A video took the web by storm today entitled “Incredible, amazing, awesome Apple.” Basically, it boils down Apple’s latest event into a series of superlatives. It’s a funny video because Apple really does have a pattern of using these types of words over and over again in its demonstrations. Cynics will say this is how Apple brainwashes the masses into buying their products, and gets people jazzed about the tiniest features. But I think there’s something much deeper here.
While certainly there is some element of hearing something so many times that you start to believe it, that’s nothing new, any good salesman will do the same thing. But why I think the tactic works so well with Apple is because they actually believe what they’re saying. Just watch Steve Jobs in that video. It sure seems like he’s damn sure that what he’s talking about is amazing. He’s excited about it. So is Phil Schiller and the others on the Apple team. And that excitement translates on a level unseen.
You’ve undoubtedly seen used car commercials where the used car salesman uses superlatives as well to the nth degree. But the difference is that he’s not genuine. Do you think he loves the junky cars he’s trying to pass off to you? No. Contrast that with Jobs. Do you believe that he loves the Apple products he’s trying to pass off to you? Yes.
This is hardly an Apple-only phenomenon. They’re just one of the best at translating their enthusiasm on a big stage several times a year thanks mainly to the charismatic Jobs. But really, I think you’ll find in most successful companies, the enthusiasm about their product is a key to how well that product is doing.
Another good example is Twitter. I’ve had to opportunity to meet a lot of Twitter employees over the past few years. One thing I noticed about each of them is their passion and excitement for what they’re doing. Certainly, if you look at it from the outside, the concept of Twitter was something that was just as likely to be a complete failure as it was a success. But the people running it and even the newest employees have a passion about it. When co-founder Biz Stone says he thinks Twitter can change the world, it may sound crazy, but it’s not, because he believes it.
Speaking of the newest employees, Twitter’s new COO, Dick Costolo, just started at the company recently. During TechCrunch50, he was asked on stage why he joined Twitter. After all, he had sold his previous company, FeedBurner, to Google for $100 million, and upon leaving Google, he probably never needed to work again. But his response is telling, “My first reaction was, you don’t get a chance to work on potentially one of the pivotal companies.”
He’s not going to work at Twitter for the paycheck, he’s going to work there because he believes in what they are doing. And that enthusiasm can only further the company.
This type of enthusiasm also seems to be prevalent at companies like Facebook, Netflix, and Zappos (which was of course recently acquired by Amazon). And not surprisingly, people seem to love working at those companies.
For a long time, Google was in that realm too. To some extent, it still is, but as it gets bigger and bigger, there seems to be no shortage of people who leave, discontent. Google is still making great products, but whenever you have talent leaving, for whatever reason, that’s not a great sign. Maybe Google can overcome that, but you simply can’t discount the recent talk about a possible Google decline.
Not to single out Yahoo, but they are one company where employee enthusiasm has seemed waning in recent years, to say the least. It’s hard to know if that started before or after the great products stopped and it fell into decline, but it’s a serious problem, nonetheless. That’s not to say no one is enthusiastic about being there, but I do get the feeling that plenty are there simply to get a paycheck. And a company will never win that way.
Microsoft is more of a mixed bag. There are plenty at the company who love it passionately. Most notable of these is of course, CEO Steve Ballmer. While I don’t believe he’s being disingenuous with his Microsoft zealotry, I know that his passion is not shared by everyone at the company. And I believe that translates one way or another to the public (be it by sub-par products, or other less tangible means). And to some extent, that may be why we don’t see the same type of “fanboy” fervor that a company like Apple gets.
But you’ll notice a common theme among the last three examples: They’re all huge companies. It’s undoubtedly very hard to keep everyone happy and on the same page about the products as you grow in size. That’s really why Steve Jobs is more important to Apple than doing any tangible work he may be doing. He is the glue that seems to make enthusiasm stick at the large company. When he wasn’t there in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, things went downhill, and undoubtedly the enthusiasm went downhill.
It was interesting talking to startups at TechCrunch50 this past week. A lot of them seemed to have the passion for what they were doing, and that was great to see. But I’m not sure that all of them did, and I have no doubt that those companies are going to be much more prone to failure.
