How to Master the Power of Storytelling Like Steve Jobs

He was one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema who directed over 50 feature films, including “The Birds,” “Psycho” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”

“There is a distinct difference between ‘suspense’ and ‘surprise,’ and yet many pictures continually confuse the two.” Alfred Hitchcock

BRANDS AND THE VITAL SKILL OF BUILDING SUSPENSE

To disrupt people’s attention today, there are two parts to a story: the journey we take together and the suspense that happens while getting there.

To appreciate this, here is the full quote from Alfred Hitchcock:

“There is a distinct difference between “suspense” and “surprise,” and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean. 

“We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: ‘You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!’ 

“In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense.” 

STEVE JOBS USED THIS SKILL TO BUILD AN EMPIRE

Too many brands today merely have the occasional surprise but fail to keep us in suspense.

Steve Jobs was a master at this.

We all knew he was taking for us for a journey during one of his legendary keynote presentations.

While he would occasionally surprise us with a feature or two or more, there would always be the suspense, whether it was a build-up or his now-famous “one more thing” at the tail end of his presentations (which we all came to know, love and look forward to).

It was like we were all in on the joke because we knew it was coming. That is the power of great story telling.

THE STEVE JOBS CHECKLIST FOR BUILDING SUSPENSE WITH YOUR STORYTELLING

How to use this for your business and brand?

1. Have a storyline for your brand: a hero, a villain, a goal worth living for (or dying for)
2. Have everything appear as we all expect it to be.
3. Now, introduce some “hiding-in-plain-sight” potential danger or threat that, ignored, will derail the whole thing. It needs to be something that people are oblivious to, something we are now all aware of is not yet detected by those who should know. (This is likely your villain to your audience’s aspirations, hopes, goals, dreams, something that your audience now wants to eliminate or overcome.)
4. Save the day by offering “the weapon or super power or device” that will overcome or eliminate the threat. But don’t rush it, let the “ignored solution” mount suspense, mount tension between “inevitable doom” and “will we be saved?”

Use this checklist to build suspense and not merely present some little surprise that the amateur will do because they’re too much in a rush to get to the punchline.

Alfred Hitchcock built a legion of movie goers who loved this and craved it.

And Steve Jobs built a brand and a company that flocked to his presentations with the same anticipation.

This is something you can (and must) master as well.

Would love to know your thoughts.

Please comment below.

They Don’t Call Me The Brandfather for Nothing

Bestselling author of #1 Amazon bestseller, Brand Intervention, and Google’s #1-ranked rebranding expert, my four decades of expertise have generated in excess of $6 billion in sales, transforming not only how brands are seen, but how they sell, how they negotiate, and how they lead and inspire their culture.

I’m honored to have received over 320 international awards including the rare honor of being presented the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship medallion.

I even developed the powerful Brand Intervention Masterclass Mentorship program which has taught entrepreneurs from countries around the world how to stand out and take control of their brands and rise above the noise.

I help CEOs eliminate the me-too noise they’re regurgitating with a no-BS matter-of-fact approach that guides their companies to establish their own path and voice for the future by carving out a dialog that impacts hearts and minds and opens eyes.  Let’s talk.