money stars, he became a billionaire at the age of 25.

From 1985 to 1986, the years of eul-chuk (earth) and byeong-in (wood), which are a mix of knowledge and expression stars, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded Next, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. There were struggles with the board of directors in Apple Inc. but it also meant the launching of a new business. Next's subsequent 1997 buyout by Apple Inc. brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded.

In 2000, the year of gyeong-jin (metal-earth), which is the money and expression star, Jobs was officially appointed as CEO of Apple Inc. It was the beginning of his splendid revival, which saw Apple release the iPod and iTunes.

Reviewing his life from the perspective of saju, whenever he met expression stars in the coming years, he came up with new creative gadgets. The business he is running is not known for its name itself but for its creativity and genius. Its reputation continues to grow as it releases new innovative products. It makes its profits from creativity, not just the production management system, which makes it different from companies like Toyota and Samsung.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea. She is the author of "Learning Four Pillars." She offers saju courses to all who are interested. For more information, visit her Web site (https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin) or email janetshin@hotmail.com.