How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? - An analysis of Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic development in relation to Apple’s organizational performance MASTER’S THESIS, SPRING 2013 Aalborg University Lotte Skjøttgaard Sørensen Supervisor: Richard Madsen Characters incl. of blanks: 188.886 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 Abstract In an increasingly global word, companies get a chance to become highly successful all over the world. One of these companies is Apple. Apple is famous for many things, but especially their products and their former CEO Steve Jobs are what characterize this company. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs died in 2011. But he left behind more than a successful company and an iconic status. Jobs died having an image as a charismatic leader who possessed great speaking skills. One of the aims of the thesis is to find out if there is a development in Steve Jobs’ rhetorical and linguistic skill from Apple’s foundation in 1976 to Jobs’s death in 2011. Furthermore, some researchers have found a link between rhetoric and charisma and others between charisma and organizational performance. Therefore, if it is possible to find a development in Steve Jobs’ rhetorical and linguistic skills, could this development be correlated to Apple’s organizational performance? The last part of the thesis aims find out if other business leaders can learn from Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills. The thesis uses linguistics as the point of departure for the scientific approach but incorporates functionalism. Furthermore, an inductive approach is taken in the thesis. This means that the results of the thesis are generalizations of all Steve Jobs’ speeches based on only some of them. Also, the data analyzed is broken down into parts. The questions in this thesis were answered by looking at six speeches of Steve Jobs which covered the period 1984 to 2011. These speeches were analyzed by using Den Hartog & Verburg’s (1997) four elements of rhetoric which. The second element in the theory was supported by Ditlevsen et al.’s (2007) SPA text analysis model. Thus, with the four elements of rhetoric as the point of departure, rhetorical and linguistic devices were analyzed. The analysis was based on the six speeches where the rhetorical and linguistic devices were identified first. Thus, they provided the data for the next analysis in which the data were accounted for quantitatively in each speech, mostly by calculating the rhetorical and linguistic devices in percentages. Then, the findings of all six speeches were compared. This comparison showed that Steve Jobs did not develop his rhetorical and linguistic skills from 1976 to 2011. However, he did have good rhetorical and linguistic skills despite the fact that he did not develop them over time. It was found that Jobs had used the same strategies always with only few variations from speech to speech. As a consequence, a correlation to Apple’s organizational development could not be made either. Page 2 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 Finally, it was discussed whether other business leaders could learn from Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills. It was argued that others could benefit from the consistency of Jobs’s speeches. In order to achieve the same skills as Steve Jobs, they could also study rhetoric and linguistics. However, as there was no direct relationship between Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills and Apple’s organizational development, it was argued that business leaders should also focus on other things such as design and brand value which were important for Apple. Furthermore, because Steve Jobs had an iconic status, it was argued that if charisma can be achieved, business leaders should work on that and also develop their own reputation. This could be done by getting known by the company’s shareholders. Characters incl. of blanks: 3,483 Page 3 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 Table of contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Problem statement ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 3: Apple Inc. ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 4: Steven Paul Jobs ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 5: Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 16 5.1 Delimitation ............................................................................................................................................... 16 5.2 Scientific Approach .................................................................................................................................... 18 5.2.1 Linguistics .......................................................................................................................................... 19 5.2.2 Induction and Deduction .................................................................................................................. 21 5.2.3 Quantitative and Qualitative Methods ............................................................................................. 22 5.3 Various Views on Charisma ....................................................................................................................... 23 5.3.1 Charisma and Rhetoric/Linguistics ................................................................................................. 24 5.3.2 Charisma and Organizational Performance .................................................................................... 25 5.4 Empirical Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 27 5.4.1 Macintosh Introduction 1984........................................................................................................... 27 5.4.2 Macworld 1997 ................................................................................................................................. 28 5.4.3 White iBook Introduction 2001 ....................................................................................................... 29 5.4.4 European iTunes Store Introduction 2004 ..................................................................................... 29 5.4.5 Macworld 2008 ................................................................................................................................. 30 5.4.6 iPad 2 Introduction 2011 .................................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 6: Theory ............................................................................................................................................................ 31 6.1 Four elements of rhetoric........................................................................................................................... 32 6.1.1 Content ............................................................................................................................................... 34 6.1.2 Composition/Structure ..................................................................................................................... 35 6.1.3 Communicator style .......................................................................................................................... 45 6.1.4 Delivery .............................................................................................................................................. 47 6.2 Evaluation of the Theoretical Approach ..................................................................................................... 49 6.3 Application of Theory .................................