My point is an obvious one, but I think it’s often overlooked. Enthusiasm and passion are so important, no matter what you do. If you don’t feel like you have that towards the company you are with, you should seriously consider leaving. Of course, there is something to be said about a paycheck, especially in tough economic times, but if you have the means and are simply spinning your wheels doing something that you don’t believe in, you’re really not helping anyone, and especially not yourself.
And you’re not helping us, the public, either, because if you’re not enthusiastic about something, we’re certainly not going to be.
Better yet, if you have the power in your company to start something that you are passionate about, do it. Even if it’s something that seems silly, like say, Twitter (which of course, started as a side project at Odeo), your enthusiasm about it just may push it through. And it may slowly bubble up into something bigger. And it may just blow up into the next big thing. Because enthusiasm translates.
[photo: flickr/acaben]
I worked for Apple. I found myself using these words too.
After you’ve seen Jobs do the same spiel twice or more you easily get the feeling he’s an overglorified used car salesman and an incredible aesthete.
Back during the NeXT vendor events he used to the same presentation at multiple locations and it became beyond obvious.
Yes of course! Well, I’ve undergone training to interact with press and deflect their questions and I see it every time Steve presents.
I’ve personally seen over 12 Steve & co. presentations in person and they’re all the same. Personally, I’m bored by them these days.
Still the video is getting huge buzz on Twitter.
For messages to get across you need to repeat your message. IT does get boring after some time but who cares. The people who got bored are the people who are most likely your existing customers with already acquired products.
The idea is to pitch new products to existing and new customers every day nonstop. So both of camps are happy.
Concepts and Ideas are the only ways you can make a product have the buzz factor.
I personally have an idea to revolutionize the classifieds industry but it would take me ions to get the message across if I do this alone. The way to do this is to get idea sponsors on your side quickly and efficiently.
there ions all around us! you should be fine.
Totally Agree. Generally this type of attitude you will find in start ups.People just can think about there product and do whatever so that to them it just awesome.Kudos to apple that they can still maintain same level till now
Well thats grt .. nice post .. very impressive and I agree yes … Enthusiasm is must if u need to achieve anything or make your dreams come true .. its nt abt the companies .. its abt individuality… the company is made by the ppl who are working for it .. its them, their enthusiasm which makes a company successful ..
Cheers,
Daina
Hi Daina,
You appear to have dropped some vowels there. I picked them up for you, here they are:
ea yo o ou ou eoe
You’re welcome!
I am rolling on the floor laughing.
I think you added a few extra vowels and consonants
lol!!!
Hilarious.
Well, when Jobs comes to talk to the employees every 3 months, doesn’t he use these words too?
Apple has a lot more than just enthusiasm, they’ve got a permanent image of being the “the cool tech for the young guy who’s a keyboard rebel”. Proof in point, Steve Ballmer’s enthusiasm gets blasted every time the media picks it up. If Steve Jobs grabbed a WinMo phone and pretended to jump up and down on it, people would laugh and then say “Wow, that’s so incredibly, amazing, awesome Apple.”
I’m amazed by all tech companies that affect the lives of millions of people daily, have billions of dollars of real (not phony) cash in the bank, and I don’t have to play party lines in my choice of companies. But I know bias when I see it, even if its intent is genuine in nature and perhaps subliminal.
you notice that the top leaders do set the tone of enthusiasm. ballmer. jobs. reed hastings.
and the rank and file do live vicariously through their leaders and assume their personalities – and takes time.
it only took steve jobs couple of decades.
Thanks for taking the time to resize the video to proper width of the post. It is the little details that count.
agree.
“The Importance Of Euthanasia In Any Product.”
