Apple’s different teams, with Jobs at the helm, held multiple meetings every week. As in any company, these were gatherings to explore ideas, solve problems, and make key decisions that helped set the course of the business.
In that context, the legendary CEO developed a very clear view of how those conversations should flow. And, interestingly, that led him to express a certain aversion to one of Microsoft’s most successful applications. Any guesses?
Meetings where conversation is the key
It was PowerPoint. A tool we all immediately associate with presentations and meetings, and that we use to present our ideas, support our arguments, and keep things organized.
Jobs acknowledged its usefulness, but only in specific situations. During his internal meetings with Apple teams, he preferred an approach completely different from the one PowerPoint tends to encourage (something like a personal “monologue” where no one interrupts and nothing develops until the end).
In the regular meetings Jobs held with marketing teams on Wednesdays, and with the executive group on Tuesdays, he preferred there not to be a fixed agenda, but for the conversation to flow naturally. Topics emerged from spontaneous questions, and decisions were made in a dynamic, collaborative environment.
For him, the key was dialogue and active participation. In other words, Jobs wanted meetings to be spaces to debate ideas on the table, not to read slides one after another. Although a specific chart or image might appear now and then, structuring the entire meeting around a PowerPoint was, for him, a limitation.
An approach that, in fact, has interesting support in recent research, such as this study published in PLOS ONE, which concludes that presentations without visual aids can be more engaging and interesting for the audience. In many cases, visual resources act as a distraction—something Jobs seemed to sense instinctively.
The difference between presenting and conversing
It’s true that when we think of Steve Jobs, we often picture the iconic product launches, like the original iPhone, with Keynote as a major star. But those staged moments were designed to amaze the public, not to facilitate an internal conversation. In the context of private meetings, whether at NeXT or at Apple, Jobs understood that effective communication depended on direct interaction between people.
Where PowerPoint encourages a linear discourse, Jobs was looking for a flexible atmosphere, able to adapt in real time to the ideas that came up. And in doing so, he also encouraged each participant to strengthen their critical thinking and add value without relying on a set of pre-designed slides.
By applying this approach, meetings became living spaces, where ideas weren’t limited to what was already written down. Creativity was boosted by leaving behind the rigidity of a presentation and focusing on what truly mattered: the conversation.
A meeting approach that is still relevant
It’s important to stress that Jobs never rejected the use of PowerPoint or dismissed it outright. He simply knew when to use it and when not to. Jobs was very clear that creativity is born from genuine interaction between people, not from going through one slide after another.
So, in public presentations, a well-designed visual support can be inspiring. But in internal meetings, where solutions are sought and ideas are exchanged, his advice remains clear: what matters is to talk, think, and decide together. A very interesting lesson for anyone who works as part of a team.
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