Steve Wozniak knows the importance of communication, especially when building a business. After all, he founded Apple with one of the greatest communicators and marketers of all time in the tech world: Steve Jobs.
The late Jobs has long been known as a “genius” for the way he promoted and marketed Apple products, most of which were designed and built by Wozniak in the company’s early days. But Wozniak told CNBC Make It that his partner wasn’t always a marketing and communications guru — those were skills Jobs had to develop to make up for the lack of a particularly skilled computer engineer.
“He learned a lot of marketing principles because he wasn’t really good at engineering, you know, computer hardware. [and] Software, Wozniak says of Jobs. “He needed to find other areas to become important.”
Last year, Wozniak began filming the online reality show Unicorn Hunters alongside former US Treasurer Rosie Rios and singer Lance Bass. On the show, he and other judges put up investment proposals from tech startup founders, and Wozniak says he’s sometimes “amazed” by how ineffectively some entrepreneurs communicate.
“We saw a lot of presentations that were rude and stuttered and they kind of lost themselves, and that doesn’t help when you’re doing an investor presentation,” he says.
Of course, Wozniak may have been spoiled after years of working with Jobs. Wozniak noted last year that when the two men founded Apple, Jobs “transformed” from a jovial friend to someone who was serious about building a company that would change the world. A critical part of that transformation, Wozniak now says, was watching Jobs “grow his communication skills.” [skills].”
“Being the main communicator and the decisive factor in business. He was very good at [that]”Wozniak says.
Wozniak says Jobs’ skills as a communicator and salesperson have helped Apple successfully market products like the iPhone as user-friendly. The smartphone was something that applied to Jobs’ life, Wozniak says. You didn’t need to know technology. [to use it].”
This skill ultimately separated Jobs from the rest of the generation of tech icons. In a 2020 interview, Bill Gates said he was “so jealous” of Jobs for coming across as such a natural speaker. Gates called Jobs a “genius”, especially for the way he could inspire people from clients to his employees.
But, according to Wozniak, in reality it was not so natural. In 2020, Wozniak told Guy Kawasaki’s Wonderful People podcast that Jobs’ intense and relentless drive to become a successful communicator and leader stemmed from his desire to eventually be remembered as an important historical figure, and that motivation led him to develop the appropriate skills to do so.
“Sometimes the motivation, the desire for something is much more important than having an actual skill,” Wozniak said.
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