Steve Jobs : Visionary Leader

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.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Joseph Raelin (2016), a Northeastern University professor of management and organization development, recently published the article “Rethinking Leadership.” He said, “Leadership is really not about the leaders themselves. It’s about the collective practice among people who work together— accomplishing the choices we make together in our mutual work” (Raelin,

Leadership might be the most discussed and written about topics in our modern society. Thousands of books have covered this topic and people are often using this term correctly as well as in the right format. But what does it really mean? Strength? Power? Leadership could be as simple as holding the hand of a small child crossing the street, or as complex as signing the Declaration of Independence. A leader is not someone who cheats their way to the top, or tricks others into doing things. Being a leader is also not all about power and control. Power is not leadership because leaders don’t necessarily need any source of “power,” but instead are looked up to by their followers. The assertion of power can create feelings of fear, betrayal,

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

Today, more than 55 million households are owners of at least one iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac computer (Brashares). Steve Jobs was an American technology entrepreneur and inventor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. and CEO and largest shareholder of Pixar Animation Studios (Freidman). He made a remarkable difference in technology and should be remembered as the man who shaped technology to was it has become today. To this day Apple is by far the biggest competition to all other computer and technology companies out there and many of these companies strive to be as popular and well known as Apple is. Steve Jobs revolutionized technology because he was the CEO of Apple Inc., reshaped the smart phone

Leadership is something that people are born with. It is an inherent charm and it doesn’t hide even if you want to hide it. There is a leader amongst us and he or she is the one that leads other people to great things by inspiring and motivating people to do good deeds. Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. This way a leader can decide what work goes in and goes out. Good leaders in history have left a mark in walks of life. But great leaders, they’re different. Great leaders have the ability to make each and every individual re-think their life decisions and choices by

Steve Jobs created a new world for so many of us. In a generation of ever expanding digital capabilities, the “Apple Guy,” would change the world. Steve would go on to create and present technology that has and continues to astound us. It was very difficult to watch this genius introduce one of his creations and find something wrong with any of his approaches.

Years ago, when my mom was in college, her car broke down in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the dark of night. She was in the middle of transferring her belongings back to school. A man in a car came to a stop and asked her if she needed assistance. In a moment of desperation, she accepted his help. Luckily, she did not get kidnapped or anything petrifying like that. Hearing her story now, I try to put myself in her shoes and figure out what I would do in that situation. With the technology I have at my fingertips, I would call my parents and some kind of car facility, use my maps app to locate where I am, and use my flashlight on my phone to check and see if I can fix the problem with my car. Technology has certainly come a long way

Leadership is dynamic, charismatic and fragile all rolled up into one. There are many words that describe leadership and leadership is defined differently by all. As I sit and type this paper I realized the date, 28 Aug. On this date 10 years ago, I was thrust into a roll that would define my leadership style. Hurricane Katrina made land fall over the city of New Orleans (NOLA) on 28 Aug 2005, this storm created havoc and destruction never before seen in the United States. I was in charge of 12 Coast Guardsman and 3 Coast Guard Airboats in which we would crew. Upon arrival in NOLA we were joined up with the 82nd Airborne Division and assigned 12 Scouts from the 2/505 platoon. These men were on the heels of returning from battle overseas and had been home for less than 30 days. Again these soldiers were thrust into action, but now they had a completely different mission. Joining forces with the Coast Guard and conducting door to door urban search and rescue was now the priority. Over the next 27 days we all grew to trust and count on one another and from the deplorable conditions in which we all suffered it lead to my leadership philosophy.

Our world of technology today is what the world is run by. Technology is much different than what it was thirty years ago. We would not have the technology we have today if it weren’t for Steve Jobs. We wouldn’t have any of the Apple products that half of America uses if it weren’t for Steve Jobs work. Steve Jobs was a very intelligent person. He created many of ideas and objects. Some people would consider him a god to the technology world because of everything he created.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.

Thesis Statement: Steve Jobs was always a brilliant student, but had a bit of a tough upbringing, but as anyone can see that didn’t stop him from creating revolutionary products such as the iPhone, iPad, and the Macbook Air.

According to Dictionary.com the definition of leadership is the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group. Historical figures have many different famous quotes on leadership reflecting what they believe about the function of a leader. The 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan states, "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."(Reagan, 1975). A famous leader in the African American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. quotes his view of a leader, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."(King, 2016). Business executive Donald Mcgannon states, "Leadership is an action, not a position." (Mcgannon, 2008).