When deliberating on such outstanding and remarkable personality as Steve Jobs, the first thing that can be mentioned about him is that he was the most fascinating communicator and speaker on the world stage. Following his heart and intuition, the co-founder of Apple is the most remembered for his speeches and presentations where the projects he presented were more based on the paramount customer needs and concerns.
His ideas and life philosophy are both simple and powerful, his vision of technological development and marketing are unique, creative, and genius. What made him so incredible and second to none? Probably, his ability to create an interesting story taken from his life, deliver the experience he had, and convert into the ideological conception were among the primary techniques applied by the talented orator.
Thinking beyond stereotypes, choosing radical and extraordinary decisions, and understanding what people really wanted were among the main secrets of Jobs’s personality. His commitment to one purpose, single-mindedness, and ability to follow his heart beyond the established stereotypes are the main qualities I most admire about Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs was very well aware of the marketing strategies and approaches that helped him capture the audience and keep them listening to his speech. His presentations were always mesmerizing because the speaker gave the audience a reason to listen the story up to the end.
Each phase following of a presentation disclose an important issue or problem that can be solved once the audience heard the entire presentation. When I was listening to his Apple iPod Presentation, I noticed that his speech is not just a mere disposition of technical characteristics (Steve Jobs Presentation – The First iPod Introduction).
Steve Jobs did not pay much attention to this routine because he realized there is nothing interesting about this if it did not have any practical benefits for customers. As such, Apple genius presented the product within a story. While revealing the traits and technical description of the product, Jobs made use of metaphors that seemed to be more relevant to fiction stories, but not to a mere presentation of a technological gadget. Perhaps, this was the major peculiarity of his terrific presentations.
Aside from deep knowledge on what customers want and need, Steve Jobs was a great manager who knows all about the product he represented. More importantly, he truly believed in any product he introduced on the stage. I agree with Gillam who writes, “Jobs is always filled with enthusiasm at least in public, for each new product he develops” (10).
After, one should recognize that he was, indeed, a charismatic leader and manager whose speech made the audience wait in anticipation to learn what would come next. Because Jobs was a perfectionist, his ideas and inventions always came to the forth and no other managers and producers can compete with his incredible love for what he was doing.
His demanding and even aggressive personality, temperamental style of conveying ideas, as well as advertising Apple products, was always fascinating due to the great enthusiasm and full commitment to his work. In addition, his management skills were largely due to his sense of intuition that had a significant influence of masses of people. Admiring the job he did was the main condition under which he cooperated with his partners. The work would be senseless if it was not admired.
In-depth understanding of the marketing techniques, as well as effective presentation of the Apple products, is not the only issue that is peculiar about this personality. This can be understood while listening to his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech.
The three stories he presented are really captivating because they reveal the genuine purpose of our lives, as well as actual secrets of his successful career. Indeed, the stories capture the entire life of the inventor, as well as how he achieved such tremendous results in his live. While listening to his speech for several times, I have assumed several conclusions. First of all, people should make mistakes and call for risks if they really want to achieve something.
They should not be afraid of make choices and depend on other people’s decisions. Second, it is necessary to be always in the search for what you really love, should be your professional career, or personal life, or cooking a dinner. Finally, each step in life should be well thought and meaningful. If it does not make sense to you, it will not make sense to anyone.
Certainly, technological knowledge and competence in program development are crucial for promoting computer industry. However, Jobs has surpassed these conventions and introduced new techniques to managing products. When reuniting with Apple, Jobs stated, “Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together” (cited in Gillam 67).
In this respect, Jobs was exactly the gravitational force that kept the Apple company afloat. He was among the pioneers in the advertising who managed to introduce both affordable and popular computers.
Regarding his marketing philosophy, it should be stressed that the phenomenon of Job Steve lies in his ability to combine technological worlds with the actual and down-to-earth needs of customers. Perhaps, this conception was the most successful in capturing the greatest marketing segment and making Apple technologies the best selling.
Understanding Jobs’s attitude to work can also be revealed through his relations with Bill Gates, his most furious competitor. Despite the rigorous competition, these two were friends and partners. However, their rivalry was healthy and reasonable because both did not fight against each other as personalities, but as two professionals putting forward their technological ideas (Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005).
Hence, Steve Jobs attained much importance to the design of the products whereas Gates was more concerned with product functions and reliability. Trends in design and style were the prerogative of Jobs who believed that Gates’ was inferior when it comes to the matters of tastes. At the same time, Gates believed that Jobs’ accent on design was due to his incompetence in program development. Looking at different angles was the main reason for competition and, therefore, their relationships were quite sophisticated.
Regarding the established tandem, Jobs was pioneer in creative design. He believed that this was among the priorities of technological development, as well as the major condition of product distribution at the market. Specifically, he believed that product development dealt with culture development and customer satisfaction. In other words, to meet the customer needs and understand the marketing word, it was imperative to think in a broader context and deliver technological ideas in collaboration with creative design.
The rivalry between Jobs and Gates was not based on personal disagreements, but on the desire to promote the product and demonstrate how that can be useful and attractive for consumers. At this point, Jobs had always been persuasive because of his original and enthusiastic ideas and, as a result, the Apple designer and inventor had a great impact on the industry development.
The second revival of Apple is a proof of Jobs’s ideology on the importance of creativity and freshness of ideas. Indeed, people are more motivated by the original and up-to-date ideas that can be useful in their lives. Jobs understood that and based his concepts on people’s needs and priorities.
In conclusion, it should be stated that Steve Jobs was a fascinating narrator, an ideological leader, and outstanding managers. His creative ideas served as a gravitational force for the Apple company because his marketing philosophy brought the second life to the company.
While analyzing Jobs’s outlooks life, brilliant management style, and vision of computer industry development, everything can be confined to one idea. In fact, people should be enthusiastic and fully dedicated to what they are doing.
They should truly believe in their success, despite the existing challenges and constraints. Jobs had to surpass serious adversities to become a recognized professional in his sphere. His extreme devotedness and desire to introduce creative ideas were on the top of his priorities.
In addition, the rivalry between the giants of the computer words – Steve Jobs and Bills Gates – proves that the management strategies of Jobs were much more successful because they were directed at meeting the customer needs. In other words, Jobs understood how to make the product popular and affordable. His persuasive and remarkable presentations disclose his ability to make the audience believe in the usefulness and practicability of his ideas.
Works Cited
Gillam, Scott. Steve Jobs: Apple and iPod Wizard. US: ABDO, 2008, Print.
Steve Jobs Presentation – The First iPod Introduction. YouTube. 2009. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haYw1FsXudE&feature=related
Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005. YouTube. 2006. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA