Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#1

Post by redaantar » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

I'm genuinely curious why Steve’s way of talking, organising, and chaining ideas is amazing. From your point of view, what's the secret sauce ?

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#2

Post by functionmouse » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

Impeccable taste. Which is, unfortunately, something that can't be put on a resume.

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#3

Post by throwawayffffas » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:33 PM UTC

It was not, it's called salesmanship. It's all hype.

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#4

Post by pseudocomposer » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:40 PM UTC

It’s knowing when to do less. Both in design and speaking style, only adding complexity as an option of last resort

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#5

Post by redaantar » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

throwawayffffas wrote: post #3

It was not, it's called salesmanship. It's all hype.

Ofc it's salesmanship, but actually not anyone is able to chain ideas and talk the same way

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#6

Post by redaantar » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

functionmouse wrote: post #2

Impeccable taste. Which is, unfortunately, something that can't be put on a resume.

Totally agree, but the question "Impeccable taste" is a skill or a gift.

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#7

Post by redaantar » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

pseudocomposer wrote: post #4

It’s knowing when to do less. Both in design and speaking style, only adding complexity as an option of last resort

so you think KISS (keep it simple stupid) is the key in this case ?

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#8

Post by MisterTea » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 2:05 PM UTC

Can you post an example of what you are talking about?

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#9

Post by redaantar » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

MisterTea wrote: post #8

Can you post an example of what you are talking about?

There’s some of this in https://book.stevejobsarchive.com/ There are also his videos and speeches, for example when explaining the magic behind computers, and the way he simplifies everything in a delightful way.

Re: Why Steve Jobs words are magical?

#10

Post by roryirvine » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

Notably, his later speeches used lots of NLP-esque persuasion techniques.

Prominent examples include the almost hypnotic stress patterns, the frequent reduplication, and deliberate garbling of sentences to ensure the key point always comes right at the end.

Donald Trump (ab)uses some very similar methods - read a Trump speech from when he was in his prime and compare it with a Jobs speech, and it can be surprisingly hard to tell the two apart.