Wow, über-misread THAT title. Glad I took a step back and did a double take, haha. Makes much more sense reading it with enthusiasm in mind… rather than… euthanasia.
yes, that would be an entirely different post
But probably still a good one–Apple these days does more euthanasia than most companies. See: PowerPC support, Carbon.
all posts about Apple give me euthanasia… or its close cousin ennui… admittedly I love(d) my ipod, even though i’m a pc kind of guy …
but the complete lack of Apple attention to its Airport Express and associated products was final nail in the coffin of any interest I’ll ever have for Apple products…
incredible! amazing! great and reminiscent of Andrew Filippone Jr’s “Charlie Rose by Samuel Beckett.” http://www.yout...h?v=LFE2CCfAP1o. Maybe a bit less enthusiastic but Beckett was a preInternet- Postmodernist. Steve IS happy.
Amen brother. I feel that way about what I’m doing and the problems we’re trying to help solve for with our tools and hope you feel the same about your dynamics at TechCrunch.
The flip side of this coin is the plague that brings a lot of big companies down. At Microsoft for example, I just don’t think that anyone could be excited about Vista and the hypocrisy of trying to carry that torch was tough for them and it showed. I also think that even small initiatives within large companies that people feel authentically excited about can be the growth engines that turn them around. That’s why when you see their excitement in things like Bing and Natal it’s no surprise that sentiment and broader results can begin to follow.
Great and thoughtful post.
yes, i obviously like what i do too or i wouldn’t do it as much as i do. thanks man.
EXCESSIVE ENTHUSIASM = SALES TACTIC
While you cite Apple as an example of a company that is actually enthusiastic about its products, at the end of the day enthusiasm is a sales tactic and the enthusiasm demonstrated by these top executives is sometimes disingenuous. I have read that Jobs spends upto 4 hours preparing for his presentations and therefore it is possible that some of his “enthusiasm” is not genuine. With regard to TWITTER, please .. they have done nothing yet …. kindly stop advertising for Twitter….
” …they have done nothing yet…” Except take something as mundane as a status message, and get it valued at a billion dollars… that’s doing a whole lot of something, and doing it right.
Relax folks… I can take a 2 hour speech from anyone and edit out an angle on anything…
Enthusiasm, when deployed effectively, can be infectious.
definitely.
Here’s a surprise: TV Pitchmen Billy Mays (rip) and the Shamwow guy Vince Offer look so professional in their enthusiasm and product demos when compared to Apple’s clowns. Check it out:
http://www.yout...h?v=iWRGRZCvLmg
I hope there are no commercials in heaven. Billy Mays was the single biggest reason I DVR’d everything. His booming voice made me want to stop watching broadcast tv altogether which a few months ago I did ( Hulu has saved me from that mess ).
beautifully writ, MG, beautifully writ. one of your best posts ever, IMHO.
“Because enthusiasm translates.”- amen.
thank you
there is truth within, watched Hitler’s speech on youtube, you would be dizzled by his movements even if you don’t know German at all
and all those TV evangelists too
Good article indeed, thumbs up dude
Steve Jobs once said: “the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” I really believe that he loves what he does at Apple.
” I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.” IMHO Steve still in Love with the Tech-World.
ah yes, his great commencement speech. i definitely should have quoted that too. much of it really is along the exact same lines.
I agree. But Apple has another advantage, really great products. It’s ridiculously easy for an Apple employee/sales person to be excited about Apple products because they really work and are useful.
But try to sell some half crappy product that nobody needs. Even if you train yourself to be excited as hell you’re not getting nowhere…
right but that’s my point. if you’re working for a company with products you aren’t proud of, you should leave.
Or, you know, do your job and improve the products. Either way, really.
There have been text analyses done on Steve Jobs’ speaking style vs. Bill Gates and Michael Dell.
http://blog.sea...ives/110473.asp
For the record… it looks like Bill Gates and Michael Dell say “great” far more often than Steve Jobs does.
Steve Jobs uses more synonyms of “great” (awesome, cool, incredible, gorgeous).
interesting.
Actually even in the “awesome” video Jobs changed up his wording far more often than Schiller. The video is a great tool for pointing out the value in expanding vocabulary and being able to get across the same point repeatedly without sounding repetitious.
“Incredible, unbelievable, unbelievable, great, really nice. And now back to you Steve.”
Great one MG!
