Strategic Leadership & Innovation at Apple

In 1996, Apple was a struggling company that had lost more than 70% of its market capitalization in the past decade. Apple’s sales had fell dramatically and their new personal computers weren’t particularly popular with consumers. The return of Steve Jobs to the company was a turning point for Apple and initiated a new era for the firm. With the launch of innovative products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple became the biggest brand in the world. Now it remained to be seen if Tim Cook would be able to continue to develop new products and maintain Apple’s success.

Steve Jobs then returned to Apple as a special consultant after being gone from the company for almost twelve years (Apple Computer, Inc. History). Taking a closer look at the chief executive officers over Apple’s history will give us an even closer look at Apple as a company throughout its history.

One of the major challenges facing Apple was to get the appropriate replacement of the company’s visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Jobs who died on October 2011. The CEO was responsible for turning Apple into what it is today. Apple is in this case challenged to purse the strategies employed by Steve, that propelled the company to new heights, and which saw the company become a

Leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. There are many different leadership styles such as leaders in the political, business or other fields. Steve Jobs (24th February, 1955 – 5th October, 2011) is one of the most remarkable leadership people in modern history and he is well-known as the co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc (Misa, 2011, p. 919). In any cases, Steve Jobs had displayed personal characteristics as a leader. Steven Jobs returned back to Apple when the company was going through a terrible

This paper will analyze the personal characteristics, behavioral approach, and leadership style of Steve Jobs. A leadership inclination is quality, which is considered necessary for all senior executives, and not just for the general director. One human resources specialist described the search for the head of the information department: Previously, specialized knowledge would have been in the first place, but now more attention is paid to leadership skills than technical ones. What kind of leadership are required experts differed on this issue, who called inspirational leadership, which authoritarian leadership is corresponding to the modern talents of leaders, responsible leadership, leadership as a combination of sincerity, respect

Without Jobs, Apple was falling apart. In 1996, Apple agrees to buy NeXT for more than $400 million. Apple didn’t buy just NeXT, but they also bought Steve Jobs back. Jobs became the chief executive and Apple’s a multi-billion dollar company thanks to products like the iMac and iPods. Jobs said, “Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Blumenthal says, “ In an almost unbelievable way, the dots had connected again. Jobs had been thrown out of Apple, started a company that struggled, and then sold that company to Apple, his first love, where he was now in charge. Of course, none of it would have happened had he not been fired” (197).

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

Much of Apple’s success has been attributed to Jobs. With a unique ability to visualize innovative product designs and predict what people would like to have, Jobs was known to be obsessive about process and detail. However, his influence and his presence in the whole company made a hard struggle on Apple by the time of his another leave for medical reasons. This additional challenge for Apple started when Jobs handed in the role of control to Timothy D. