After a screening of the new movie Steve Jobs in San Francisco, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) answered audience questions about their film. The 30-minute Q&A provided a fascinating glimpse into content creation and the creative process.
“As a journalist you have an obligation to be objective. As an artist I have an obligation to be subjective,” Sorkin said to a well-known technology journalist who asked Sorkin why he felt compelled to focus on the personal conflicts in Steve Jobs’ life. “I’m attracted to good stories,” Sorkin said.
Sorkin’s 3-act screenplay focuses on three momentous product launches in Jobs’ career: The Mac launch in 1984, the NeXT launch in 1988, and the introduction of the iMac in 1998. Why hadn’t Sorkin included the introduction of the iPod or the iPad? “The movie was never about the products,” he said. A great movie, according to Sorkin, must have tension and conflict. There was “no personal dramatic tension” in the launch of the other products, according to Sorkin.
“It was never about the products.” Sorkin’s observation actually helps explain, to a certain extent, why Steve Jobs was a charismatic communicator. In a Steve Jobs presentation, the products’ features were less important than how the product would help people live better lives and to change the world.
For example, one of the most instructive Steve Jobs keynotes had nothing to do with products. At Macworld in August of 1997 Jobs did not introduce even one new product. The presentation took place just one month after being named “interim” CEO, and yet it’s one of the most iconic keynotes in business history. At the time Apple was losing money, market share, and was perilously close to bankruptcy. Jobs took the opportunity to re-invigorate the Apple faithful and inspire the company’s employees. He reminded people that Apple is about more than products; Apple was in the business of improving people’s lives. And not just any life, but the lives of people who would use Apple products to change the world. Here’s an excerpt:
“I think you always had to be a little different to buy an Apple computer…And you still have to think differently to buy an Apple computer. The people who do buy them are the creative spirits in this world. They are the people who are not just out to get a job done; they are out to change the world. And they are out to change the world using whatever great tools they can get. And we make tools for those kinds of people…we, too, are going to think differently and serve the people who have been buying our products since the beginning. Because a lot of times people think they’re crazy, but in that craziness we see genius and those are the people we’re making tools for.”
That last sentence—in that craziness we see genius— triggered one of the most iconic marketing slogans in business history, Apple’s “Think Different” ad campaign.
Jobs’ Think Different keynote reminds us that customers don’t care about our products. They care about themselves—their hopes, their dreams, their ambitions. Explain to people how your product or service—the tools—will help them achieve their dreams, and you’ll win them over.