Business leaders of today’s largest companies are expected to produce innovative products, increase profits, and motivate and lead its employees. Leaders have different leadership styles often driven by their unique personalities. This paper will examine one of the most innovative and influential leaders of our time, the late Steve Jobs. The paper will examine his leadership style, his greatest success, and his most significant challenge, providing a peek into what made him successful.
Steve Jobs the Leader The late Steve Jobs was a transformational leader. He was an enigma that was a creative genius, but a selfish and abrasive leader of people. He was selected because he is anything but ordinary. Great leaders who do amazing things are
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He may be viewed as a pseudo-transformational leader because according to Steinwart & Ziegler, “Unlike transformational leaders, who should be morally uplifting, these pseudo-transformational leaders are “self-concerned, self-aggrandizing, exploitative and power-oriented” and “believe in distorted utilitarian and warped moral principles”” (Steinwart & Ziegler, 2014) While Jobs was charismatic and motivating he was not necessarily moral or ethical based upon how he treated those who worked for him. Jobs often would self-aggrandize and take the credit of his employees.
Greatest Achievement
When thinking of the many products created under Steve Jobs leadership and their impact throughout the world, it would be reasonable for one to assume that any one of the innovative products would be viewed by Steve Jobs as his greatest achievement, however this would be wrong. When Walter Isaacson asked Steve Jobs about “…his most important creation, thinking he would answer the iPad or the Macintosh. Instead he said it was Apple the company. Making an enduring company, he said, was both far harder and more important than making a great product” (Isaacson, 2012). Apple has become the world’s most valuable company and as the company’s co-founder, this is Steve Jobs greatest achievement.
Most significant challenge The most significant challenge Steve Jobs ever faced was being fired from Apple in 1985. In 1983, Steve Jobs hired John Sculley, who at
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
Some of the most loved and respected leaders in the world are known for their imagination, risk-taking, perseverance and their well-known success. They have always been one step ahead everyone else and created what no one else was able to do. They influenced other people to be as imaginative and hardworking as they were. They never stopped believing in what they were doing. The two most leaders who fit all these descriptions would be Walt Disney and Bill gates, even thought they have a lot in common, their leadership style was completely different.
Leadership is “ critical in codifying and maintaining an organizations’ purpose, values, and vision. “ ( PM World Today Journal ). Having good leadership methods in place at an organization is vital in bringing success to a company. Steve Jobs is highly stimulated and has a strong idea of what he wants for Apple to achieve in upcoming periods. He is a transformational leader, and this, “ represents the most popular current view of leadership. This leader is characterised by a capacity to create a highly motivating and absorbing vision of the future, and has the capability to energise others to pursue the vision. “ ( Claremont McKenna College Journal ). Jobs has put in a huge effort to create a strong framework of control and direction, for example, “ Since returning to Apple, Steve has put as much energy into creating a strong management structure as he has into the products. “ ( www.ft.com ). This is highly effective leadership, trying to improve the design of the organisation in order to achieve more efficiency.
The three most important factors in Apple's past success before the death of Steve Jobs was the push for innovation, portable devices, and iTunes. Steve Jobs was a man who wanted to create the "future" of technology. He created a better home computer with the creation of Apple II PC and the Macintosh computer. The Macintosh computer was created for the students and working professionals. Steve Jobs was the forefront of Apple's new innovations. He had the creative mind and the ability to look to the future. When Apple removed him as the CEO of Apple, he didn't give up. He went and started a new company. With that company he came up with the foundation of the new operating software of Mac OS X. We can all tell that Apple needed Steve Jobs when all other CEOs failed. Since the removal of Steve Jobs as CEO, Apple took a big hit in the market. With this, Steve Jobs decided to move toward the mobile devices of iPhone, iPad, and iPod.
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.”
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 exceptional man that he was.
One year later, Jobs returned to Apple as their CEO. Jobs’s return to Apple was a big success, and earned the company more worth in the 1990’s. He invented more products, such as the iMac, that attracted the public. The customers wanted to buy this because of its stylish and modern design. Just like that, Apple was back on track.
You are correct with your statement that Steve Jobs accomplished many influential technological advancements. More importantly, Steve Jobs and the Apple cooperation changed the way businesses bought, sold, and produced their products. Although the internet assisted in the process, Jobs and Apple revolutionized communication on a global scale. The ability to reach customers has increased. Mobile applications have also expanded the availability to access consumers. Day-to-operations were made more efficient and functional. Managerial tasks can now be mobile and executives can access data anywhere. Corporations are able to effectively track and manage company payroll and economics. Steve Jobs and Apple introduced society to a new form of entertainment.
Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Albert Einstein all are known as charismatic leaders. A charismatic leadership style is a lot like a transformational leadership style because the leader uses enthusiastic measures to keep morale up with employees. They believe that when a has a positive, upbeat attitude, they will most likely be more productive. “Charisma or idealized influence is, the degree to which the leader behaves in admirable ways and displays convictions and takes stands that cause followers to identify with the leader who has a clear set of values and acts as a role model for the followers” (Warrilow, 2012).
Steve Jobs was an autocratic leader. He used abuse and threats to motivate Apple employees. Jobs also made the larger decisions early in the company, by influencing others opinions. As well as using his own personal vision for Apple products. First of all Jobs abused employees to encourage them.
Steve Jobs makes for a riveting leadership case study because he was a remarkable innovator, exceptional marketer, and a visionary while at the same time being vicious, narcissistic and tyrannical. He is the textbook case for someone with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder but what sets him apart from the rest of the narcissists was that he was successful in harnessing the strengths of narcissism while tempering its weakness.
As an innovative leader, Steve Jobs is legendary which is reflected on his company motto “Think different!” Rethinking, reinventing and revitalizing are the three main ways of doing business according to Steve Jobs. Simplicity and innovation in terms of the product range gave Steve Jobs the edge over other competitors. A well-known
Steve Jobs who was cofound, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. and Apple Inc. is a good example of paradoxical thinking. Steve Jobs was a visionary leader. He cofound and grew Apple for 9 years, was ousted and in exile for 15 years and then returned to lead the company on 14-year campaign to glory, cut a contemporary heroic figure. (Decisionwise, n. d.) Steve Jobs and Apple already become the legend and the famous example in the business world.
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.
Firstly, I will describe the background of Steve Jobs and stage of his leadership development. Next, a leadership trait theory is selected and briefly reviewed. Then, Steve Jobs’ leadership traits are identified and examined based on the theory. Finally, weaknesses of Steve Jobs are pinpointed and suggestions for improvement are discussed.