On August 7th, 1997, I watched Steve Jobs, the grand master of keynote presenters, change the biases of a room full of Apple fanatics—myself included.
I was sitting in the third row of the World Trade Center in Boston during the MacWorld convention as Jobs laid out his plan to get Apple back on its feet. Near the end of his talk, he announced that part of that plan would include working with and taking money from Bill Gates and Microsoft. Then, a moment later, Bill Gates appeared on the large projection screen.
There was a roar of boos and shock on the faces of nearly everyone in the audience as they watched Bill Gates, looking eerily similar to Apple’s famous "Big Brother" ad from the 1980s that aired during the Super Bowl. Gates spoke for a few minutes about his commitment to Apple, and then the screen went blank. The room was filled with shock and confusion. Did Steve Jobs just sell out Apple to Microsoft?
Apple and Microsoft: The Rivalry
Since this may predate some of you, it's important to note that Apple and Microsoft had a huge rivalry in the '90s, akin to the Red Sox and the Yankees. The fact that this was happening was extremely blasphemous to Apple fans, and Jobs knew it.
Jobs paused for a moment to let the room quiet down. He glanced out into the crowd, almost looking like he was trying to make eye contact with every single person in that room, and said very bluntly, “We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose.”
Immediately following these words was the silence of a thousand people processing information in a way they had not before. It was this voice of reason, probably deliverable by very few people, that changed the energy in the room. If you watch videos of the keynote online, you can see people in the audience start to look at each other in agreement and actually start nodding. It was a remarkable thing to witness.
Of course, it became a total circus by the time the media got hold of the story, but for that one moment, there was balance in the force. This balance reminds me of another lesser-known quote from the Star Wars movies that I hope makes you think about how you take in new information, ideas, and perspectives.
Star Wars and the Power of Perspective
If you haven’t seen any of the movies yet, there's a spoiler alert coming up. Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Darth Vader is a Sith Lord, and Sith Lords are bad. Obi-Wan is a Jedi knight, and Jedi Knights are good. Let’s keep it simple.
During Episode III, Obi-Wan and Anakin are in the midst of an epic lightsaber duel. Anakin looks up at Obi-Wan and says, “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,” to which Obi-Wan responds, “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”
Remember, the Sith are the bad ones. To not think in absolutes requires listening and being able to truly step into someone else’s shoes. That requires asking questions, understanding perspectives, and knowing where those perspectives come from. There are so many complex problems in the world that don’t have a simple answer. When we deal in absolutes, we are essentially saying there is only one answer: mine. Sometimes people are just crazy, but more often than not, we just haven’t asked enough questions to get to the root of the way they think and why. To do that requires a deep dive into their mindset, and you can’t do that by asking one question and making an instant judgment. It can take five or six questions to truly get to the root of someone’s mindset. Without giving them that respect in getting to know their side better, we are doing ourselves a disservice by not learning something new. If we listen and dig a little deeper, we might even find out that our perspectives aren’t that different.
Overcoming biases isn’t easy. Biases are similar to habits. We accumulate them from our environment throughout our lives, and they become hard-wired and difficult to change. We, unfortunately, live in a time where taking sides rather than discussing our differences has become the norm. It’s become all too common to hear, “People that think differently than me are my enemy,” or “I pity them because they think that way.”
Think about something that you believe in very strongly. Now imagine you are presented with a set of facts that put your side into question, either partially or completely. That’s uncomfortable, and your brain doesn’t like being uncomfortable. At this point, your brain will immediately seek to justify your own perspective rather than take in this new information because it requires your brain to use more energy, which it’s desperately trying to conserve. Even if your whole argument is falling apart, this cognitive dissonance can cause you to double down on what you believe. We need to make a conscious effort to fight against the brain's biological need to stay in the status quo and continue to be curious to fight our biases. It will take more effort and may feel exhausting due to the extra energy required for the brain to process, but in the end, you will gain valuable perspectives, create better relationships, and be a stronger leader and person.
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