It is so very, very true. Enthusiasm and optimism are what brings success http://www.mone...m/tag/optimist/
Your point is incorrect, MG. Most people in most companies are morons. Some of them are passionate and enthusiastic morons. Most ideas and products aren’t that great. Some are. The difference between Apple and Microsoft, or Twitter and Yahoo, or even Netflix (a better example is Redbox) and Blockbuster, is that in each of these three pairs of companies, the former (Apple/Twitter/Redbox) actually has some product or products that are revolutionary, that are insanely great, and has people at various levels who can appreciate this, whereas the latter (Microsoft/Yahoo/Blockbuster) has no products that are new, innovative, exciting, or revolutionary… All of these six companies have in common that they have insane people who are passionate and enthusiastic morons, whereas the former three actually have something that it’s not completely insane to be passionate and enthusiastic about. That right there probably makes more of a difference than anything else between a progressive workplace culture that is insanely great at some levels of the bureaucracy, and one that is, at these same levels, simply downright insane.
Your article here presents a sentimental flim-flam management snake oil theory, it basically supports the idea of “close your eyes and click your heels together three times and your dreams will come true”. Trying to hook this naive idea into some grand unified model of success is, well, it’s typical. But it’s wrong. Implementations of ideas are successful for a variety of reasons. I’ll admit that in identical circumstances, the more enthusiastic and passionate individual has a corresponding edge over the competition… But the world is not a simple place where everyone is competing on the same turf. Just because YOU work in a workplace where enthusiasm and passion can help an idea to be successful doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Out there in the real world, there are no end of scenarios where insanely great ideas don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell. Most individuals at most companies are there for the paycheck. Apple, Twitter, and Redbox are no exception. You could probably fill all of the world’s 1TB hard drives with horror stories of the inane disrespectful Orwellian idiocy that has transpired over the years at Apple alone. Apple simply happens to be one of the few bureaucracies in the history of the world that has actually, at some levels, established a healthy and progressive symbiosis between the passion and enthusiasm of some of it’s individuals and it’s products and ideas. Does every bureaucracy need that to turn a profit? Hell no. Most companies don’t even come close. Far too many companies establish an unhealthy regressive fascist symbiosis between the sick and twisted passions and enthusiasms of some of it’s individuals and it’s unfortunate products and ideas, especially in the realm of HR. That in a nut shell is, and always has been, what’s wrong with not only companies these days, but the world in general. And you’re gonna tell me that enthusiasm and passion can make a difference, is important? Hell no. Some companies that consistently have the best brand reputation, that have brands alone that are valued in the billions, actually have cultures that are among the most regressive, repressive, exploitative, anti-innovative on earth.
It’s great that bureaucracies like Apple and Twitter can actually be enthusiastic and passionate about some of the insanely great ideas and products that they have, but at the end of the day, no company can stay at the top of the sand pile of currently revolutionary ideas for long. It anything, I’m sure that at Apple and Twitter and the like, this mantra of “we’re an insanely great company” is used to brainwash it’s employees in those parts of it’s operation that aren’t directly connected to being custodians of the company’s intellectual property and innovation. That’s what the modern company is about : controlling it’s people. Look at the trends in HR, for christsakes. HR has gotten pretty friggin’ sophisticated lately. Modern statistical control and every science possible is now being leveraged by HR. It’s all an exploitation game, and psychology is the most important tool. Virtually any company with a reasonably progressive and enthusiastic and passionate culture also has a big part (numbers wise, anyway) of the company that is a regressive engine designed to brainwash and control the employees. Enthusiasm and passion may well have originated in people who were progressive and who were interested in revolutionary products that did have potential to change the world, but it’d be interesting to see how this enthusiasm and passion has been leveraged into a disembodied ‘corporate story’ and ultimately applied by a multi-level HR and management bureaucracy to manipulate and brainwash the ranks of employees. In the end, what started out as an asset could well be a liability that only adds momentum to a corporate bureaucracy intent on hurtling it’s self over a cliff and imploding in upon it’s self.
wow. that’s quite a response. pretty cynical, but kudos for writing that much in the comments.
and to be clear, i’m not saying people should be falsely passionate about where they work. as I said, if they’re not, they should consider leaving. but i talk to plenty of people who don’t fake it, but are stuck doing things they really dont care about (obviously, this extends well beyond the tech sphere as well). this includes plenty of people in the second group of companies you mention. they’re not idiots, they just don’t care enough to move on for whatever reason.
