The creator of the Apple Store has revealed an important conversation about faith and eternity that he had with the late Steve Jobs before the Apple founder died in 2011.
Ron Johnson, who is now CEO of Enjoy, told “Frankly Faraci” host Matt Faraci that he delivered some importance advice to Jobs after learning that the Apple founder had been diagnosed with cancer.
“When Steve first had cancer…we had a long phone call about faith and what it meant to me, and what it could mean to him,” Johnson revealed. “My only advice was very simple: ‘Steve, for a person who’s as smart as you are, you ought to take some time to think about this issue of eternity. Is it there or not, and how do you think about it? Just don’t take it for granted.'”
While Johnson is a Christian, he said that he didn’t “try to persuade” Jobs to believe what he believes, but that he at least wanted the tech genius to think deeper about the spiritual issues at play.
“I just wanted to let him know that I think it’s a pretty deep issue,” he told Faraci.
Johnson said that he felt it was clear from Jobs’ funeral — mainly because of the people who spoke at the event, the messages that were shared and the music — that Jobs had at least been thinking about these issues.
Johnson, who was once a vice-president at Apple and who spawned both the Apple Store as well as the accompanying Genius Bar, went on to also share his favorite Bible verse, among other sentiments.
“My favorite verse is Mark 12:31…love your neighbor as yourself…your neighbor is the people who are in your path, who you work with. It’s your customers, it’s your business partners,” he said. “So, if you’re trying to honor that, how do you love your neighbor? You gotta do it in work, through work, and so that’s what I always tried to do.”
He continued, “And so, how do you love somebody through work? That’s what the Apple Store is all about, and that’s why it’s so magical.”
Watch the full interview with Johnson here.