Once there was a man obsessed with making complex, highly technical things easy for the common, everyday person to understand.
And, in the process, he hoped to change the world.
But his well-defined cause, burning passion, elegant design sense and tyrannical obsession with execution were not enough.
Then he discovered one thing that changed everything.
A desktop
Steve Jobs discovered that he could win over the masses by drawing analogies between the virtual world (which was unfamiliar to most people) and the physical one (which people knew intimately and intuitively)
But the analogy of the desktop was much more than a design convention.
A story
It was a well designed, imaginative story.
A story created to teach new users squeamish about the virtual world that you could use Apple’s graphical interface the same way you used something you were familiar with: the top of your real, physical desk.
The parallels now seem obvious, even laughable. But in 1984, they weren’t.
They were amazingly brave. And because they were, they gained a passionate following.
A tribe
To the tribe, they were like seeing the virtual world in a whole new, old way.
That’s what analogies and stories do.
And for Steve Jobs they were a major reason his company became worth well over half a trillion dollars.
So if you want to transform your future, your purpose, your tribe and your organization, be like Steve Jobs.
A passionate perspective
Have the courage to see things differently.
To make connections others think are absurd.
And tell embarrassingly simple stories about them.
In other words, be brave
For, as Steve Jobs proved over and over and over again, the future, as always, belongs to the brave.
But that’s just my opinion. What’s your take?
photo credit: ThreeIfByBike via photopin cc
