power of imputing

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is one of my favorite reads which details out a very poetic life story of a rebel who unapologetically challenged the status quo and undertook unprecedented steps that help drive the success of Apple. One of the three guiding principles that Mike Markkula (first investor in Apple) shared with Steve Jobs was ‘impute’. He told him to place a strong emphasis on presenting something really well. Contrary to popular wisdom, people actually do judge a book by its cover. As we can see today, the concept of ‘imputing’ has been deeply ingrained in Apple’s DNA across the whole value chain. It was something that Steve Jobs was passionately obsessed about. It was incorporated into trivial aspects like neat placement of hardware inside the product (even though the consumer will mostly never see it) to the packaging. At the time of its early implementation, these seemed like crazy ideas that would just unnecessarily hurt the margins. But as history is witness, that isn’t what happened. It elevated the user experience and created additional aspirational value for the product. A deeper connection was formed with the emotional side of the brain which responds very well to vibrant imagery or messaging, and consequently incited a cult like loyalty to the brand.