The Steve Jobs Experience

On August 24, 2011 Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigned. Unlike the majority of CEOs who quietly leave their posts, Jobs’ departure from Apple was met with sense of sadness and grief among loyal customers and senior Apple leadership alike.

We all know Steve Jobs has changed the way we use computers, but this does not adequately explain the pervasive feeling of sadness surrounding his departure. Throughout our blog, we’ve analyzed how Apple and other companies link their brand to emotional attachment. So what’s Apple’s secret? And what was Jobs’ role?

A self-described “fan-boy” of Steve Jobs, Stephen Fry answers this question. In a recent interview he states that “Steve Jobs has always recognized our first relationship with anything is an emotional one.” In this case, “anything” refers to Apple products. Fry notes that where other industry leaders idealized a “hard business head” as the key to success, Jobs insisted on demonstrating the superiority of “passion, taste and belief.”

With this value system, Jobs engaged anyone and everyone whose lives were touched by Apple – from his senior leadership to his customers. Jobs’ visionary leadership created a culture. By and large, Apple fans dislike Android devices and PCs. Can you think of another brand whose customers are so affected by enthusiasm for it that they actively dislike rival brands and their customers?

By implementing an elegant user interface with aesthetically appealing products, Jobs demonstrated that products are not a sum of their functions. Apple products are something that makes people smile. Think of the original iPod advertisements with happy, dancing people using the product. Apple products are emotional; they represent a “world” you want to live in and revisit.

Jobs exemplifies the traits of a bold, emotionally-engaged CEO. His ability to engage the company and infuse every dimension of Apple – from production in Cupertino to global consumption – with emotion clearly impacts more than the bottom line: it sets a standard for Customer Experience for years to come.