In yesterday's #SOTD, I profiled a brilliant Steve Jobs interview from 1985 (by David Sheff, in Playboy magazine of all places!)
Yesterday's storytelling theme was Steve's ability to 'spot' the story - about what extraordinary norm-breaking trend would change the world as we know it.
Today's theme: How Jobs is able to (a) discern patterns in events and (b) offer concrete examples instead of giving abstract gyaan.
In 1985, for most ordinary citizens, computers were an obscure plaything that either adorned hobbyists' homes or for serious corporate users. It was not seen as something that every household should have.
And so, the interviewer remains sceptical about the practical usage of this new tool. For a present day analogy, think of someone asking about the utility of 3D printers or the use of GPT-3 by ordinary households.
Here's an extract from the interview (emphasis mine)
In the above response, Jobs is essentially taking a big picture view of how computing technology is shaping up and giving it a name. In fact, going beyond just a name he is also using a relatable analogy - of transitioning from being a servant to a guide.
Then David follows up with a request for an example of the above pattern.
In this response, Jobs converts the abstract into the concrete. Instead of speaking of the product benefits in general terms, he shares vivid examples of how the product can be beneficially used by the end customer.
#SOTD 57
Ravi
PS: Here is the context for #SOTD and the 'Ultimate Guide to Storytelling Techniques' framework I use - in case you joined this series late! Here is the archive of previous posts. Click here to subscribe.
A Storytelling Coach More details here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravishankar-iyer/
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