The Steve Jobs guide to manipulating people and getting what you want (AAPL)

Jeff Chiu/AP

Steve Jobs launched two of the most valuable and creative companies in modern times with Apple and Pixar — but he didn't reach those heights by following the rules all the time.

Jobs faced many obstacles to get Apple and Pixar off the ground. But he had a unique way of crafting his own reality, a “distortion field” he'd use to persuade people that his personal beliefs were actually facts, which is how he pushed his companies forward.

He also used a blend of manipulative tactics to ensure his victories, particularly in boardroom meetings with some of the most powerful company executives in the world.

Many consider Jobs a genius, and everyone can learn a thing or two from his tactics.

Here, we teach you how to get what you want — whether that’s in your career, or in your life in general — using examples from Jobs' life, many of which were detailed in Walter Isaacson's biography of the Apple cofounder.

Pitching was a key part of Jobs’ repertoire, and it should be part of yours, too. The process of selling — yourself, or a product — is the key to getting others to buy into your ideas.

Before Apple launched iTunes in 2001, Jobs met with dozens of musicians in the hopes of corralling record labels into going along with the iTunes plan. One of the people Jobs pitched to was prominent trumpet player Wynton Marsalis.

Marsalis said Jobs talked for two hours straight. 

“He was a man possessed,” he said. “After awhile, I started looking at him and not the computer, because I was so fascinated with his passion.”

Jobs also pitched ideas to his ad team with a similar passion to “ensure that almost every ad they produced was infused with his emotion.” The resulting commercials, like the "1984" ad and the iPod silhouette ads, helped Apple become much more than just a computer company.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple for his second stint in 1997, he immediately got to work trying to invigorate the company he started, which was suffering from too many products and too little direction.

Jobs summoned Apple’s top employees to the auditorium, and, wearing shorts and sneakers, got up on stage and asked everyone to tell him “what’s wrong with this place.”

After some murmurings and bland responses, Jobs cut everyone off. “It’s the products! So what’s wrong with the products?” Again, more murmurs. Jobs shouted, “The products suck! There’s no sex in them anymore!”

People would buy into Jobs' ideas because he was always earnest about what he said. As he later told his biographer (emphasis ours): “I don’t think I run roughshod over people, but if something sucks, I tell people to their face. It’s my job to be honest. I know what I’m talking about, and I usually turn out to be right. That’s the culture I tried to create. We are brutally honest with each other, and anyone can tell me they think I am full of s--t and I can tell them the same... That’s the ante for being in the room: You’ve got to be able to be super honest."

Steve Jobs had an incredible work ethic. Jobs told his biographer that when he returned to Apple in 1996, he worked from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, since he was still also leading Pixar's operations. He worked tirelessly, and suffered from kidney stones. But he insisted on motivating both companies by consistently showing up and pushing people to make the best products possible, and they respected him for it.

Whether they’re working for you, or you’re working for them, people continually seek approval for their actions — so they respond very well to affection.

And if you keep giving it to them, they’ll eventually crave it from you. From Isaacson’s biography (emphasis ours):

“Jobs could seduce and charm people at will, and he liked to do so. People such as (former Apple CEOs) Amelio and Sculley allowed themselves to believe that because Jobs was charming them, it meant that he liked and respected them. It was an impression that he sometimes fostered by dishing out insincere flattery to those hungry for it. But Jobs could be charming to people he hated just as easily as he could be insulting to people he liked.”

Steve Jobs wasn’t right all the time, but he was a master at convincing people he was. So how did he do it? He stood firmly in one position, and if your position was actually better than his, he wouldn’t just acknowledge it: He’d adopt your position as his own, which would throw you off balance.

Bud Tribble, a former Mac engineer, had this to say in Jobs’ biography (emphasis ours):

“Just because he tells you something that is awful or great, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll feel that way tomorrow. If you tell him a new idea, he’ll usually tell you that he thinks it’s stupid. But then, if he actually likes it, exactly one week later, he’ll come back to you and propose your idea to you, as if he thought of it.”

An example: When Apple decided to open retail stores for its products, Jobs’ retail SVP Ron Johnson came up with the idea of a “Genius Bar,” which would be staffed “with the smartest Mac people.” At first, Jobs called the idea crazy. “You can’t call them geniuses. They’re geeks,” he said. “They don’t have the people skills to deliver on something called the genius bar.” The next day, Apple’s general counsel was told to trademark the name “Genius Bar.”

See Also:

• Battle of the big phones: How Google's new Pixel 3 XL compares to the jumbo iPhone XS Max
• 23 tips and tricks to get the most out of your Apple Watch
• DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT: How to wipe your personal information from Facebook, Amazon, Google, and other major websites and apps

SEE ALSO: Here's the full text of Steve Jobs' famous Stanford commencement speech