Tightly boxed

I am not a Steve Jobs disciple and do not prostrate myself at the Church of Apple! (But I had nothing against the man!) So I went with an open mind to see this biopic. Wow! This film is tight, intense & compelling with script and acting that had me glued to the screen for two hours, hardly drawing breath. When it came to an end, I was surprised: the time had just slipped by.

The film is set around three computer launches and is almost balletic in how each scene choreographs the same characters into an updated & revised play within a play. Such a clever narrative technique: simple but enormously effective. There is careful use of flashbacks as well, to add context. This is very well dramatised story of one of the iconic people of our time. Go see!

There is a moment in the film when the strategic insight of Steve Jobs bowled me over: I almost punched the air in awe at his overall plan. This film will not teach you how to be a strategist like Steve Jobs (how could it?!) but it will show you the crucial importance of strategy.

Strategy is a daunting concept: I know it scares some leaders. I know it scared me the first time I was challenged to understand it. But I believe we can all be strategists: but we need the space to think, the tools to think with and (to an extent) the understanding of those who believe that strategy is a complete waste of time!

Do you count yourself as a strategist?

_____________________

This is Blog 129 in my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.