It's fascinating how Jobs isn't afraid to pause and wait while he thinks about his answer (07:00, 20:00). He doesn't have that habit most have of babbling to fill dead air. It makes him sound a lot more authentic/less rehearsed.
An anecdote from the book "Steve Jobs in Exile" I just read: at the beginning of one product announcement, Jobs told the audience that he was a little nervous, but his coworkers said that he was never nervous for keynotes. It was pure manipulation.
Obviously lying to people you know is generally unhealthy but when you are putting on a performance to an audience I don’t judge so harshly. Of course I imagine he did both.
He really did feel comfortable with sitting in the silences though. His '97 response to a tough question springs to mind: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqPrUmVz-o" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqPrUmVz-o
He doesn't actually answer the question until over 25 seconds have passed!
He takes a sip of water, sits in silence, the crowd starts heckling. Jobs gives a small quip to buy time. Sits in silence again. It's an eternity on stage.
Can anybody explain what the actual question was about? On the face of it, it's about this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc#Cancellation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc#Cancellation I guess. And Java?
There were what I would graciously call zealots who were adamant Apple had to build on OpenDoc to break Microsoft’s nascent monopoly with Office. When Jobs adequately cancelled all efforts on OpenDoc under the very correct vision that you can’t ship OpenDoc in a shrink wrap package, those zealots were furious.
I'm sure the pause is something he rehearsed at some point, but I've watched a few of his Q&As where he's done it. If I recall, he was even doing it in the 90s (the Q&A I'm thinking of is the one where he picks up a chair and pretends to use it as a shield). So while I'm sure it was something he originally rehearsed, it undoubtedly just became a habit of his over time.
I assume the coworkers were talking about the practice talks, since we are as good judges of the real talks as the coworkers are, the talks being publicly available.
Or are you saying that they claimed he was nervous before the talks or backstage, but that the nerves went away once he stepped onstage? If so, why would he need to manipulate his coworkers into thinking he's nervous?
Or are you saying that he was nervous during the talks in a way that couldn't be captured by the cameras or the audience? In which case again - manipulation wouldn't have worked.
Or am I missing something?
EDIT: It seems I misread the original comment - he actually told the audience he was nervous. I'd love to know which product announcement that was and see it for myself. I'm still not sure how a coworker would be able to know what he was feeling any better than the audience did.
> > I'm still not sure how a coworker would be able to know what he was feeling any better than the audience did.
> Because his coworkers had known him for years, worked through many product announcements with him, and the audience did not?
I'm skeptical. There are video interviews from that era (I think) where he appears very nervous on camera, asking repeatedly if "we're on", self-interrupting and asking for a second try to attempt an answer, taking lots of sips of water, etc. I'd have to try to find the video.
EDIT: here it is, his first TV appearance (1978), he is extremely nervous: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODMJE6lDbY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODMJE6lDbY. So it doesn't contradict the anecdote from the NeXT era, but certainly seems like he got used to the job rather than simply being some kind of psychopath/manipulator.
Sounds like an interesting book though, I'll check it out.
If this was a presentation, sure, but here he’s answering questions in a room full of journalists, surrounded by other Apple employees with specialised knowledge. It seems likely he really was pondering the right words to answer.
Of course he rehearsed every keynote. You would be a fool to do any performance without some kind of rehearsal, unless it’s improv.
You can search YouTube for Steve Jobs demo fail for plenty of examples of it not going smoothly. He practiced but he still did live demos and had plenty of opportunities to mess up
nozzlegear · · focus · HN ↗
lapcat · · focus · HN ↗
An anecdote from the book "Steve Jobs in Exile" I just read: at the beginning of one product announcement, Jobs told the audience that he was a little nervous, but his coworkers said that he was never nervous for keynotes. It was pure manipulation.
SequoiaHope · · focus · HN ↗
Obviously lying to people you know is generally unhealthy but when you are putting on a performance to an audience I don’t judge so harshly. Of course I imagine he did both.
lelandfe · · focus · HN ↗
He doesn't actually answer the question until over 25 seconds have passed!
He takes a sip of water, sits in silence, the crowd starts heckling. Jobs gives a small quip to buy time. Sits in silence again. It's an eternity on stage.
morsch · · focus · HN ↗
philistine · · focus · HN ↗
asadm · · focus · HN ↗
nozzlegear · · focus · HN ↗
Edit: what a weird thing to downvote lol
pazimzadeh · · focus · HN ↗
lapcat · · focus · HN ↗
You wouldn't be nervous without an audience, so why would the coworkers be talking about the practice talk and not the real talk?
pazimzadeh · · focus · HN ↗
Or are you saying that they claimed he was nervous before the talks or backstage, but that the nerves went away once he stepped onstage? If so, why would he need to manipulate his coworkers into thinking he's nervous?
Or are you saying that he was nervous during the talks in a way that couldn't be captured by the cameras or the audience? In which case again - manipulation wouldn't have worked.
Or am I missing something?
EDIT: It seems I misread the original comment - he actually told the audience he was nervous. I'd love to know which product announcement that was and see it for myself. I'm still not sure how a coworker would be able to know what he was feeling any better than the audience did.
lapcat · · focus · HN ↗
Correct.
> I'd love to know which product announcement that was and see it for myself.
Some NeXT computer.
> I'm still not sure how a coworker would be able to know what he was feeling any better than the audience did.
Because his coworkers had known him for years, worked through many product announcements with him, and the audience did not?
The whole book "Steve Jobs in Exile" was basically the reminiscences of his coworkers.
pazimzadeh · · focus · HN ↗
> Because his coworkers had known him for years, worked through many product announcements with him, and the audience did not?
I'm skeptical. There are video interviews from that era (I think) where he appears very nervous on camera, asking repeatedly if "we're on", self-interrupting and asking for a second try to attempt an answer, taking lots of sips of water, etc. I'd have to try to find the video.
EDIT: here it is, his first TV appearance (1978), he is extremely nervous: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODMJE6lDbY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODMJE6lDbY. So it doesn't contradict the anecdote from the NeXT era, but certainly seems like he got used to the job rather than simply being some kind of psychopath/manipulator.
Sounds like an interesting book though, I'll check it out.
vjvjvjvjghv · · focus · HN ↗
latexr · · focus · HN ↗
mingus88 · · focus · HN ↗
You can search YouTube for Steve Jobs demo fail for plenty of examples of it not going smoothly. He practiced but he still did live demos and had plenty of opportunities to mess up