Steve Jobs : An Effective Leader

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., was widely recognized as the pioneer of personal computer technology, and for his advancements in the consumer electronics fields. However, years before he became well-known, it was the free enterprise system that allowed him to start his own business. The free enterprise helped Steve Jobs create a powerful and influential tech company.

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.

Good leadership is a process of influencing ans encouraging people to work as a team with efficiency to achieve the organizational goals (Drouillard & Kleiner, 1996). Different leaders has different leadership styles, a good leadership style can be very efficiency for an organization which can develop and encourage employees. According to Darling and Leffel’s (2010) framework, this essay will discuss how Steve Ballmer as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft, the leadership styles as both Creator and Connector made him such a successful leader of Microsoft. This essay will argue that Steve Ballmer has the leadership style as Creator and Connector, and he has the abilities to develop well, encourage people to towards the Microsoft to success.

Effective leadership is one of the most important key factors for success and longevity in every organisation. So it does not come as a surprise that the topic of leadership has continued to be a subject of interest in the modern world both from practitioners as well as academics and the extensive research for decades has not exhausted the topic (Bennis W., 2007).The purpose of this essay is to apply the three relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., one of the most admired leaders of recent times. The essay firstly introduces the concept of Charismatic leadership, transformational leadership and transactional leadership and then briefly reviews Jobs and his leadership styles in relative to the theories.

Steve Jobs is the CEO at Apple. Jobs founded Apple in 1976, and the company has developed into a major force within the electronics industry. Much of the success of the company has been due to the leadership of Steve Jobs. He has the personal attributes which are needed in order to be a successful leader, for example he is smart, communicative and is a great co-ordinator. However, there are limitations to Jobs leadership at Apple with factors such as shareholders,  corporate governance, corporate social

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

“Leadership is the capacity to develop a vision that motivates others to move with a passion towards a common goal. Therefore, leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent” (Democracy, 2014). Apple CEO Tim Cook will predictably be compared to his antecedent Steve Jobs, but in one way, he 's greatly more like Bill Gates -- he has encouraged philanthropy at Apple (Stone, 2014). Under his leadership, Apple has become a much more socially aware company, working to enhance conditions in foreign factories and planning to reduce pollution caused by data centers and the devices themselves. In contrast to Tim’s leadership, a successful legend spread out at Microsoft Company where leader Bill Gates has many leadership qualities. One of the most important attributes is his capability to analyze, interpret, and be competent. His methodical intelligence is mentioned in his biography that corroborate of his abilities by scoring 1790 on an 1800 Harvard entrance exam (Stone, 2014). The excellent skills and mentality that Bill Gates has develop places him with to be one of the most powerful transformational leaders who motivate the crowds of whom he shares his vision.

He has crossed all the levels of leadership and become the top managers in the world .He was intensely focused when committed, brave enough to take risky leaps, and charismatic enough to enlist legions of employees and clients in the constant objective of his aspirations. When Steve Jobs formed Apple in 1997 and the company was in financial crisis, he knew exactly how to get rid of almost all but a few of key products and projects that matched his vision. The way he stood by his vision inspired his employees and granted great respect from his business partners and

Steve Jobs started the world-famous Apple technology firm in 1979. After a hiatus from the firm between 1985 and 1997, Jobs returned to lead the company toward global domination. His innovations reinvented how companies, including health care enterprises, conduct business. Business leaders from all discipline regard Mr. Jobs as a

Steve Jobs was a computer designer, executive and innovator, as well as an all-around role model for many people in both their businesses and their personal lives. As the cofounder of Apple Computers and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, he revolutionized the computer and animation industries, amassing a fortune worth $10.2 billion at the time of his death. Jobs intuitively understood the power of cultural influence in sustaining the strategic capabilities implicit in his perpetual vision of creating.

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.

As explained by Kutsar, Ghose & Kutsar (2014) many great leaders have led companies to growth and prosperity in various ways with different styles. In the technology sector, Steve Jobs is one of the most celebrated leaders for his leadership and innovation. Jobs over the years has shaped Apple into the technology giant it is today. Table A1, in Appendix A lists the several assessments tools used to define Job’s leadership, for this discussion we will focus on Personality incorporating the Myers-Briggs Type indicator, Behaviour incorporating Trait Theory and Jobs Leadership Grid, Development incorporating Tuckman’s Group Development Model.

Apple is one of the most successful companies to date, they have dominated most of the markets they have entered, and all of this was able to become a reality because of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple. He is seen as a somewhat genius when it comes to business, and his employees seem to be very satisfied, but what most people

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)

For decade’s individuals, companies, and organizations have spent an unprecedented amount of money on researching, molding, modeling and working to define what a leader is and what characteristics make successful leaders. Despite all the research, there is not a quick answer or even full agreement as to what makes an individual an effective leader. The definition of a leader is “someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.” (Robbins, Decenzo, Coulter, 2015. P.370)