I don’t think people are morons. I think in most situations, that when we take a job for “enthusiasm” reasons, we do so because it really does sound good. But all pitches sound good. That’s why they get funded and why they get funded again.
Where companies often fail most is in two big places: keeping that enthusiasm communicated to the minions and realizing that not all is going to be rosy.
The first is a no brainer, but in today’s “resource-driven” corporate environments, HR departments are relegated to hiring, shaving benefits and firing, rather than adding spirit to the company by letting them know they are valued and the work their doing is meaningful.
The second is a bit more pragmatic. If you have a good idea, and people know about it, chances are someone else will start gunning for it too. Then the competition gets tougher, evolutionary principles take over where only the strong survive, and you have a movement on your hands — all while you grow, your employees get married, vest, have babies, etc. which take mindshare from that 24×7 mentality. Your “dream” is now someone else’s “McJob.”
The only solution for that is to be the best, at the top of your game, always be looking forward. That is a high stress condition that unless you have a built-in Starbucks in your office, you may never be able to keep up with.
It really is a vicious upward spiral.
Wow, that was incredibly grim. I agree with Derek that most people are not morons, but I also tend to be more of a glass-half-full guy, so maybe I’m biased. If you take the sum of morons & lazy people, that probably gets you over a majority of all people.
I liked how the comment was grim and cynical throughout, but at the end, it found a way to culminate in a statement that was even darker and more catastrophic than most of the rest of it: “…adds momentum to a corporate bureaucracy intent on hurtling it’s self over a cliff and imploding in upon it’s self.” I thought explosion could have been more graphic, but implosion was unexpected, a nice touch.
I’m guessing this guy is in the “the world will end after 2012 camp.”
Thank you, MG, for this post. Great article indeed, agree with your thoughts about enthusiasm.
Great post Mg. I 100% agree. Ken Glass from Microsoft actually made this point in a guest lecture when i was in college – and it might be the only thing i recall from that class… or that year… or college actually.
One point worth mentioning though is that enthusiasm can be both cause and effect. I know i get most excited about our products when people use them and like them – that feeds me as much as vice versa. Similarly even at apple, i don’t sense a huge amount of enthusiasm over the AppleTV or other less successful products.
At the risk of rambling, one of the big lessons for me has been to do something you are PERSONALLY and INNATELY passionate about – because financial success comes and goes and the admiration of others is usually short and fickle.
ok, bedtime. Great post. Cheers to you for having the guts to write it.
Inspiring post, thanks.
Enthusiasm is certainly infectious, and as many people have said, when a company is in startup and growing, it’s really important to have that enthusiasm to bring the team together and create, in effect, a rolling juggernaut of enthusiastic work ethic – because then it’s not drudgework, it’s fun work! I’ve noticed that for companies like Twitter, DubLi Network and Google (in the early days) this was just as much part of the success as the idea. Good great article, thanks for writing it!
They should take their own advice and show enthusiasm for the CrunchPad.
So far all they have shown (in recent months anyways) is a pissed off Arrington that someone leaked some specs.
What ever happened to that July or “Early August” press conference? Or the “Be available ASAP”?
“And you’re not helping us, the public, either, because if you’re not enthusiastic about something, we’re certainly not going to be.”
I totally disagree. Your baker might not be totally enthusiastic about his role. Most bakers might not be. You want them to stop making you bread?!
