Steve Jobs (24 page)

Average words/

13.79

18.23

sentence

Lexical density

15.76%

24.52%

Hard words

3.18%

5.2%

Fog index

6.79

9.37

Table 10.2 compares some exact phrases from the 2007

presentations. Excerpts from Bill Gates’s remarks are in the

right column.
5
The left column contains excerpts from Steve Jobs
.6

Where Gates is obtuse, Jobs is clear. Where Gates is abstract,

Jobs is tangible. Where Gates is complex, Jobs is simple.

Now, I can hear you saying, “Bill Gates might not speak

as simply as Jobs, but he’s the richest guy in the world, so he

must have done something right.” You’re correct. He did. Gates

invented Windows, the operating system installed in 90 per-

cent of the world’s computers. You, however, did not. Your

audience will not let you get away with language they’ll accept

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DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE

TABLE 10.2
VERBIAGE IN GATES’S 2007 CES KEYNOTE VERSUS

JOBS’S 2007 MACWORLD KEYNOTE

BILL GATES, 2007 INTERNATIONAL

STEVE JOBS, 2007 MACWORLD

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW

”You know, it was just a year

“The processors are now opening the

ago that I was up here and

memory capability up to 64-bit, and

announced that we were going

that’s a transition we’re making without

to switch to Intel processors.

a lot of incompatibility, without paying

It was a huge heart transplant

a lot of extra money. Software, the

to Intel microprocessors. And

old 32-bit software, can run, but if you

I said that we would do it over

need to get more space, it’s just there.”

the coming twelve months. We

did it in seven months, and it’s

been the smoothest and most

successful transition that we’ve

ever seen in the history of our

industry.”

“Now I’d like to tell you a few

“The process we’ve been through over

things about iTunes that

this year—there was a beta 2—got

are pretty exciting . . . We

out to over two million people. The

are selling over five million

release candidate, which was our last

songs a day now. Isn’t that

chance for feedback, got out to over

unbelievable? That’s fifty-eight

five million. We had a lot of in-depth

songs every second of every

things where we went in and sat and

minute of every hour of every

interviewed people using Windows

day.”

Vista in family situations. We did that

in seven different countries. We did

incredible performance simulation,

getting over sixty years equivalent

of performance testing with all the

common mix of applications that were

out there.”

“We’ve got awesome TV shows

“Microsoft Office has got a new

on iTunes. As a matter of fact,

user interface; it’s got new ways of

we have over 350 TV shows

connecting up to Office Live services

that you can buy episodes from

and SharePoint, but the discoverability

on iTunes. And I’m very pleased

of the richness is advanced dramatically

to report that we have now

by that user interface.”

sold fifty million TV shows on

iTunes. Isn’t that incredible?”

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS
117

from Gates. If your presentations are confusing, convoluted,

and full of jargon, you will miss an opportunity to engage and

excite your listeners. Strive for understanding. Avoid lexical

density.

You might have noticed that many of Jobs’s favorite words

are the type of words most people use in everyday watercooler

conversation: “amazing, incredible, gorgeous.” Most presenters

change their language for a pitch or presentation. Jobs speaks

the same way onstage as he does offstage. He has confidence in

his brand and has fun with the words he chooses. Some critics

might say his language borders on hyperbole, but Jobs echoes

the sentiments shared by millions of his customers.

Of course, you should use words that authentically represent

your service, brand, or product. A financial adviser recom-

mending a mutual fund to a client would appear insincere (and

probably dishonest) if he or she said, “This new mutual fund will

revolutionize the financial industry as we know it. It’s amazing,

and you need to invest your money in it right now.” Instead,

the financial adviser could say, “Mutual funds are amazing

products that will help your money grow while lowering your

risk. There are thousands of funds available, but I’m especially

excited about a new one. Let me tell you more about it . . .” In

the latter statement, our financial adviser has chosen words that

are simple and emotional while still maintaining his or her pro-

fessionalism and integrity.

Don’t be afraid of using simple words and descriptive adjec-

tives. If you genuinely find a product “amazing,” go ahead and

say so. After all, if you’re not excited about it, how do you expect

the rest of us to be?

Avoid Jargon Creep

Jargon rarely creeps into Jobs’s language. His words are con-

versational and simple. Jargon—language that is specific to a

particular industry—creates a roadblock to the free and easy

exchange of ideas. I have attended countless meetings in which

two people who work for different divisions of the same com-

pany cannot understand the jargon used by the other. Jargon and

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DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE

buzzwords are meaningless and empty and will most certainly

make you
less
understandable and therefore less persuasive.

Mission statements are the worst culprits of jargon creep.

Mission statements typically are long, convoluted, jargon-laden

paragraphs created in multiple committee meetings and destined

to be forgotten. They are replete with jargon and murky words

you will rarely hear from Jobs, such as “synergy,” “principle-

centered,” and “best of breed.” These expressions are nonsense,

yet on any given day, employees in companies around the world

are sitting in committee meetings to see just how many such

words can be crammed into a single sentence.

Apple’s mission statement, on the other hand, is simple, clear,

and impactful. It’s full of emotive words and tangible examples.

It reads (emphasis added):

Apple
ignited
the personal computer revolution in the 1970s

with the Apple II and
reinvented
the personal computer with

the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to
lead
the industry

in
innovation
with its award-winning computers, OS X oper-

ating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple

is also
spearheading
the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store,

and has entered the mobile phone market with its
revolution-

ary
iPhone
.7

The words Jobs chooses to announce a new product have

three characteristics: they are simple, concrete, and emotionally

charged.


Simple.
Free of jargon and with few syllables.


Concrete.
Very specific phrases. Short, tangible descriptions instead of long, abstract discussions.


Emotional.
Descriptive adjectives.

Examples of each of these three characteristics appear in Jobs’s

introduction of the MacBook Air: “This is the MacBook Air. You can

get a feel for how thin it is [concrete]. It has a full-size keyboard and display [simple]. Isn’t it amazing [emotional]? This is what it looks

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS
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A Guru Who Keeps It Simple

It was hard to miss financial guru Suze Orman in 2008 and

2009 when the global financial markets were collapsing. In

addition to appearing on her own CNBC show, the bestselling

author was a frequent guest on shows such as “Oprah” and

“Larry King Live.” Banks and financial companies were also

using her in advertisements meant to alleviate their custom-

ers’ fears. I interviewed Orman several times and found her

to be surprisingly candid about the secret to her success as a

communicator.

“How do you make complicated financial topics easy to

understand?” I once asked.

“Too many people want to impress others with the infor-

mation they have so others think the speaker is intelligent,”

Orman responded.
8

“But Suze,” I said, “If your message is too simple, don’t you

risk not being taken seriously?”

I don’t care what people think about it. All I care about is

that the information I’m imparting empowers the listener

or reader of my material . . . If your intention is to impart a

message that will create change for the person listening,

then if you ask me, it is respectful to that person to make

the message as simple as possible. For example, if I gave

you directions to how to get to my house, you would

want me to give you the simplest directions to get there.

If I made it more complicated, you would not be bet-

ter off. You might get aggravated and give up. If it were

simple, chances are you will get in your car and try to

get to my house rather than giving up and saying it’s not

worth it. Others criticize simplicity because they need

to feel that it’s more complicated. If everything were so

simple, they think their jobs could be eliminated. It’s our

fear of extinction, our fear of elimination, our fear of not

being important that leads us to communicate things in

a more complex way than we need to.
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