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 7: Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 53 7.1 Findings ....................................................................................................................................................... 54 7.1.1 Macintosh 1984 .................................................................................................................................. 54 7.1.2 Macworld 1997 ................................................................................................................................... 58 7.1.3 White iBook Introduction 2001 .......................................................................................................... 62 7.1.4 European iTunes Introduction 2004 ................................................................................................... 66 7.1.5 Macworld 2008 ................................................................................................................................... 69 7.1.6 iPad 2 Introduction 2011 .................................................................................................................... 73 Page 4 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 7.2 Comparison of the Speeches ....................................................................................................................... 77 7.2.1 Content ............................................................................................................................................... 78 7.2.2 Composition/Structure ....................................................................................................................... 78 7.2.3 Communicator Style ............................................................................................................................ 85 7.2.4 Delivery ............................................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 8: Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter 9: Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 90 References .......................................................................................................................................................................... 93 Page 5 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 List of Figures Figure 1. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 2. Apple’s stock price 1985-2011 (“Tributes for Apple ‘visionary’ Steve Jobs” 2011) ............................. 12 Figure 3. Content of charismatic leaders’ speeches (Shamir et al. 1994, 29) ..................................................... 34 Figure 4. The SPA text analysis model (Ditlevsen et al. 2007, 67. My translation)............................................. 36 Figure 5. Communicator style subconstructs (Holladay & Coombs 1993, 413) ................................................. 46 List of Tables Table 1. Four Elements of Rhetoric (Den Hartog & Verburg 1997, 361) ............................................................ 33 Table 2. Overview of Analysis Approach .............................................................................................................. 48 Table 3. Content 1984 ........................................................................................................................................... 54 Table 4. Dispositio 1984 ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Table 5. Content 1997 ........................................................................................................................................... 59 Table 6. Dispositio 1997 ....................................................................................................................................... 59 Table 7. Content 2001 ........................................................................................................................................... 62 Table 8. Dispositio 2001 ....................................................................................................................................... 63 Table 9. Content 2004 ........................................................................................................................................... 66 Table 10. Dispositio 2004 ..................................................................................................................................... 67 Table 11. Content 2008......................................................................................................................................... 70 Table 12. Dispositio 2008 ..................................................................................................................................... 70 Table 13. Content 2011......................................................................................................................................... 74 Table 14. Dispositio 2011 ..................................................................................................................................... 75 Table 15. Comparison of Content ......................................................................................................................... 78 Table 16. Comparison of Dispositio ...................................................................................................................... 79 Table 17. Comparison of Appeals ......................................................................................................................... 80 Table 18. Comparison of Figures of Speech ......................................................................................................... 81 Table 19. Comparison of Key nouns ..................................................................................................................... 81 Table 20. Comparison of Words/Phrases ............................................................................................................ 82 Table 21. Comparison of Adjectives ..................................................................................................................... 82 Table 22. Comparison of Conjunctions ................................................................................................................. 83 Table 23. Comparison of Rhyme and Alliteration ................................................................................................ 83 Table 24. Comparison of Parallelism ................................................................................................................... 84 Table 25. Comparison of Repetition ..................................................................................................................... 84 Table 26. Comparison of Sentences ...................................................................................................................... 84 Table 27. Comparison of Communicator Style .................................................................................................... 85 Table 28. Comparison of Puritas .......................................................................................................................... 86 Table 29. Comparison of Perspicuitas .................................................................................................................. 