November 4, 2024
This is Steve Jobs.
He’s the co-founder of Apple, the visionary behind the iPhone, and one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
But what makes him such a wonderful storyteller?
In today’s article, you’ll uncover 5 storytelling techniques that Steve Jobs uses to tell insanely good stories.
But, before we go into those techniques, let’s check out his 1-minute story:
“Most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask.
I’ve never found anybody that didn’t want to help me if I asked them for help.
I’d always call them up.
When I was 12 years old, I even called up Bill Hewlett (co-founder of Hewlett-Packard).
He lived in Palo Alto, and his number was still in a phone book.
He even answered the phone himself.
I said, ‘Hi, I’m Steve Jobs. I’m 12 years old, I’m a student in high school, and I want to build a frequency counter. I was wondering if you had any spare parts I could have?’A bit overwhelmed, he laughed.
But then he gave me the spare parts to build this frequency counter.
That summer, he even gave me a job at Hewlett-Packard, working on the assembly line, putting nuts and bolts together on frequency counters.
He got me a job in the place that built them.
I was in heaven.I’ve never found anyone who said no or hung up the phone when I called. I just asked. Most people never pick up the phone and call.
Most people never ask, and that’s what sometimes separates the people that do things from the people that just dream about them.”
Steve Jobs starts his story with a bold statement that makes us curious right away.
“Most people don’t get those experiences because they never ask.”
The moment we hear that, we want to know…
We want to find out what he means with that one sentence.
And he uses such an anticipation hook in almost all of his presentations. Whether it’s about announcing a new product, pitching a new idea, or sharing a story.
He makes a bold statement at the start to grab his listeners’ attention.
But the moment he made that statement, he quickly goes into the second technique.
Steve jumps right into the main action of the story as soon as possible.
“I called up Bill Hewlett when I was 12 years old. And he lived in Palo Alto, and his number was still in the phone book.”
He doesn’t waste time explaining the full backstory.
He doesn’t talk about how he looked as a teenager.
He doesn’t describe the furniture in his room.
Instead, he takes us right into the action where something happens.
He starts this story by saying that he was calling Bill Hewlett.
But in other stories, he starts by sharing that he was walking, biking, talking—anything that brings in forward momentum.
But, let’s now talk about the next technique Steve uses.
That storytelling technique can turn any average moment into an incredible story.
Steve shares something unexpected—something we didn’t see coming.
“And he lived in Palo Alto, and his number was still in the phone book, and he answered the phone himself.”
We’re like, “What the eff, the Founder of Hewlett-Packard just picked up the phone like that? That’s crazy. I can’t imagine that happening today.”
That moment made the story much more interesting.
And Steve knows that. In all of his stories, he shares something unexpected: an unusual activity, an unusual event, or an unusual reaction.
Anything that breaks the pattern of what is expected.
But now, onto the next technique.
That technique is probably the technique that I use the most:
Steve Jobs doesn’t just tell us what happened—he gives us the exact words he and Bill Hewlett used in that crucial moment.
“And he answered the phone himself. ‘Yes?’ ‘Hi, I’m Steve Jobs. I’m 12 years old. I want to build a frequency counter. Do you have any spare parts?’
He doesn’t say, “And then I introduced myself and told him what I wanted to do.”
He doesn’t do that.
Instead, he shares the exact dialogue of that moment.
That dialogue makes us feel like we’re right there with him, experiencing the story as if it were happening to us.
Steve uses dialogue in all of his stories because it makes the story feel more real.
But now onto the last technique.
That storytelling technique is essential if you want people to take action after listening to your story.
Up to this point, the story has been about himself.
But in the last step, Steve does something to make it relevant for his audience.
“That’s what separates the people who do things from the people that just dream about them.”
He shares the lesson he learned from that experience.
That lesson makes us reflect on how we go through life.
And it inspires us to not just dream about things but to take action.
That’s it. Those are the 5 storytelling techniques Steve Jobs uses in his story.
But there are a few more. If you want to learn even more ways to tell incredible stories, check out this next article where I share ‘7 years of storytelling in 54 minutes.’
Enjoy!
Are you ready to transform your storytelling skills?
Discover how your storytelling skills score and uncover useful insights to help you become a charismatic storyteller:
