Definition
Taste as a Strategic Variable is the assertion that aesthetic judgment, cultural literacy, and original ideas are not just “nice to have” attributes, but are core components of a product’s competitive advantage and a firm’s long-term value.
Why It Matters
Taste is not just an aesthetic preference; it is a filter for quality and a signal of excellence. In a market of functional parity, taste becomes the ultimate differentiator that allows a company to command premium margins and cultivate cult-like loyalty.
Core Concepts
- “Microsoft has no Taste”: Jobs’s famous critique was not that Microsoft lacked intelligence or work ethic, but that they lacked “original ideas” and didn’t “bring much culture into their product.”
- Cultural Infusion: Great products result from creators who “expose themselves to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things into what they’re doing.”
- Design as Impute: High-quality taste allows a company to “impute” its values and standards through the first visceral impression of the product (Impute Mental Model).
- Uncompromising Standards: Taste is maintained by a “harsh conservatism”—a relentless pruning of anything that doesn’t meet the creator’s aesthetic or functional ideal.