118 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE
buzzwords are meaningless and empty and will most certainly
make you less understandable and therefore less persuasive.
Mission statements are the worst culprits of jargon creep.
Mission statements typically are long, convoluted, jargon-laden
paragraphs created in multiple committee meetings and destined
to be forgotten. They are replete with jargon and murky words
you will rarely hear from Jobs, such as “synergy,” “principle-
centered,” and “best of breed.” These expressions are nonsense,
yet on any given day, employees in companies around the world
are sitting in committee meetings to see just how many such
words can be crammed into a single sentence.
Apple’s mission statement, on the other hand, is simple, clear,
and impactful. It’s full of emotive words and tangible examples.
It reads (emphasis added):Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s
with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer with
the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry
in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X oper-
ating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple
is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod
portable music and video players and iTunes online store,
and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolution-
aryiPhone.^7The words Jobs chooses to announce a new product have
three characteristics: they are simple, concrete, and emotionally
charged. Simple. Free of jargon and with few syllables.
Concrete. Very specific phrases. Short, tangible descriptions
instead of long, abstract discussions. Emotional. Descriptive adjectives.
Examples of each of these three characteristics appear in Jobs’s
introduction of the MacBook Air: “This is the MacBook Air. You can
get a feel for how thin it is [concrete]. It has a full-size keyboard and
display [simple]. Isn’t it amazing [emotional]? This is what it looks