How to be Like Steve Jobs

Be thou like the imperial basilisk,
Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds!
Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk,
Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to Naples"

The basilisk was a mythical monster lizard that was viewed in medieval times as the "king of the snakes." It's often used as a plot device to denote a feeling of dread: "a basiliskian stare."

What is it about snakes and reptiles that set so much of us off, that provoke such fear in a lot of us? Is it that "slimy" body, which is in fact as dry as a bone, is it that alien, flicking tongue that is so unnerving? Think of another animal that scares the daylights out of us and which doesn't resemble a snake at all: the shark. What is it about the great white shark that's so horrific, about all sharks that one recoils from?

Could it be their eyes? Could it be that they almost never blink? From reading about Steve Jobs, I've learned that at one point in his life, he actively practiced not blinking in a mirror. He could not blink for minutes at a time, and though you never notice that someone is not blinking, at least most of the time, your soul sure does. It gives you the heeby-jeebies, if truth be told. Why is this?

Well, it's elemental, my dear What's-ons. Dead things don't blink. Think about it. Blinking immediately indicates that something is alive. Fish, for example, look dead even when they're alive. That's why when you pull them out of the water and they don't move, you automatically think they're dead. Birds rarely blink, but they do, from time to time.

But humans? The more we blink, the less intimidating we become. So when we encounter someone with a basilisk-stare, we feel immediately threatened, creepy, yet we don't know why.

In the primate kingdom, a prolonged, blinkless stare is an intimidation technique. It can also extend to other large animals. Although I've never witnessed it in person, apparently some mammals, like dogs or the large cats, like lions, don't like a direct eye-to-eye gaze; they feel threatened by it. Great apes rely on it to stare down rivals. NEVER try to stare down a chimpanzee or a bear; you're going to come off on the wrong end of it.

I was reminded of this last night, when I watched a master practitioner of the art of not blinking: Andy Garcia, the actor. Obviously he learned the technique in some method-acting class. But in one scene, he does not blink for at least thirty seconds. Does not blink, and does not look away. Even from on screen, it's unnerving (the movie, for the curious, is called "Internal Affairs").

Think about it. Maybe one day get a mirror and practice staring at yourself without blinking. Try it for 30 seconds. It's hard. That's why organisms find it so intimidating; because it takes a particular force of will (or being a shark) to not blink or look away.

And that's scary. Or is it mesmerizing? It can work both ways. Staring into your potential mate's eyes without looking away or blinking; that can be interpreted as either fascination or sheer love.

In Steve Jobs's case, I think he brought out the Jobsian stare for whichever purpose he deemed necessary. But I'll bet you that he wasn't always like that; it was probably only when he read accounts of himself and his "gaze that looks into your soul" that he realized he had a great trick going and used it to its fullest extent.

Try it sometime. I guarantee that although you may not end up as CEO of a multi- billion dollar company, a whole lot of people are going to be afraid of you. Or love you. Or both.