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Femininity and Humanity: The Appeal of Steve Jobs’ Vision
The powerhouse organization New York Women in Communications has put together an insightful tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs, who passed away on Wednesday, with the help of our very own Mary Lou Quinlan. Mary Lou muses on how a company in the traditionally masculine tech field resonated so beautifully with women:
Steve Jobs will be praised as a beloved man who was an entrepreneur, a visionary and a marketing genius who revolutionized the way we communicate and connect. But I want to salute him for his innate understanding of women–their affinity for design, for ease, for enhancing life’s experiences.
Back in the early 70s when Steve invented apple, through to the present day, the technology industry has been highly male-driven, even with the bright lights of Sheryl Sandberg at facebook and Marissa Mayer at google. The mentality of bells and whistles, the macho ‘mine’s cooler than yours’ bravado of Silicon Valley led to products that were functional but not exceptional.
Steve’s innate and intuitive grasp of the beautiful as well as the brilliant, his recognition of how technology can go beyond “gee whiz” to actually enhancing life moved computing from a task to a treat, from dreary to delicious. Without ever saying, ‘Women will love this!’ or even thinking pink, Jobs recognized that devices could be lovely to hold, intutive to use, easy to love.
I only hope that his sensibility, almost feminine in nature, will continue as apple’s legacy: generations of products that appeal to the humanity in all of us.
NYWICI’s tribute to Jobs includes thoughts from Linda Kaplan Thaler, Dorothy Crenshaw, Patrice Tanaka, and and Cathy Carlozzi. The entire tribute is available on NYWICI’s blog, Aloud. CLICK HERE.
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