Something big happened during the 1984 Superbowl, and it had nothing to do with football. Halfway through a game that would ultimately be seized by the Raiders, an iconic commercial aired for the first time. It signaled the presence of a company that would change the course of history.
Nineteen eighty-four was a year foreshadowed 35 years earlier in George Orwell’s classic novel. The book, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” depicted a province repressively controlled by “thought police” under the secret surveillance of “Big Brother.” Similarly, Apple’s monochromatic commercial opened to a horde of what appeared to be prison inmates marching in lockstep and assembling in a large auditorium before a video screen where Big Brother was lecturing to them. From a distance, the first glimpse of color appeared as a woman athlete ran into the auditorium carrying a sledgehammer while being chased by police in riot gear. Before the police could subdue her, the woman hurtled the sledgehammer into the big screen, which exploded with the words “On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’”
No great leap of ingenuity was required to associate Big Brother with Big Blue, as IBM dominated the computer industry at the time. Apple’s launching of a big hammer at a large screen in front of the biggest audience available was a declaration of its intent to change the world of computing. In 1984, few people if any could predict the superpower that the Apple brand would become. Apple knew that computer technology’s limitations were standing in the way of customers’ dreams and imaginations, even before the market, itself, was fully aware. Apple recognized obstacles for what they were and broke through them.
Today, it is easy to take Apple products for granted. Apple has changed not only the way we compute, but how we listen to music, manage our technology and use the phone (if you can legitimately call the iPhone a “phone”). However, even in this world of advanced technology, obstacles continue to abound. Yet, they cannot suppress the minds focused on innovation. As Apple has proven, obstacles today help shape tomorrow’s great breakthroughs. Looking back at Apple’s 1984 commercial, we are given a backdrop to compare obstacles relative to our current scenario. For example, we can ask ourselves, “Are we being shackled by situations imposed on us? Are we echoing the dogma of a former era? Are we chasing defectors? Or are we preparing to break new ground?”
Fortunately, thanks to its pithy commercial, Apple has made the pathway to innovation a little easier to navigate. Framed within it is a simple, but powerful sequence to follow:
- Disrupt the status quo: Send out a wakeup call that your customers will hear.
- Make a clear statement: Let people know what they can expect from you.
- Innovate relentlessly: Converge on a worthy idea, then develop and refine it into existence.
- Carry out your vision for a better world: Execute and evolve your work as instructed by market changes.
- Don’t let obstacles get in your way: See obstacles from the vantage point of the opportunities they present.
Linda Ruhland is founding member of successauthorities.com and successfellows.com.