Steve Jobs | “people don’t know what they want”

In Prof. Lavine’s wk1 Introductory video, some words, and the way he says them, give me goose bumps: “Why is communicating effectively so challenging? The blunt answer is that the people you want to reach face an ever rising tidal wave of content demanding their attention but they don’t have one more minute in their day [dramatic pause]…This MOOC welcomes that challenge”.

I envy your situation. Challenges like the one you are faced with are what makes us feel alive…what makes us jump out of bed each morning instead of crawling. This is the type of ‘big idea’ that interests me the most. The type that I was alluding to in the opening argument. It’s almost like trying to find the holy grail. We need to open our minds and make them receptive to inspiration from a multitude of angles…of sources…then our minds will start working more creatively and ideas will hit us at the oddest moments, when we least expect them.

Here’s an example of inspiration that works for me. It may not work for you. We have to find our own inspirations. Have you watched Mad Men? Is that a stupid question? I haven’t watched the whole series, but there are some episodes that just inspire the heck out of me. Watch this scene and note the moment when Don Draper stands up to leave and then delivers the ‘big idea’—compare that to the guy that preceded him. What’s the difference? If you could bottle that…

Tell us what you think.