New Hires Get Inspirational Note On Their First Day At Apple

When welcoming their new hires, most companies simply hand out an employee handbook and maybe a complimentary notebook with a matching ballpoint pen. Apple, as has long been established, is not like most companies. It was built on a counterculture cornerstone, from which the outside-the-box thinking that has given rise to a great deal of successful products and, indeed, experiences originated. It dares to think and be different. And as it turns out, this attitude even extends to something as marginal as the way Apple welcomes its new staff.

Under the username “m,” an Apple employee has posted on Instagram the above photo, which is of a copy of the inspirational note that is handed out to a new hire of Apple. He points out the note’s significance to his work, or rather life’s work, in the photo’s caption, which reads:

What greets you on your first day at Apple. I’ve had this taped to my dresser for two years. Words to live by.

Whether “m” works at the Genius Bar of an Apple Store or in the software engineering team in charge of the refinement of the status bar on iOS is not known. It is also, I think, beside the point. What’s important to understand is that these words, which are hugely reminiscent of the famous “Think Different” text, could easily inspire even us non-Apple employees.

It’s also important to note that, as mentioned by The Next Web, the content of the photo has been previously published elsewhere on the Web. But the prevalence of today’s media-sharing apps and sites like Instagram has paved the way for its reemergence among a much bigger audience. You can say that this itself is an instance of “Something big. Something that couldn’t happen anywhere else.”

• Instagram