In His New One-Man Show, a #8216;People Hacker#8217; Becomes Steve Jobs

In His New One-Man Show, a 8216People Hacker8217 Becomes Steve Jobs In His New One-Man Show, a 8216People Hacker8217 Becomes Steve Jobs RecruiterTodaycontributor, author, speaker, psychiatrist, and self-described people hacker Dr. Mark Goulstonis one of many people who recognize the lessons that Jobss life and career hold for todays professionals. Thats why he recently devised Steve Jobs Returns How to Build a Visionary Company,a combination keynote speech and one-man show in which Goulston takes on the role of Steve Jobs in order to teach people about the ten iterative, Lego-like steps that Jobs followed to make Apple insanely great.Goulston believes that Jobss business talent was no preternatural gift no, it came from a set of concrete actionshe took that anyone canfollow.I probably dont have to tell you how unique theidea of delivering a keynote speech in the form of a one-man show is. When Goulston mentioned this project to me, I knew I had to learn more. So, we engaged in a quick email QA, which is reproduced below, minimally edited for style and clarityPreview announcement of Steve Jobs Returns Connecting the Dotsfrom Mark Goulston on Vimeo.Recruiter.com How did the idea for this performance come about?Dr. Mark GoulstonFor the past year and a half, I had been giving a presentation called Hacking Steve Jobs The Secret to Creating Gotta Have It at a variety of venues, including tech and healthcare CEO roundtables, neuschpfung conferences, and entrepreneurial groups. In it, I explained the four-step formula Jobs unconsciously followed to cause customers to respond with Gotta have it when new products were introduced. Thats because when you cause people to think Gotta have it you dont have to persuade or sell to them. You just take orders.By the way, that four-step formula is1. Whoa I cant believe what I just saw, heard, or read2. Wow Thats astonishing, amazing, unbelievable3. Hmmm Thats too good to ignore or not do something with4. Yes I see the w ay to use it. SoldIn those presentations, I dressed like Steve Jobs, but stopped short of becoming him. One of my other skill sets is deconstructing strategies into lockstep, Lego-like steps (such as the four steps above) that anyone can follow. One of those strategies is also a lockstep, Lego-like 10-step strategy that anyone can follow to build a very successful business. I distitelseiteed that this 10-step strategy wasalso the unconscious formula that Jobs followed to turn Apple from near bankruptcy in 1997 into the highest-valued company in the world after he introduced the iPhone in 2007.RC Why did you choose to perform the role of Steve Jobs instead of delivering a talk about him and his successes at Apple? Does this have any impact on how the audience engages with the lessons you want to share? If so, how?MGI had previously presented the 10-step strategy for success to audiences, who agreed with it but didnt find it compelling enough to commit to it. By now channeling Steve J obs I dont have a script. I actually see and then articulate the world through his eyes as I retell the story of coming back to Apple in 1997 through 2007 I tell his story as him and cover all the 10 steps via a story. By actually being him instead ofplaying him, it mesmerizes the audiences, and to add to it, I take questions after I tell the story and answer them as Steve Jobs, still occupying his persona.RC What has the process been like for you? What steps have you taken in order to learn how to be Steve Jobs, in a sense? And what does it feel like playing the role of such a giant?MGThe process has been amazing. I am not an actor by profession. However, I have spent more than 30 years as a therapist channeling my patients and couples and expressing what they were feeling and meant to say but didnt have the words to say. That has helped me be effective as a suicide interventionist, death and dying specialist, FBI/police hostage negotiation trainer, jury consultant, key advisor, and confidante to founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs.I have much experience doing role play in those instances. Check out this video from my hostage negotiation training (ed. note this is a hostage negotiation training, so the content may be upsetting to some viewer discretion is advised). But I have never taken on channeling someone regarding their life.Interestingly, I tried to mix the role play with switching over to a teacher role, but audiences who have seen it told me to drop the teaching, which is much lower energy, and just play Jobs the entire time, weaving the 10 steps into the story and then taking questions as him.At the end, I give out a handout with a 10-step process adapted from one of my published articles with the title, How I made Apple Insanely Great in 10 Steps and How You Can Do the Same.I dont do consulting or training myself anymore and have a team at the ready to work with companies that want to learn and implement this strategy.RCWhat do you hope people wil l learn or feel when they see this show?MGI hope they will feel I have deconstructed the genius and secret sauce of Steve Jobs into a strategy that they can use to make their companies and lives insanely great. I also hope it will connect some of the dots regarding his psyche and psychology that havent been connected before.RCCan you talk a little bit more about the concept of connecting the dots and how it relates to the show?MGIn 2005, Steve Jobs gave a commencement address at Stanford that many consider to be the top commencement address ever given at a university. Jobs said many incredible and memorable things that day, including You cant connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.A brief excerpt from Jobss 2005Stanford commencement speech.Jobs ran out of future before he was able to connect the dots enough to make Apple a sustainable visionary company. He thought it would c ontinue under the leadership of CEO Tim Cook and Chief Design Officer Jony Ive. However, many will say that it has lost a good deal of its disruptive mojo since Jobs died.In this presentation, I connect the dots that Jobs didnt get a option to connect and turn it into a story with doable steps that any company can follow to be insanely great.RC How/where can people see the show?MG I will post recent and upcoming presentations in my free Usable Insight newsletter that people can subscribe to by going to my website, clicking the Free Stuff tab on the right margin, and putting in their name and email, which I will never share with anyone else.In addition, I am sharing insights I am learning after each presentation in a LinkedIn Pulse blog series with a video outtake that they are promoting to several of their channels.RC What are your future plans for the show? Is this just a small project, or do you want to take it as far as it can go?MGIts currently in its off, off, off Broadway and off the radar run. I will be giving it at a variety of small venues and to companies and organizations to refine it. After that, I hope to turn a part of it into a TED Talk, present it at much larger venues, and hopefully have the insanely great opportunity to present it at Apple in front of the entire company.After all I am Steve Jobs.