Passion is only one component of life. Its not everything.
well, i dont think you are going deep at all, i think this is a thoughtless rant..
there are plenty of super passionate people i know who build great products but don’t indulge in hyperbole as liberally as Steve Jobs.
very few things in the world are “totally awesome, incredible and world changing” in the minds of the majority. i think iPhone and facebook fit the bill, i don’t think ipod nano or twitter are in the same league.
in my mind, Jobs chanting those words on stage is being plainly deceitful, no better than the worst used car salesman.
hell, if steve ballmer is allowed to be enthusiastic about Windows Mobile, i can safely say that good PR people employ enthusiasm just as often as a cover up or as a mind manipulation technique or simply to play cute.
all the companies you mentioned here are quite successful. by definition, these people can afford to unabashedly vocalize it without losing credibility.
but enthusiasm doesn’t have to translate into talking in superlatives. i don’t think Bill Gates ever indulged in that or the Google guys, how about Jerry Yang??
I think some people (usually marketing/sales types and not very trustworthy) are just more given to hyperbole and I usually don’t hold them in high regard because they are ‘enthusiastic’.
The root meaning of enthusiasm is “to be inspired by a god”. When the god in you shines through everybody can see you.
RB
Ryan, thanks for that surprising insight into the meaning of “enthusiasm”! I have been relentlessly enthusiastic for all of my life and have ALWAYS attributed that to God – but I never knew that it was official!
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This kind of enthusiasm isn’t just important for the product creation. It also can inspire customers to use the product more imaginatively and productively. I can think of two other products where the enthusiasm of the seller sparked the imagination of the customer. Quattro was a spreadsheet DOS that managed to provide easy to use features with a nice GUI that blew Lotus spreadsheets out of the water and that Microsoft only provided later, if ever, in windows for excel. As I recall there was a regular newsletter infused with Philip Kahn’s enthusiasm that boasted about Quattro’s unique features with decent examples showing their power. It was these newsletters that kept me interested in what the software could do. We are now stuck with Excel and I’ve never become as inspired to use its power as I was with Quattro. Drew Allen Kaplan of DAK did the same for bread making machines in the early 80s. He was so genuinely crazy about the machine he marketed, that he sent out newsletters with recipes where he got us excited about making bread at all and convinced us to try all kinds of crazy combinations of ingredients and I still go back to those recipes.
Great post…
Steve Jobs is really a great guy..he is the guru for the people who wants start-up a company..
Ha, it’s a pretty cool video. But, believing your own marketing is a sure sign of madness. Unless I missed something and Apple just found the elixir of life…really, Apple products are pretty cool. Incredible? Amazing? …I guess it depends on your standards. Apple are lucky that customers and employees are so easy to please.
You’re simplifying things way too much here. Almost every person that joins a start up is enthusiastic about its products, but not all start ups do well. If people don’t buy the company’s products, soon employees are bound to get frustrated about the direction in which it is headed. For the two or three examples you’ve given, there are countless counter-examples. Yes, being enthusiastic is good, but that never guarantees success. In the end success is determined by a variety of factors, one of them being the MEDIA.
Think of Hillary’s primary campaign last year. Do you think there would have been as much infighting if she hadn’t started to lose ground?
Incredible awesome great article!
Yours incredibly
D.
He’s looks awful! Like a skeleton, its actually shocking to see.
It’s been said before, but it can’t be over stated. “If you’re working for a company with products you aren’t proud of, you should leave.” Great post.
Excellent article. You know the old saying that if you love what you do, you don’t have to work a day in your life? It’s been quite a few years since I’ve had to work.
Interestingly enough, you can tell the difference between the techies and the non-techies. The techies will say how easy it is to do something while the non-techies don’t. Look at the video, Steve and Jeff repeat how easy it is to do something, while Phil says easy only once (I think).
Non-techies hate it when a person is showing them how to do something and that person uses any phrase with the word “easy” in it. I’ve worked on removing that word from my professional development classes.
What is even more incredible and amazing is that the masses tend to fall for these things. I still remember Jobs presenting the calling function on the first iPhone like he had revolutionised something, when in effect the functionality he showed off had been standard for years (I’m talking about the calling application here, not the UI or the other stuff). People looked on in awe.
Do something that has been done before. Say its amazing.
To non-technical people, the UI is the application.
The fact that Apple understands this when so many of their competitors do not is a big part of why they are where they are today.
