Case Study: The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

Q: Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was asked to come back as Chief Executive in 1997 when the business was making a loss. Jobs was appointed to provide a clearer vision for the business and to improve its profitability. How easy is it for a Chief Executive to change a struggling business into a more successful one? Justify your answer with reference to Apple and/or other organisations you know.

Secondly, Steve Jobs used tyrannical leadership style – hire and fire at will – to ensure that his employees were always delivered products of extremely has high quality. The American author Andrew Keen's wrote “There's not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That's what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organization and centralized control. It's Steve's company – pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs' authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit...” (Keen, 2007). CEO of Enterprise Management Associates, said, “Steve Jobs is a special example of a leader who dominated his company employees and guided them rightly with his authoritarian leadership style and unmatchable vision" (Chaudhuri, 26th April, 2012). Steve Jobs employees were always highly concentrated in work and delivered products of extremely high quality,

This paper will analyze the personal characteristics, behavioral approach, and leadership style of Steve Jobs. A leadership inclination is quality, which is considered necessary for all senior executives, and not just for the general director. One human resources specialist described the search for the head of the information department: Previously, specialized knowledge would have been in the first place, but now more attention is paid to leadership skills than technical ones. What kind of leadership are required experts differed on this issue, who called inspirational leadership, which authoritarian leadership is corresponding to the modern talents of leaders, responsible leadership, leadership as a combination of sincerity, respect

Steve Jobs on the other hand has a very innovative leadership style; he was a perfectionist who had the courage to change his mind. Steve was a very unconventional leader, he was very `high-maintenance’ who demanded excellence from his staff and was known for his

Steve jobs demonstrated to the world just how fundamental technology is in our developing environment. He exemplified a successful and innovative leader, especially in the face of failure. One could argue that although Steve Jobs was an extremely influential businessman of his time, he had numerous tragic flaws. Egotistic is a word that describes this illustrious worker. Credit for ideas were never given to the instrumental “behind the scenes” intellectuals, and without the them, he may never have been so successful. While he was working for Apple, people would always struggle with the individualistic approach he had and would often times complain about his boastful nature. He exhibited qualities that made his dislikable, however without Steve Jobs the iPhone, a

One element that contributes to Steve Jobs’ ethos is the fact that he is so successful in his career. Already knowing who Steve Jobs was, he led the audience to the appeal that we is successful because of his company in which he worked hard for. One of the first things he mentioned in his speech to make it so he is comes off as smart when he says he created Apple, a multi-billion dollar company, and Pixar, the “most successful animation studio in the world.” This adds on to his knowledgeable self, creating validity because the people listening view Jobs as being high in the successful level and makes the audience believe him. Jobs continues with his reliability by saying that he was a college dropout and still went on to be extremely successful.

Steve Jobs and Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta were both exemplary leaders. In just 35 years, Steve Jobs took Apple Computers from a mere idea to a $380 billion dollar enterprise. Father Arizmendiarrieta educated and aided the first founders of the Mondragón Cooperative that today employs more than 80 000 people. Great achievements from two man who simply cannot be defined by any one “textbook” leadership style. It appears that in real life leadership theories may be applied in synergy, allowing the flexibility for a leader to adapt their style as the situation requires. Whilst Steve Jobs and Father Arizmendiarrieta were both effective leaders, one stands out. Father Arizmendiarrieta led a population to self-sufficiency and whilst never

Jobs was definitely passionate about leading, but his true passion was creating. He personally got involved with the best and brightest of Apple. He wanted to know how his product worked. He spent time that he did not have exchanging ideas and opinions with the engineers, concerning everything from the inner paneling of the Apple products to the whether or not the iPad should have round or sharp edges. Ken Segall, longtime Apple employee, claimed in his book Think Simple that when it came to Jobs, “[He] felt [he] had the attention of a CEO who was eager to share ideas and opinions, and one who was also capable of being swayed by someone else’s passionate argument.” One admirable thing about Steve Jobs is that he praised a brilliant idea even if it trumped his own. Being in the position of power he was in and the type of assertive, over-bearing person that he was, it was easy for him to shut down ideas that opposed his own. But that is what made him so great; he was not afraid to be wrong. All he wanted was a perfect product. He pushed his workers to create “insanely great” products and held himself at the same standard. His passion for delivering world-changing

As the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs had a vision of where the company should be headed and how he wanted consumers should perceive it. With Apple under his sleeves Jobs influenced many people’s lives through technology and “he changed culture and society” (Ladik, 2011). He was persevered until he archived his vision. Dr. Ladik described him as “a bulldog who refused take “no” for an answer. A micro manager who would leave no detail untouched. At traditional leader he was not. A visionary who would see his visions fulfilled, he was” (Ladik, 2011). Some people might describe him an egomaniac. His quality pushed people around him to thrive to their greatness. Steve Jobs charisma had an author call “the ability to articulate the vision” Steve Jobs attribute (Notes on Leadership: Be Like Steve Jobs, . . . And Bill Campbell, And Andy

The texts "Tim Cook's Speech at Steve Jobs' Memorial," "The Genius of Jobs," and " The Steve Job's Ways" all share a common idea, Steve Jobs. All these texts include different variations about Jobs, but one central idea is the success and intuitiveness he obtained. These three texts emphasize the creativity, intuition, and dedication Jobs had when dealing with his work.

“ ( www.bbc.co.uk ). Steve Jobs has highly impressive leadership attributes, and he is a huge reason as to why Apple has been such a successful company.

Warren Bennis provided several distinctions between a manager and a leader: a leader innovates, develops new concepts, focuses on people rather than systems, inspires trust, has a long-range perspective, has his eye on the horizon, the leader asks what, and why (Satterlee, 2013, p. 102). A leader should motivate, drive, and inspire other members of the organization to believe in the vision

Former Apple marketing leader Steve Wilhite mentions that Jobs was such an effective leader. Wilhite’s words were the following, “He was able to guide the company from a high-altitude perspective one moment and dive deep into tiny details the next.”

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

In this ever growing, rapid developing world as we can see today, there are many different successful leaders. As we know it, leaders are humans just like everyone else. How did they manage to stand out from the crowd? What did they do to achieve great success for an organization? As of all the successful leaders in the world, Steve Jobs is one of the successful leaders that managed to achieve great success for an organization. Therefore, Steve Jobs is the leader that I personally admire and would like to emulate.