I recently had a conversation with film director, Joshua Michael Stern, whose new movie, ‘Jobs,’ starring Ashton Kutcher, opens on August 16. I saw an advanced screening of the movie and it’s clear that Kutcher did his homework. He nails Jobs’ peculiar mannerisms perfectly. Stern, too, put in his research. He interviewed the young men who worked with Jobs in the early “garage days” of Apple. According to Stern, the interviews yielded something quite surprising; so startling in fact, Stern created some scenes based on what he had learned.
“The one thing that fascinated me the most about his [Steve Jobs] story is that this man known for his eloquent presentations had a very, very difficult time explaining things,” Stern told me. “The young Steve Jobs had a hard time articulating something that didn’t exist. He could see it, taste it, knew what it felt like, but he didn’t have all the language because it hadn’t been invented yet. People didn’t fathom the personal computer on a mass produced level. I loved the fact that this amazing communicator once struggled to find the words to describe the story he wanted to tell.”
Stern includes several scenes in the movie that capture Jobs’ struggle to communicate simply, and, later, demonstrate how Jobs learned to communicate his ideas more effectively.
In one scene the character of a young Steve Jobs (played by Kutcher) is shown making multiple phone calls in the backyard of his parents’ house and growing increasingly frustrated as he tries to explain the notion of the Apple II. "We're talking about the future. We're working in a market that doesn't even exist yet,” Jobs yells on the phone. “What Intel has done for the microprocessor, we are going to do for the home computer [pause]…How can you not know what I'm talking about?” In another call he says, “No ma’m but it runs on a TV monitor. Like a television set, exactly. No, it’s not a TV set. It’s a personal computer. Do you own a typewriter? Imagine combining your typewriter with your television set.” Jobs slams down the phone, falls back onto the grass, and screams in exasperation.
I told Stern that I believe the previous scene was pivotal because it reflected how Jobs ultimately learned to be a world-class communicator—Jobs was tapping into the power of metaphor and analogies to refine and articulate his ideas.
Metaphors and analogies are close cousins, and Jobs used both rhetorical devices to communicate complex ideas simply. Metaphor is a common device to describe one thing in terms of another. In his book I Is An Other, author James Geary reveals that metaphor is a common way innovators, writers, and creative geniuses see the world. “Metaphorical thinking—our instinct not just for describing but for comprehending on thing in terms of another—shapes our view of the world and is essential to how we communicate, learn, discover, and invent,” writes Geary. Metaphor imbues one thing with the qualities of another. It’s an effective literary device and Steve Jobs used it brilliantly to make marketing history.
In 1984 Jobs delivered one of the most famous presentations in corporate history—the introduction of the Macintosh, where he previewed the Ridley Scott television ad equating IBM with George Orwell’s Big Brother, a symbol of authoritarianism and abuse of power. In one scene, Kutcher, delivering Steve Jobs’ own words, says, “It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to give Big Blue a run for its money. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire Information Age? Was George Orwell right about 1984?” Describing IBM as Big Brother is rich in metaphorical language and worked so well the ad itself became the most famous spot in television history. The Big Blue Blue/Big Brother reference is more than a statement or a simply analogy; it’s an entire messaging and branding campaign that positioned Apple and the Mac as a tool for rebellion, for achieving self-identify and living life on one’s own terms.
Jobs had mastered metaphor and continued to use it to tell the story behind his products.
In another scene from the movie, Kutcher plays the Steve Jobs of 2001, and walks into a theatre to announce the first iPod. "It's a music playing device. But what it represents is as important as what it is. It's a tool for the heart. And when you can touch someone's heart, that's limitless." Again, we see metaphor infusing Jobs’ messages. In fact Steve Jobs often described a computer as a ‘tool’ to help people unleash their creativity. “What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. A bicycle for our minds,” Jobs once said.
An analogy is a means of explaining an idea by comparing two things to highlight the similarity between the two. Connect the two things with the words like or as and it becomes a simile. For example, in the scene when Jobs (Kutcher) first meets the original team working on the Macintosh he says, “This thing is for the everyman. That’s our end user. It’s the school-teacher. It’s the garbage man. It’s the kid. It’s some grandma in Nebraska. We need to make this thing simple. It’s got to work [pause] like an appliance.” Steve Jobs often did use the appliance analogy, not only to communicate his idea, but to build it. Jobs would visit the kitchen appliance section of Macy’s, studying the simple functions of the Cuisinart, a tool that made a common household chore easier and a little fun.
Thinking in analogy even helped Steve Jobs come up with the company name, Apple. In a scene based on a true event (Stern said he stuck to what is publicly known), Jobs and his partner, Steve Wozniak (played by Josh Gad) are seen debating the name of the company they’ve created. After dismissing any “Star Trek” references that Woz was offering, Jobs said, “It needs to be something you see and say, man I’ve just got to have it, like an Apple. It’s simple, sophisticated, and comes before Atari in the phone book.”
Communication is hard work. Communicating hard concepts simply requires even more effort. Steve Jobs had advanced ideas for which there was no point of reference, so he had to create a reference his listeners could relate to. Metaphorical thinking is how Jobs made sense of the world and how he ultimately created intoxicating brand messages. But it was the result of the struggle that Stern observed which ultimately transformed Jobs from a frustrated, inarticulate young man, into simple, precise, and inspiring communicator. As I’ve said on more than one occasion—Steve Jobs wasn’t a natural communicator. He worked at it really, really hard. And it paid off.
Carmine Gallo is the communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is a popular keynote speaker and author of several books, including the international bestsellers The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. His new book, The Apple Experience, is the first book to reveal the secrets behind the stunning success of the Apple Retail Store. Carmine has recently launched an eLearning course titled, New Rules of Persuasive Presentations. Follow Carmine on Facebook or Twitter.
