Steve Jobs (14 page)

satellites for worldwide communications. Fourth, an

additional seventy-five million dollars will help give

us at the earliest possible time a satellite system for

worldwide weather observation. Let it be clear that I am

asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm

commitment to a new course of action, a course which

will last for many years and carry heavy costs . . . If we

are to go only halfway, or reduce our sights in the face

of difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not to

go a
t all.9

U.S. president Barack Obama, a fan of Kennedy’s speeches,

adopted some of Sorensen’s rules to make his own speeches

more impactful. Here are some samples from Obama’s

speeches that follow the rule of three, beginning with the

speech that put him on the map, his keynote address at the

2004 Democratic National Convention:

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59

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and

provide working families with a road to opportunity

. . . I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes

to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities

across America from violence and despair . . . I believe

that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as

we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the

right choices and meet the challenges that face us
.10

As illustrated in this excerpt, Obama not only breaks up his

speeches into paragraphs of three sentences but also often

delivers three points within sentences.

When Obama took the oath of office to become America’s

forty-fourth president on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, he

delivered a historical address to some two million people who

gathered to watch the speech in person and millions more

on television around the world. Obama made frequent use of

threes in the speech:

 “I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for

the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born by

our ancestors.”

 “Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.”

 “Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and

each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy

strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

 “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they

are serious, and they are many.”

 “Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis

began, our minds no less inventive, our goods and services

no less needed than they were last month or last year.
”11

Every time Jobs announced a numeral, his slide contained

just one image—the number itself (1, 2, 3, and 4). We will

explore the simplicity of Jobs’s slide design more thoroughly in

Scene 8, but for now keep in mind that your slides should mirror

your narrative. There is no need to make the slides complicated.

60
CREATE THE STORY

Jobs not only breaks up his presentations into groups but

also describes features in lists of three or four items. “There are

three
major breakthroughs in iPod,” Jobs said in 2005. “The
first
one is, it’s ultraportable” [5 GB, one thousand songs in your

pocket]. “
Second
, we’ve built in Firewire” [Jobs explained how

Firewire enabled a download of an entire CD in five to ten sec-

onds, versus five to ten minutes via a USB connection]. “
Third
,

it has extraordinary batter
y life,” Jobs said.12
He then described how the iPod provided ten hours of battery life, ten hours of

continuous music.

This chapter could easily have become the longest in the

book, because every Steve Jobs presentation contains verbal

road maps with the rule of three playing a prominent role. Even

when he’s not using slides in a traditional keynote presenta-

tion, Jobs is speaking in threes. Jobs kicked off his now famous

Stanford commencement address by saying, “Today I want to

tell you
three
stories from my life.”13
His speech followed the outline. He told three personal stories from his life, explained

what they taught him, and turned those stories into lessons for

the graduates.

Applying the Rule of Three

As we’ve learned, business leaders often prepare for major tele-

vision interviews or keynote presentations by structuring their

message around three or four key points. I know, because I train

them to do so! Here is how I would apply the advice from Scenes

4 and 5 to prepare for an interview on the topic of this book.

First, I would create a headline of no more than 140 characters:

“Deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs.” Next, I would write

three big ideas: (1) Create the story, (2) Deliver the experience,

and (3) Package the material. Under each of the three ideas, I

would include rhetorical devices to enhance the narrative: sto-

ries, examples, and facts. Following is an example of how an

abbreviated interview might unfold:

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61

REPORTER: Carmine, tell us more about this book.

CARMINE: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs reveals, for the

first time, how to do deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs.

The Apple CEO is considered one of the most electrifying

speakers in the world today. This book walks you through

the very steps he uses to sell his ideas. Best of all, anyone

can learn these techniques to improve his or her very next

presentation.

REPORTER: OK, so where would we start?

CARMINE: You can deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs [repeat

the headline at least twice in a conversation] if you follow

these three steps: First, create the story. Second, deliver the

experience. And third, package the material. Let’s talk about

the first step, creating the story . . .

Jimmy V’s Famous Speech

On March 4, 1993, college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano

gave one of the most emotional speeches in recent sports

history. Valvano had led North Carolina State to the NCAA

championship in 1983. Ten years later, dying of cancer, Valvano

accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage & Humanitarian Award.

Valvano’s use of the rule of three provided the two most poi -

g nant moments of the speech (emphasis added):

To me, there are three things we all should do every

day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number

one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two

is think. You should spend some time in thought. And

number three is, you should have your emotions moved

to tears—could be happiness or joy. But think about it.

If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day . . .

Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot

touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot

touch my soul. And those three things are going to

carry on forever. I thank you and God bless all of yo
u.14

62
CREATE THE STORY

As you can tell in this example, providing a road map of three

parts creates an outline for a short interview, a much longer

interview, or an entire presentation.

Your listeners’ brains are working overtime. They’re consum-

ing words, images, and sensory experiences, not to mention

conducting their own internal dialogues. Make it easy for them

to follow your narrative.

D IR EC TO R ’ S N OT E S

 Create a list of all the key points you want your audi-

ence to know about your product, service, company, or

initiative.

 Categorize the list until you are left with only three

major message points. This group of three will provide

the verbal road map for your pitch or presentation.

 Under each of your three key messages, add rhetorical

devices to enhance the narrative. These could include

some or all of the following: personal stories, facts,

examples, analogies, metaphors, and third-party

endorsements.

SCE

SCENNEE 6

6

Introduce the

Antagonist

Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer

industry? Was George Orwell right?

STEVE JOBS

In every classic story, the hero fights the villain. The same

storytelling outline applies to world-class presentations.

Steve Jobs establishes the foundation of a persuasive story

by introducing his audience to an antagonist, an enemy, a

problem in need of a solution. In 1984, the enemy was “Big

Blue.”

Apple is behind one of the most influential television ads