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Steve Jobs Five Practices Of Exemplary Leadership

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Leadership – Steve Jobs
Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter state that the "behavioral theories of leadership approach would provide more definitive answers about the nature of leadership" (301). In this paper, we will use behavioral theories from different authors to analyze a few events in the life of Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was the mastermind who created Apple and helped shape half a dozen industries – personal computers (the Macintosh and iMac), music sales (iPod and iTunes), computer animated movies (Pixar), tablets (iPad), and cell phones (iPhones). He was a multi-faceted, controversial leader, as shown in his biography written by Isaacson. We will describe each of the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” and related commitments cataloged by Kouzes and Posner, in their book “The Leadership Challenge”, and link with anecdotal evidence from Steve Jobs’ life.
The first practice of the exemplary leadership is model the way. Kouzes and Posner state that exemplary leaders “Clarify their Values", as a means to find their voice and to affirm shared values (68). Not doing so is considered as copying someone else. Clarification of values is the commitment to assert the integrity of the leader. Leaders should watch their discourse and ensure that their actions do not contradict and follow the commitment to “Set the Example”, as to establish a model (96). In other words, their actions must follow and not be in conflict with their shared values, and set the

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