Thanks for this inspiring article. Never before did I get so excited reading an article on TC that I went through every single comment.
I am over-passionate about what I do, so I see the difference illustrated in the article. Feels good to get it confirmed.
This was great! Keep it up!!
great article. However, how does this apply to consultants? They don’t necessarily pick their clients.
Consultants pick clients all the time. They don’t have to take jobs, they can choose what to do. In fact they have a lot more power than employees in that regard, and since contracts are shorter duration even if something turns sour they can get out much easier (within the limits of professional responsibility of course).
I know, I am a consultant and a great big reason why I chose that path over many years of corporate work was the freedom to pursue projects that interested me…
This is an awesome article. Watch the video its amazing
I agree a lot, passion is everything…
But about Apple… I have many friends that work to Apple, and they all say that it the worst place to work, they are pushed and squeezed all the time, they have a terrible corporate culture and S. Jobs is really a bad person in terms of human values.
Please don’t let you guide by people expert in corporate and marketing hypocrisy. Jobs makes this false impression that they really believe in what they do, but ask who is inside Apple and Foxconn and you will know the real history.
Actually makes pretty good sense dude!
RT
http://www.real-privacy.net.tc
It’s natural for Jobs to be exited like a little kid at keynotes. I mean that’s what keynotes are about. Also, it’s a no brainer to be enthusiastic when you’re in charge like him, especially when it’s a tech company.
It’s more interesting to see what happens at the point of sale and why people choose Apple/a brand. Their success and cult largely comes from the fanboys who do the marketing for them.
And they’re still somewhat dependent on Microsoft and others, so they can play their role as an alternative if the usual stuff breaks. They handle their viral image very well (though it crackles lately with negative iPhone feedback).
And it’s interesting to see how they still place themselves as a high price/niche/elitist product while they’re in the mass market with some products. The small product line and closed architecture helps with everything.
With your rants you make a statement about yourself and your place in society (look I’m wealthy and smart). The first things Jobs did after his return was to hire TWBA again, the agency that created the classic 1984 ad. It sure works.
Excellent, excellent, excellent article. It was good, good, good. I was excited, excited, excited to have read it and will praise, praise, praise Apple for it.
Conditioning the mind is bad, bad, bad. /insert spinning beach ball of death.
There are few better sales tools – internally and externally – than genuine enthusiasm. But that enthusiasm doesn’t necessarily have to come only from a company. There’s a deep, relatively untapped well of fresh & genuine enthusiasm among a company’s customers. Anyone in the tech world who’s dealt with customers knows how excited they get when asked a few simple questions — “What would you like this product to accomplish? What’s wrong with it now? How can we make it better?”
Some companies take it a step further, creating a moderated community (a.k.a. Enterprise Social Networking) where customers talk to each other and solve each other’s problems, with the company jumping in with expert advice and guidance only where appropriate. Smart companies go two steps further, challenging customers to solve the company’s problems.
You’d be amazed how many customers are passionate enough about good products to offer their expertise for free (decisions.fico.com). Once a company creates an egalitarian customer community based on shared values, trust and empowerment– a feeling of “we’re in this together” – the enthusiasm level just keeps rising, among customers and company employees.
Laurent Pacalin
Chief Marketing Officer at FICO
Good story tellers at Apple, passion and simplicity.
I enjoyed the article and many of the comments. I’d like to share my takeaways:
* Steve Jobs is kind of crazy and very narcissistic. that’s why fakestevejobs was so hilarious when it was still in production.
* They really do have great products. That’s why Jobs’ lieutenants can be almost as excited as he is, because they’re getting rich selling stuff they use and believe in.
* Other than that, it just looked like any other rah-rah bullshit corporate pep rally. Tech companies do a better job of this than most other companies, but it’s always just one demented leader-guy and a bunch of henchmen drinking the cool-aid.
* As is always the case, when you say the same words & catch phrases OVER and OVER, they really lose their meaning to the audience. It would seem more genuine if they’d say, “features A and B are going to add value for users. feature C is fantastically, stupifyingly awesome and amazing!” EVERYTHING is not awesome and amazing.