“It’s common knowledge that you have no idea what you’re talking about when it comes to specific issues,” says a scathingly critical onlooker to Steve Jobs, who is holding a chair upside down, just like a tamer confronting a lion.
We don’t know if at the beginning of his career he imagined that he would one day be on top of the world. It sounds like a lie or rather a joke, but on April 1, 1976, he, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak decided to start a company based on a prototype computer that the latter had literally built with his own hands. The rest is (exciting) history.
But we will deal with one particular aspect of this narrative: The way Steve Jobs enchanted the crowds. So here we are in 1997, and the man who was the mastermind behind the launch of Apple has just returned to it after an “exile” that lasted more than ten years. Then and in that phase, he was forced to accept the fire of the specialized public, as well as a general climate of distrust towards him.
The particular viewer, after taking care to praise Jobs saying that he is an enlightened and very influential person, then referring to issues that had to do with the programming language “Java” accused him, more or less, of not knowing what is happening to him while in a rather ironic tone she asked him to reveal exactly what he had been doing in his life in recent years. A test for the nerves, an uncomfortable moment for every person, a critical crossroads for every “debate”, especially when there are hundreds of eyes fixed on you.
Somewhere around here, as you can see in the video above, instead of losing his cool, Jobs started delivering some free lessons on the art of “debate” through his answers. So, initially, he made sure to give himself time, not to rush at all, and after an adrenaline-pumping silence, he elegantly responded with a catchphrase to buy a few more moments:
“You know, you can please some people some of the time but…”.
The first silence was followed by another silence, for a total of eight seconds, reminiscent of a “cliffhanger” in a television series, which apparently made the audience hang from their lips. Everyone expected that Jobs would “onion” his “opponent’s” arguments, that he would deconstruct his argument, that he would use the appeal to authority to extinguish any suspicion of criticism.
Agreement instead of disagreement, honesty instead of secrecy, good mood instead of nerves, composure instead of panic, long silences instead of stressed speech.
However, Steve Jobs did none of the above, following a completely different path, he tried to reconcile instead of confronting his interlocutor.
“One of the hardest things when you’re trying to bring about change is that people, like this gentleman over here, are right about some points…”
was the beginning of his own explanation. That is, he chose agreement instead of disagreement. Or —as Finnish elementary school students learn, in one of the best education systems on the planet— it’s much better to build on what has gone before rather than trying to refute his arguments one by one.
There will always be some mistakes along the way. And that’s a good thing, because these are decisions made as a project evolves.
Of course, no one is arguing that one should not have a supportive line when receiving criticism; quite the contrary. Simply the way you present it will determine your victory or defeat in a “debate”.
“Being in touch with every detail of every application is not a CEO’s job. Ultimately, the hardest part is this: How do you fit every detail into a larger vision that is cohesive while still being able to make $8 million in sales? One of the things I’ve learned is that you have to start from user experiences, not technology. You cannot start from it and then look for exactly where and to whom you will sell it”.
Agreement instead of disagreement, honesty instead of secrecy, good mood instead of nerves, composure instead of panic, long silences instead of stressed speech. Steve Jobs seems to have known well how to win an argument and emerge victorious from a “debate”. It is widely accepted that he was one of the most charismatic people in the world of big business in the field of communication.
Thus, closing his speech, back in the distant 1997, he managed to teach a lesson, beyond the art of “debate”, about business:
“On occasion, there will always be some mistakes along the way. And that’s a good thing, because they’re decisions taken as a project evolves. We will find the mistakes and fix them. There will always be people who don’t know what they’re talking about, but things are going much better than they were a little while ago.”
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