S01 E07: STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH.

How Do You Give A Talk You've Never Given Before?

 

That was the challenge facing Steve Jobs 20 years ago when he was asked by the president of Stanford University, John Hennessy, to give the 2005 commencement address. The only problem was that Steve Jobs, arguably the greatest communicator the business world has ever seen, had never given a talk like this before.

• Where did he start?
• What did he do?
• Who did he turn to for advice?
• How did he break it down?

 

This episode goes behind the scenes of how Steve created what many believe to be the best commencement speech ever given. I recommend you listen to the talk properly to get the full emotional impact of the content and the stories, but over the next 12-minutes, we'll break down some of the key elements of the talk and explore what you can learn from it to become a better communicator yourself.

 

EPISODE LINKS

• 2005 Stanford Commencement Address [VIDEO]
• My favourite Steve Jobs quote 
• "Make Something Wonderful" by Steve Jobs [FREE Download]

 

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

How Do Give A Talk You’ve Never Given Before?

This is the story of Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University, 20 years ago this year, on 12th June 2005. It’s had over 60M views and is widely regarded as the greatest commencement speech ever given.

But Steve, the most famous CEO of all time, an incredibly confident, charismatic (and controversial leader) – “reality distortion field anyone?) - he was actually really nervous and didn’t know where to start – that’s a side of him we don’t see much about.

So where did he start? And how can this speech inspire us to become better storytellers?

I’m glad you asked.

Steve was going to speak about habits, globalisation and how you are what you eat (fruitarian). Steve was used to giving technology speeches – not personal ones.

So Steve did what anyone with great potential does – he reached out to the best storyteller he knew.

Aaron Sorkin.

The West Wing. A Few Good Men. Newsroom. Studio60. Moneyball.

The first piece of advice Aaron gave him was that his talk should contain INTENTION & OBSTACLE.

[AARON]

The other piece of advice that Sorkin gave Steve was to tell three stories. Sorkin LOVES Aristotle and the 3-act structure which he presented in 335BC and has been the format of most theatrical productions ever since.

Think of Sorkin’s movie JOBS – 3 acts – 3 stories – each going behind the scenes of 3 big events in Steve’s life.

• ·      Act I) Mac launch (1994)
• ·      Act II) Next launch (1988)
• ·      Act III) iMac launch (1998)

So what did Steve do?

[STEVE 3 STORIES]

You can almost tell the whole talk was inspired by Sorkin because even though Steve speaks on average at 160wpm – he speeds up and slows down, gets loud and goes quiet – and leaves dramatic pauses at key points in the story – exactly like any scene that Aaron Sorkin writes – and puts you on the edge of your seat.

[1st STORY]

Now here’s how Steve breaks his 14 minute talk into three bite-sized chunks making it easy for the audience]

• 30 second OPEN – The Intro
• 1st Story - 5 mins
• 2nd Story – 4 mins
• 3rd Story – 4 mins
• 30 Second CLOSE

[CONNECT DOTS]

I analysed this talk using the AI storytelling assistants I built to help others tell better stories at IBM and I asked it why this speech connected the dots so well by engaging the audience.

It’s because 60% of the talk is emotional & 40% is rational.

Heart & head.

Soul & data

“Storytelling is just data with a soul” Brene Brown

The language contains 3X more emotional language than data-driven  language. A key less for technology speakers right there.

(45% Pathos 15% Logos)

[2nd STORY]

Speaking about love and loss isn’t easy. So Steve actually emailed a lot of these parts of the story to himself in-between January & June. He was working on this speech for 6 months. You can actually read those emails if you open “Make Something Wonderful” in iBooks (FREE on every Apple device) and read from p.186.

[LOVE LOSS]

“and then I got fired”.

Master storytelling. There’s your INTENTION & OBSTACLE triggering that dopamine in your brain to wonder what happened next. Steve used the word “but” 14X – on average once a minute – to emphasize those obstacles.

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”

So you have INTENTION – you’ve got OBSTACLES – and now the payoff…

[LOVE WHAT YOU DO]

Steve’s work has always inspired me to do great work. I’ve got a framed email from him in my office when I set up my first business in 1998. I’ll never forget the morning I learned that he’d died – 5th October 2011 - I was in a hotel in Leeds waiting to give a keynote and I had to delay my talk by 30 minutes.

I get emotional thinking about it now.

[3rd STORY]

Talking about death is always going to be intense – so if you remember our episode on Ted Sorensen – JFK’s speechwriter – you’ll see that’s why Steve used some LEVITY here to break the tension – while he was creating INtention…

[YOUR TIME IS LIMITED]

I’ve given over 500 keynotes & presentations since Steve’s death in 2011 and I’ve ended almost every one of them with my favourite Steve Jobs quote,

 

“Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.”

 

So here’s to you my friends. Go read “Make Something Wonderful. Be inspired. Tell great stories.

Stay hungry.

And Stay foolish.

[CLOSE]

 

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The Truth in Ten is a cross between a podcast series and a storytelling masterclass. Each short episode shines a light on a different inspirational leader; someone who shared a short story which changed the world in some way. This is a show for anyone who wants to make a difference by sharing their story.

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