We hear it so often, because it applies to so much in business: the ‘Keep It Simple’ rule.
And it definitely applies to storytelling. People often make their stories too complex. They try and crowbar too much in. They want to ‘unpack their backpack’, rather than just pull out one or two items that will give value and create connection.
Apple are amazing at keeping things simple. There are loads of stories about how they do that – like when Steve Jobs told his design team to come up with a device that could fit in your pocket, play 1,000 songs and work with just ONE button. What a brief!
But it hadn’t always been like that. When Apple launched their new ‘Lisa’ computer in 1983, Steve Jobs took out a NINE-PAGE ad in the NY Times, full of technical details & specifications. The computer bombed.
It wasn’t until Jobs was fired from Apple, and went off to work at Pixar, that he learnt to understand the power of story. He returned to Apple in 1997 with a powerful, 2-word message: Think Different.