87 Page 6 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 Chapter 1: Introduction As the world has become increasingly global and national borders are no longer a limit for a company to go abroad with its products, companies have the opportunity to become popular and successful all over the world. One such company is Apple Inc. The company is famous for products like Mac computers, iPods, iPhones, and iPads, for the cult status the products have among the fans, and for the former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs. Apple is an interesting company because it is so closely linked to Steve Jobs – even after his death. Not many other companies are or have been so dependent on and synonymous with its founder. Apple’s history is both interesting – and unusual. The company was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. But in 1985 Jobs left the company after leadership struggles. Instead, he founded the company NeXT Inc. which was bought by Apple in 1996 (Kane & Fowler 2011). This brought Steve Jobs back to Apple and in 2000 he was announced the CEO of the company (“Steve Jobs – timeline of the former Apple CEO” 2011). Since then, Apple has almost continuously become more and more successful (“Tributes for Apple ‘visionary’ Steve Jobs” 2011). Unfortunately, due to a poor health caused by pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs passed away on 5 October 2011 (Kane & Fowler 2011). In the days after Jobs’s death reactions came from all over the world. One of the words used to describe him was ‘visionary’ (e.g. “Steve Jobs er død” 2011; Markoff 2011; Schulman 2011). Barack Obama said that Jobs was “among the greatest of American innovators” (Schulman 2011), The Wall Street Journal noted that he “transformed the way people interact with technology” (Kane & Fowler 2011), and several others mentioned that Steve Jobs was charismatic (e.g. Sarno & Goffard 2011; Robertson 2011). Especially the fact that Jobs was perceived as charismatic is interesting because some researchers (e.g. Agle, Nagarajan, Sonnenfeld, & Srinivasan 2006; Howell & Frost 1989) have found a connection between charisma and organizational performance. This is discussed in chapter 5.3. Another thing the world remembers about Steve Jobs is his speeches. Numerous guides on how to make presentations like Steve Jobs can be found on the Internet (e.g. Walker 2011; Gallo 2012), and the image of Steve Jobs standing on stage presenting the newest Apple creation is well-known to most people. It would be interesting to examine the rhetorical and linguistic means Steve Jobs used in his speeches to see if it is possible to trace a development throughout his career. Also, just like some researchers see a connection between charisma and Page 7 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 organizational performance, some also see a connection between rhetoric and charisma (chapter 5.3). As such, with charisma connecting rhetoric and linguistics to organizational performance, it would be interesting to see whether a rhetorical and linguistic development in Jobs’s speeches could be correlated to the increasing success of Apple. Also, could other business leaders learn from Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills? In this thesis, the AMA Handbook of Business Writing (2010) by Wilson & Wauson is used as a style guide. AMA is short for American Management Association. Hence, American English is used in this thesis. On the basis of this introduction a problem statement has been formed. It is explicated below. 1.1 Problem statement The aim of this thesis is to find out if Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills developed from the foundation of Apple in 1976 to his death in 2011 and whether this development can be correlated to Apple’s organizational performance. This is done through an analysis of rhetorical and linguistic devices in six speeches and by looking at Apple’s performance throughout the years. Finally, this thesis aims to conclude whether Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills could serve as an example for other business leaders. Chapter 2: Structure of the Thesis This chapter introduces the structure of this thesis. Figure 1 below shows the approach visually. Page 8 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 Chapter 3: Apple Inc. An introduction of Apple Inc. and an overview of its organizational development Chapter 4: Steven Paul Jobs An introduction of Steve Jobs personally, his reputation, and second company Chapter 5: Methodology Various views on Delimitation Scientific approach Empirical data collection charisma Chapter 6: Theory Evaluation of theoretical Four elements of rhetoric Approach to analysis approach Chapter 7: Analysis Findings Comparison Chapter 8: Discussion Discussion of findings and comparison Chapter 9: Conclusion Summing up the thesis Figure 1. Structure of the thesis As is evident from the figure, seven chapters constitute the rest of the thesis. First, chapter 3 gives an introduction to Apple as a company and examines its organizational development over time. Chapter 4 is a short biography of Steve Jobs. In the methodology chapter the first part is delimitation. Next is an account for the scientific approach used. In this thesis functionalism is combined with induction and quantitative and qualitative methods. Then, various views on charisma account for the way researchers connect charisma to rhetoric and organizational performance. Finally, the empirical data collection concludes the methodology chapter. It consists of six Steve Jobs speeches. Next is the theory chapter which is mainly centered on the four elements of rhetoric, a model developed by Den Hartog & Verburg (1997). The second element in the theory, Page 9 of 98 How to Grow an Apple: Did Steve Jobs Speak Apple to Success? Spring 2013 composition/structure, is supported by the SPA text analysis model (Ditlevsen, Engberg, Kastberg, & Nielsen 2007, 67). Thus, the theory consists of a synthesis between these two theories. The rhetorical and linguistic devices in the four elements of rhetoric are indentified in appendices B-G and analyzed in the analysis chapter. The theory chapter also includes an evaluation of the theoretical approach and an account for the way the speeches are analyzed. The analysis chapter analyzes the six speeches by Steve Jobs. The chapter has two parts; findings and comparison. Findings sum up what have been found in the analyses of appendices B-G, and in the comparison the findings are compared in order to find out whether there is a development in Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills and whether such a development can be correlated to Apple’s organizational performance. In the discussion, the results of the analysis are related to the three parts of the problem statement and discussed. The discussion is based on the analysis (chapter 7) and chapter 3 which examines Apple’s organizational development. The discussion is included in order to relate the results of the analysis to a larger perspective instead of just stating whether there is a development in Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills. Finally, the conclusion sums up the most important points of the thesis. With this overview of the progress of the rest of the thesis, the next chapter introduces Apple Inc. Chapter 3: Apple Inc. Today, Apple is one of the most popular companies in the world. Apple topped the BrandZ Top 100 list as the most valuable global brand in 2012 (“BrandZ Top 100” 2012) and was at the same time number one on Forbes’s list of the most powerful brands (Badenhausen 2012). This chapter focuses on Apple’s history and development which I argue can be divided into four phases: foundation and early years, Steve Jobs leaves, Steve Jobs returns, and Apple after Jobs’s death. Furthermore, this chapter serves as the point of departure for whether a development in Steve Jobs’s rhetorical and linguistic skills can be correlated to Apple’s organizational development. The first phase spreads over the years 1976 to 1985; from the foundation of Apple to the year Steve Jobs ledt the company. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and his high school friend Steve Wozniak in Jobs’s parents’ garage in Silicon Valley (Robertson 2011). The Page 10 of 98