Focus on Power: the Case of Steve Jobs

A. Attention Getter: How many people in this room own or have owned an IPod, IPhone, or IPad? Isn’t astounding how one man’s vision and innovation gave us all devices that have made the world today more connected than it’s ever been? Devices we NOW can’t imagine leaving behind when we walk out the front door in the morning. Whether it’s listening to music in your bedroom, reading the news on the train ride to work, checking your email at home or even sitting in a waiting room watching Netflix. It’s hard to deny the influence and impact that Steve Jobs has had on modern culture.

Steve Jobs was like the Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and the Albert Einstein of our time.  He not only innovated personal computing, but personal media and communication, iTunes which became one of the most popular music and video retailers and Pixar which was one of his side projects had become one of the greatest animation digital movie creators and software. But all that is a just part of the list of his legacy, because in the end he still left behind Apple which is world’s most valuable company, which is valued at $350 Billion Dollars.

Given the task of conceptualizing a man who truly changed the realm of technology as we know it today, my mind secludes one person. That person is Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer, now known simply as Apple. For this rhetorical analysis, I will be using three biographies/profiles about Jobs including “The Real Genius of Steve Jobs” by Malcolm Gladwell with The New Yorker (June 19, 2017), “Jobs’ Biography; Thoughts on Life, Death, and Apple” from NPR (October 25, 2011), and “Steve Jobs” from Biography.com (April 28, 2017). Precise attention to the audience, purpose, and tone, allows all three of these profiles to vividly explain and represent Jobs as the truly exceptionally minded man that he was.

Organizational Hierarchy Structure- Toys R Us was a decentralized organization, which had a leadership type setting from country to country. This type of structure was difficult because all the leaders from different countries were not communicating effectively. The company knew they had to make some changes to the system, if they wanted to be successful. Therefore, after careful consideration, the company decided to move to a more centralized structure. This change was needed to strengthen their business with regards to their compatibility amongst countries and creating a more efficient workplace in the United States and abroad. In the company’s business in Europe, instead of their being different leaders across the continent, there will

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

Today, the world if full of Apple products. If you were to ask a random person on the street, odds are, they will own an apple product. Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple, did someone that no one else had done before; he created a new era of technology where people embraced and loved having the Internet, access to their friends, and entertainment all at their fingertips. As shown in Walter Issacon's Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs did this by his ability to branch from conformity and create something new; he left behind what others did and forged his own path to the future. Most people thought that his ideas were crazy because at that time, they were. Jobs understood though that for change to happen, someone has to "think differently [to] serve the people

One of the worlds most valuable company is Apple. Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Macs and many other devices. It all started when the 21 year-old college dropout. It was no straight path for him to get to what he created. It was more like a windy road. It was evident from his early years that he had no grand plan to do what he has done. However, Steve’s windy road growing up, jobs found inspiration and creativity and most

The multi billion-dollar corporation, Apple Inc., designs and manufactures some of today’s highest technological gizmos and gadgets. Among their best known products are the Apple and Macintosh computers, iPods, iTunes, iPhones and iPads. Apple is one of the most powerful and influential high tech companies in the world. The success of Apple Inc. stems from the innovation and visions of co-founder and entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, the excellence of the stylish, user-friendly products, and the ability to create innovative products that consumer’s desire.

However, they may face the limitation on the firms’ development. Apple is based on a hybrid hierarchical structure (mixed with other organizational structures (Meyer, 2015). Meyer (2015) depicts that companies’ main framework is based on innovation and the leadership of Steve Jobs but for that type of leadership only works if the structure allows it to do so. Due to leadership change to Tim Cook, there are some changes made in the organizational structure in order to suit the market and its demands (Meyer, 2015). Despite the leadership change in Apple Inc. it may well enhance Apple’s capabilities will grow rapidly in creative and design (Meyer, 2015).

In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as an advisory and with the purposes of reshaping the product line. The changes made by Jobs resulted in increased sales and $309 million in profits. Job changed the mindset of Apples management and development team. He encourage them to have the “think different” management style that promotes the development of products that are ahead of the technology and design curve, and a creative retail strategy. It is this strategy that would eventually make Apple the best-selling company in the PC industry.

From its start-up until the present, Apple’s corporate structure hasn’t changed a lot. Before his death, Steve Jobs was the one to make the calls regarding all the decisions; everything had to be passed through him. The company’s decision making processes were and still are centralized, in which the CEO makes all the decisions but it is incorporating more of a collaborative approach. The company is doing so by encouraging its hardware and software teams to collaborate. This approach however, never existed when Jobs was the CEO. Apple is considered a centralized company because it makes high capital investments that encourage centralization. It is highly competitive, offers high technology products, has a homogeneous product line, low product diversification, and has a lot of experience doing international business. Furthermore, it is organized on different basis; functional, divisional and geographical. Its functional structure is that the innovations and visions essentially come from top management and flow down the organization. Top management includes the board of directors in which they oversee and ensure that shareholders’ interests are being served for a long-term. Also, its functional structure is departmentalized and includes marketing, engineering, manufacturing, financing, IT, research and development. Its divisional functions include the products the company is offering, the market it is operating in and geographical areas. Apple has four product categories; the

Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,

With the recent passing of Steve Jobs, there has been an intense spotlight focused on both the man and the company he built. Most of the attention has rightfully been focused on Jobs’ passion and creativity, as well as the remarkable period of innovation he preside. As a symbolic leader, the man not only once saving the company from bankruptcy but also building up a well-known brand that had integrate with our daily life – Apple.

Apple has always been something of a trendsetter in the tech space. Its product history since Steve Jobs’s return in 1997 gives us a solid list of examples to choose from, from its very first iPod, to Apple’s PowerBook (and later MacBook) lines, to the iPhone and the iPad. Apple’s history is dominated by products that existed before Apple had a crack at them - but it was Apple who simplified them, made them appealing on a much wider scale, and ultimately made them objects of desire for the masses.

Steve Jobs acted as an innovative micro-manager, which lead Apple to create a new market for different devices. His devotion, drive, technological skills, attention to detail, and the hiring of capable people to work with helped him invented the iPod, a user friendly mp3 device, and iTunes, a web service to buy music, which brought Apple large profits and continues to do so today. The iPod changed the way we consume music and reshaped the music industry and iTunes helped consumers download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers. (Rose)