About ten years ago, shortly after his return to Apple, Steve Jobs gave this motivational speech defining the company’s core values. (Via Gizmodo.)
“Marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.
Our customers want to know, who is Apple, and what is it that we stand for? Where do we fit in this world? And what we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well. We do that better than almost anybody, in some cases.
But Apple is about something more than that. Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe.”
Substitute “politics” for “marketing,” “party” for “company,” and “Democratic Party” for “Apple,” and you’ve got a clear values statement and messaging strategy for getting the American people behind our efforts to move this nation forward. Even “making boxes for people to get their jobs done” is an apt metaphor for what the Democratic Party does, if only that.
You also have a clear answer as to why the Democrats, with our large post-2008 majorities, have failed to rally the nation behind our agenda: because the American people have no idea what we stand for.
Hell, I’m not sure even most Democrats have a clear idea what we stand for.
I’ve long said that the biggest difference between Democrats and Republicans is that we believe in government, while they do not. But Jobs says it much better. Indeed, apply his “people with passion can change the world for the better” to a national context, put a Boston patrician accent on it, and it would sound downright JFK-esque.
Republicans don’t really believe this. Sure, they’ve got their blind faith in the efficiencies of an unfettered free market that they like to promote as a defense of rugged individualism, but it’s really rooted in a sorta value-neutral if not mean-spirited social Darwinism that pretty much advocates every man for himself. Survival of the fittest, and all that. If the rich exploit the poor, the strong exploit the weak, well, that’s the natural order.
And while I suppose Republicans might even seek to twist Jobs’ value statement to fit their own philosophy, remember, Jobs was talking about the values of a company — an organization… a collection of individuals working together toward a common goal — in the same way that Democrats should be talking about the values of our nation.
Democrats too believe that people with passion can change the world for the better, both acting collectively through government, and individually through our market economy. That is the core belief that binds us together, and like Apple, our primary goal should be to provide the opportunity for people with passion to do what they do best.
Politics, like marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No party or politician is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.
The American people want to know who is the Democratic Party, and what is it that we stand for? Where do we fit in this world? And what we’re about isn’t making policies for people to get jobs, although we do that well. We do that better than almost anybody, in some cases.
But the Democratic Party is about something more than that. The Democratic party at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe.
And it’s time for the Democratic Party to get behind such a simple, coherent message.
“The Democratic party at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe.”
No. That’s what Democrats pay lip service towards. They act out their real beliefs each and every day. They’re very much corporatists, as are the Republicans. And under the leadership of both Democrats and Republicans, our nation embraced global corporatism last week.
Hear, hear! I was just reading about how President Obama uses the Web like ordinary people do. Let’s hope he comes across this commentary. Goldy ought to make it easy for him by sending the link to the WH.
@1
Yup!
Vapid rhetoric, be it on “marketing” or “politics” will not motivate anyone besides the already initiated to do diddly squat. This post represents how truely out of touch liberals are with the issues of “change”, and you know it’s bad when even a lefty like myself notices. (Of course, the GOP are equally out of touch).
Hell, Goldy, the Democratic Party doesn’t even have to move America forward. If all we do is keep Republicans from moving it backward, we’ll have done the American people some good.
Only a fervent proselyte of the Church would have Goldy’s confidence that Jobs is a Democrat.
Now, I’m not saying that our left-wing corporatists aren’t better folk than those nasty wingnut corporatists.
“Republicans don’t really believe this. Sure, they’ve got their blind faith in the efficiencies of an unfettered free market that they like to promote as a defense of rugged individualism, but it’s really rooted in a sorta value-neutral if not mean-spirited social Darwinism that pretty much advocates every man for himself. Survival of the fittest, and all that. If the rich exploit the poor, the strong exploit the weak, well, that’s the natural order.”
Goldy is spot-on with this analysis. This nation was founded upon the notion of a social contract. Today’s GOP rejects that contract. Today’s GOP prefers a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max vision for our society and world. Here is a fine example of how Democrats see the world and our nation’s place in the world:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/231131
comparing apple’s vision to the democratic party is clever but i don’t believe it. neither the democratic party and the national gop are really supportive of individuals. they are both institutions of social responsibility. remember, both bush and obama optioned to bail out the financial sector and the automative sector.
you cite the free market as a cold machine that exploits the poor and the weak but i do not believe this is true. the free market is hungry only for new ideas and innovation. people who generate ideas/wealth tend to become rich and strong but in no way does the free market punish people for bad behavior.
you do not understand the free market because you see ‘those who are not rewarded’ as ‘those who are punished’
@8 “Today’s GOP prefers a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max vision for our society and world.”
Here’s the Republican who believes that we shouldn’t feed the poor because, as with stray animals, they’ll just breed.
http://videocafe.crooksandliar.....oor-theyll
Nice people, those Republicans.
Steve Jobs is a corporate snake-oil faker who has gotten rich fleecing the gullible into buying his overpriced products. That wouldn’t be you, would it, Goldy? Oh, wait a minute.
Ivan and SJ
Birds of a feather in this aggregation of the flock!
Starve the poor. Hmm, I wonder if that comes from the wingnut rewrite of the Bible by Phyllis Schafly’s kid? I do know they dumped “cast the first stone”. That one obviously sucked for wingnuts.
hmmm, ivan, et al…
You guys just don’t get it. The point is, the American people have no idea what the Democratic Party stands for. The don’t know what our values are and where we fit in.
You can argue all you want over Jobs and his value statement, but at least he has one that he communicates consistently and effectively. The Democratic party doesn’t have that, and as a result, we have failed to effectively sell ourselves and policies to the American people.
Dismiss it as mere marketing hooey if you want, but we’re failing as a party nonetheless.
