“It was one of my proudest moments at Apple.”
That’s how Steve Jobs described a key situation in the development of the iPhone.
The Apple team spent months working on a specific design.
“The initial design had the glass screen set into an aluminum case,” explains Walter Isaacson for Harvard Business Review. This was a non-starter for Jobs, who lost sleep over the design. Instead of being all about the display, the iPhone’s case design got in its way.
For Jobs, it stole the show. And it was all wrong.
He broke the news to Jony Ive — Apple’s industrial designer — and his team.
“Guys, you’ve killed yourselves over this design for the last nine months, but we’re going to change it,” Jobs told Ive’s team.
Jobs explained that the team would have to work nights and weekends to remedy the situation.
That didn’t faze Ive’s team. They agreed.
And the rest is technology history.
Further Reading: Get Your Branding Right: Why This Forbes Editor Loved My Brand
Lesson 2: People Judge A Book By Its Cover
Impute.
It’s a lesson Jobs learned early on from his mentor, Mike Markkula.
And he would carry it with him for the rest of his career.
Why impute? Well, it means you’re giving credit for something — or even assigning blame.
For Markkula and Jobs — it was a guiding principle.
We form opinions about companies and products all the time, Isaacson explains. Much of that comes down to how they’re presented and packaged.
“Mike taught me that people do judge a book by its cover,” Jobs said.
Your Storytelling and Product Design Approach
When you think of Jobs and his epic product presentations and speeches, you can see how he took this concept to heart.
You can be someone who thinks differently. You can look to change the world. You can be bold and be one of the crazy ones.
But you still need to be taken seriously (at least at some point).
And you need to get the story right.
How do you do that? How do you tell the best story — conveying meaning and value to your audience?
You design the products — or offer the right services — to fit their needs.
Jobs understood this.
He learned from this father — while painting fences together — that it’s important to make the back of the fence just as nice as the front.
When you consider Apple’s products — both inside and out — you see how this concept played out in Jobs’ career.
What does that do though? What does it do to you as a storyteller to know you have the best product or service offering?
It gives you confidence.
You can roll into any presentation. You can handle all the sales calls you want. You can write an excellent email or ad copy.
How?
Because you’re confident in what you have accomplished.
And now — you’re ready to invite the world to partake.
Get it right. Even when nobody can see all the details.
Share a story that inspires.
Then, like Jobs, craft a vision that captivates your audience.
To keep them coming back.