The Steve Jobs moment

People want the Steve Jobs moment, the crisp, slick, mic-drop line that captures a profound insight in super simple words.

But they mistake the line for the effort.

They look for slick lines that sound great, but they haven’t done the digging that connects those words with who they are and what they stand for.

The magic of a line like “Think different” is not in that it sounds clever.

The magic is that it fit perfectly. It clicked for the company and their customers.

That was the result of a relentless effort to get to the core, making deep sense of who you are, what you stand for, and why it matters. 

The interesting part is that this work is, to a large degree, communication.

By articulating your thoughts, wrestling with the words, and refining them, you arrive at the clarity you need to say something that’s both simple and profound.

Again: not sounds, but is profound.

The beauty of the four PATH principles is that they help you with both, finding the words and checking with reality.

Keep lighting the path!

Cute and clever is a trap

Cute and clever is a trap that businesses easily fall into. It’s deceptive because it seems that this is what the others are doing as well. When you see these slick presentations that win the deal, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that it’s the slickness that did the job.

Yet, more often than not that’s not the case. It’s clarity that wins in most cases. With clarity comes slickness. Not the other way around.

You can have beautiful words, gorgeous slides, and catchy titles. Yet, when clarity is missing, your audience will not buy into your story.

It’s like with special effects in a movie. A movie with great special effects might be fun to watch, but a movie with a great story beats the special effects every time. Of course, a great story that’s implemented brilliantly beats both.

For presentations, it’s the same. Clarity beats slickness. Clarity plus slickness beats both. The good news is that once you have clarity, it’s so much easier to find the slickness that you were looking for.

Spread the Word

Picture of Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz