Steve Jobs (12 page)

audience a vision of a better future. It’s not about you.

It’s about them.

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Draw a Road Map

Today we are introducing three revolutionary products.

STEVE JOBS, REVEALING THE iPHONE

On January 9, 2007, thousands of Mac faithful

watched as Steve Jobs delivered an electrifying

announcement. “Today Apple reinvents the phone,”

Jobs said as he revealed the iPhone for the first time

to the public
.1

Before delivering that headline, however, Jobs added to the

drama and suspense when he told the audience that Apple

would introduce not one, but three revolutionary products. He

identified the first one as a wide-screen iPod with touch con-

trols. This met with a smattering of applause. Jobs said the

second product would be a revolutionary mobile phone. The

audience cheered that announcement. And the third, said Jobs,

was a breakthrough Internet communications device. At this

point, the audience members sat back and waited for what they

thought would be further product descriptions and perhaps

some demos of the three new devices—but the real thrill was yet

to come. Jobs continued, “So, three things: a wide-screen iPod

with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a break-

through Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone,

and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone—are you get-

ting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device,

and we are calling it iPhone.” The audience went wild, and Jobs

basked in the glow of nailing yet another product launch that

would solidify Apple’s role as one of the world’s most innovative

companies.

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CREATE THE STORY

Jobs draws a verbal road map for his audience, a preview of

coming attractions. Typically these road maps are outlined in

groups of three—a presentation might be broken into “three

acts,” a product description into “three features,” a demo into

“three parts.” Jobs’s love of threes can be traced back at least as early as the original Macintosh introduction on January 24,

1984. Appearing at the Flint Center, in Cupertino, California,

Jobs told the audience, “There have only been two milestone

products in our industry: the Apple II in 1977 and the IBM PC

in 1981. Today we are introducing the third industry milestone

product, the Macintosh. And it has turned out insanely great!
”2

Verbal guideposts serve as road maps, helping your listeners

follow the story. When coaching clients to appear in the media,

I always instruct them to create an easy-to-follow story by clearly

outlining three or, at the most, four main points before filling

in the details. When this technique is followed, reporters will

often take extensive notes. If the spokesperson misses a point,

reporters will ask, “Didn’t you say you had three points? I heard

only two.” A verbal road map of three things will help your lis-

teners keep their place. See Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1 Jobs sticks to the rule of three in his presentations.

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

DRAW A ROAD MAP
51

It is well established that we can hold only small amounts

of information in short-term, or “active,” memory. In 1956, Bell

Labs research scientist George Miller published a classic paper

titled “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.” Miller

cited studies that showed we have a hard time retaining more

than seven to nine digits in short-term memory. Contemporary

scientists have put the number of items we can easily recall

closer to three or four. So, it should not be surprising that Jobs

rarely offers more than three or four key message points. As for

that, in a Steve Jobs presentation, the number three is much

more common than four. Steve understands that the “rule of

three” is one of the most powerful concepts in communication

theory.

Why Goldilocks Didn’t

Encounter Four Bears

Listeners like lists. But how many points should you include in

the list?

Three is the magic number.

Comedians know that three is funnier than two. Writers

know that three is more dramatic than four. Jobs knows that

three is more persuasive than five. Every great movie, book, play,

or presentation has a three-act structure. There were three mus-

keteers, not five. Goldilocks encountered three bears, not four.

There were three stooges, not two. Legendary NFL coach Vince

Lombardi told his players there were three important things in

life: family, religion, and the Green Bay Packers. And the U.S.

Declaration of Independence states that Americans have a right

to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” not simply life

and liberty. The rule of three is a fundamental principle in writ-

ing, in humor, and in a Steve Jobs presentation.

The U.S. Marine Corps has conducted extensive research

into this subject and has concluded that three is more effec-

tive than two or four. Divisions within the marines are divided

into three: a corporal commands a team of three; a sergeant

52
CREATE THE STORY

commands three rifle teams in a squad; a captain has three pla-

toons; and so on. If the marines were kind enough to study this

stuff, why should we reinvent the wheel? Go ahead and use it.

So few communicators incorporate the rule of three in their pre-

sentations that you will stand apart simply by doing so. The rule

of three—it works for the marines, it works for Jobs, and it will

work for you.

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6,

2005, Jobs announced the switch from IBM’s PowerPC chips to

Intel microprocessors. “Let’s talk about transitions,” Jobs said.

The Mac in its history has had two major transitions so far

[begins to outline three points]. The
first
one, 68K to PowerPC.

That transition happened about ten years ago in the mid-

nineties. The PowerPC set Apple up for the next decade. It

was a good move. The
second
major transition has been even

How the Rule of Three Can Improve Your Golf Game

During a break from writing this chapter, I took a golf lesson

from a local coach. Any golfer will tell you that the toughest

part of the game is remembering the dozens of small moves

that ultimately result in a fluid swing: posture, grip, takeaway,

balance, hinging, weight shift, follow-through, and other

variables. Problems occur when you think about too many

things at the same time. The marines have found that giving

directions in groups of three makes it easier for soldiers to fol-

low the directions. So, I asked my instructor to give me three

directives, and three only, to improve my swing. “Fine,” he said.

“Today you’re going to focus on closing your hips, shifting

your weight to the right side on the backswing, and making a

full follow-through. So, think hips, shift, follow-through.” Hips,

shift, follow. That’s it. The instruction worked wonders, and

since that day, my golf game has improved considerably. The

rule of three—good for presentations and good for golf, too!

DRAW A ROAD MAP
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bigger. And that’s the transition from OS 9 to OS X that we

just finished a few years ago. This was a brain transplant. And

although these operating systems vary in name by just one

[digit], they are worlds apart in technology. OS X is the most

advanced operating system on the planet, and it has set Apple

up for the next twenty years. Today it’s time to begin a
third

transition. We want to constantly be making the best com-

puters for you and the rest of our users. It’s time for a third

transition. And yes, it’s true. We are going to begin the transi-

tion from PowerPC to Intel processors [emphasis added].
3

Revealing the narrative in groups of three provides direction

for your audience. It shows people where you’ve been and where

you’re going. In the preceding excerpt, Jobs sets the theme of

“transitions,” and we assume there will be at least a third tran-

sition because, as Jobs explains, the Mac has already had two

of them. He also builds the drama with each point. The first

transition was a “good move.” The second was “even bigger.” By

extension, the third must be bigger still.

Apple’s Three-Legged Stool

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in September

2008, Jobs displayed a slide of a stool with three legs. “As you

know, there’s three parts to Apple now,” he said. “The first part,

of course, is the Mac. The second part is our music businesses,

the iPod and iTunes. And the third part is now the iPhone.” Jobs

introduced the executives who would speak about the Mac and

the iPod business. Jobs would take the iPhone portion himself.

As he launched into the iPhone discussion, Jobs once again

provided a road map for his listeners—this time, a road map

in
four
parts: “In a few weeks, it’s going to be the iPhone’s first birthday. We shipped our first iPhone on June 29. It was an

amazing introduction, the most amazing one we’ve ever had.

iPhone has had tremendous critical acclaim. It’s the phone that

has changed phones forever. But we have mountains to climb

to reach the next level. What are these challenges? The first,