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Home/Magazine Archive/December 2011 (Vol. 54, No. 12)/The Most Ancient Marketing/Abstract

The Most Ancient Marketing

By Jaron Lanier
Communications of the ACM, December 2011, Vol. 54 No. 12, Pages 22-23
10.1145/2043174.2043204
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Steve Jobs, illustration — Credit: Gluekit / Photograph by AP Photo / Paul Sakuma

Before Apple, Steve Jobs famously went to India with a college friend. While I never had occasion to talk to Jobs about it, I have a theory I wish I had a chance to try out on him. The theory is that Jobs saw gurus in India, focal points of love and respect, surrounded by devotees, and thought to himself, "I want that job!"

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Comments

Anonymous

January 15, 2012 09:37

Excellent commentary. As I recall from my own travels in psychedelic guru circles, the management/enlightenment technique referred to (the abusive part)was known as "the Rod of Ridicule."

It's striking to read Lanier's comment that Jobs "remains the only figure in a non-engineering role I have ever seen win this race against engineers outright."

I assume there's a win/some lose/some dynamic at work here, but which side most often comes out on top, I wonder?

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