MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 177
To a large extent, how Steve Jobs speaks and carries himself
leaves his audience with a sense of awe and confidence in him
as a leader. U.S. president Barack Obama once said the most
valuable lesson he learned as he worked himself up from a com-
munity organizer to the most powerful person on the planet
was to “always act confident.”
People are making judgments about you all the time, but
especially in the first ninety seconds of meeting you. How you
deliver your words and what your body language says about you
will leave your listeners disillusioned or inspired. Steve Jobs is
an electrifying communicator because he is expressive in both
voice and gesture.
TABLE 14.3 EXCERPT FROM JOBS INTRODUCING THE iPOD, WITH
DELIVERY NOTES
STEVE’S WORDS STEVE’S DELIVERY
”Now, you might be saying, ‘This is cool, but
I’ve got a hard disk in my portable computer,
my iBook. I’m running iTunes. I’m really
happy. I don’t get ten hours of battery life
on my iBook, but iBook has better battery
life than any other consumer portable.’ ”
Slows down rate of speech“ ‘So, what’s so special about iPod here?’ ” Pauses and lowers volume
“It’s ultraportable. An iBook is portable, but
this is ultraportable. Let me show you what
I mean.”
Speeds up rate of speech“iPod is the size of a deck of cards. It is 2.4
inches wide. It is four inches tall. And barely
three-quarters of an inch thick. This is
tiny. It also only weighs 6.5 ounces, lighter
than most of the cell phones you have in
your pockets right now. This is what’s so
remarkable about iPod.”
Slows down and lowers
voice“It is ultraportable.” Almost at a whisper