@11
Yea right, where I work we decided instead of buying PCs that crap out after a year or two we’d buy Macs instead. Seven years later, those Macs are still running and have paid for themselves more than once. It’s the gullible that buy cheap crap that breaks and needs to be replaced year after year.
Steve @ 10
He’s the guy that got all high and mighty about Mark Sanford’s little dalliance. Somehow adultery doesn’t seem as bad as wishing starvation upon others.
Goldy @ 14:
Speak for yourself. You don’t even participate in the Democratic Party. Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and Adolf Hitler communicated consistently and effectively, too. So take Steve Jobs and shove him up your ass. Just because YOU have a man-crush on him does not oblige the rest of us to have one.
Don @ 15:
I don’t buy PCs that break down after one, two, or even five years. It sucks to be you if you did. Enjoy your stylish, overpriced Apple product. Revel in its “elegance” if it turns you on. My PC is highly functional and maintenance free because I know how and where to shop for one.
@14 “You guys just don’t get it. The point is, the American people have no idea what the Democratic Party stands for.”
No, you don’t get it. The American people see it acted out each and every day and marketing won’t help one wit. Spinelessness, good intentions, no wisdom, lousy results. I mention spineless first because that’s really today’s brand. Geez, and I’d thought you’d have noticed. My bad. Democrats have been breaking my heart for 41 years, Goldy. That trend line isn’t broken yet. Hope’s still alive, though. Alas, being a nudge better than the asswipes on the other side doesn’t generate much excitement for me when I see both parties failing our nation.
@14:
No Goldy, it is you who doesn’t get it. Obama was an effective communicator. But words mean nothing if they are not backed up with action. Talk is cheap. Show me a party that will speak truth to power while in power, without having to be prodded by its base, and I’ll show you a party that has a chance of getting something done– and staying in power. The Democrats have no direction, because since the 1970’s, they have been the party of people with single issue agendas which are often contradictory and irreconcilable. They know how to rally people on the basis of the GOP being such suckasses, and then spend their time capitulating to same once they get into power. Two steps forward, three steps back.
When Leiberman is gone, who will be the scapegoat for their inneffectiveness?
@16 “He’s the guy that got all high and mighty about Mark Sanford’s little dalliance”
Yeah, he’s the Lt. Governor. High and mighty? Just blood in the water, no doubt.
Yeah, I reckon the Democrats are still better than those moral degenerates on the other side. There’s your selling point, Goldy, the spineless Dems are still better than those stinkin’ Republican pervs.
THe cay the government makes a profit is the day you can compare them to Apple dumbass.
@10 Rep. John Linder (R-GA) favors tax breaks for business and opposes food stamps for the unemployed.
@11 Why do you hate the rich and successful?
@14 Of course they don’t get it. They don’t get anything.
@19 That pretty much sums up the situation, and also explains why the GOP, the most unloved party of all time, is winning elections. It’s like hoping for more crime so you’ll get some police protection.
Answering SJ on whether Jobs is a Democrat…
According to the FEC website, he’s contributed to:
DNC — $15000 (1997), $50000 (2000)
Nancy Pelosi — $1000 (1998)
DCCC — $26700 (2006)
Bill Bradley — $500 (1999)
Committee for a Democratic Majority (Ted Kennedy’s PAC) — $4000 (2000)
Ted Kennedy — $2000 (1999)
Rahm Emanuel — $1000 (2004)
What are the odds that he’s not a Democrat?
Jobs at the DNC cause Apple has core? Man, that Iphone cool aid is flowing!
So Scott Brown winning the Mary Jo Kopecne seat is evidence that Republicans are unloved? Who would have known that.
Thanks Goldy. That is exactly what the country needs. A clear mission statement and politicians that can execute.
For me, this thread reminds me of a Simpsons episode where they showed signs at the opposing conventions:
Republican convention: “We’re just plain evil” and “We want what’s worst for everyone”
Democratic convention: “We hate life and ourselves” and “We can’t govern”
hmmm said it best about the Democrats:
I appreciate your analysis, Goldy, but the Democrats will never truly succeed until everybody in the party realizes that everybody won’t get their way all the time.
Goldy @ 14
“You guys just don’t get it. The point is, the American people have no idea what the Democratic Party stands for. The don’t know what our values are and where we fit in.”
I think the American people have a very clear idea of what the Democratic Party stands for: more and bigger government programs, without the resources to pay for them, resulting in much larger budget deficits. The voters know this apporach is not sustainable, hence Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts.
Candidate Obama was very effective in selling a message of “hope and “change”. After becoming President Obama, he’s tried to give us more and bigger of the same old stuff. Much like the Republicans before them, when you talk one way then govern another, you lose elections.
“The Democratic party at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. That’s what we believe.”
No—what you believe is that by using government force, you can make people accept what YOU think is good for them, whether the electorate wants it or not.
The right wing core value is:
“I’m not a {millionaire, multi-millionaire, billionaire, etc} because of the gub’mint and the emmessemmm..”
Hmmm. Like a war of choice in Iraq!!!
Like a war of choice in Iraq, feckless abstinence sex-ed, tax cuts for the rich meant to spur economic nirvana – ooops that didn’t work did it?..
@31 “Democratic Party stands for: more and bigger government programs, without the resources to pay for them, resulting in much larger budget deficits. The voters know this apporach is not sustainable”
And just what have the Republicans ever given you besides bigger government and larger budget deficits?
26. N in Seattle
Jobs’ giving to dems pretty meagre for a man of his means, also appears as if he rarely gives money.
Did you fail to list what he gives to reps?
Right wing idiots, i.e. it means:
No choices when it comes to reproductive freedom for women, plenty of choices when it comes to killing and ruining the lives of 100’s of thousands of swarthy people with funny names that never attacked us.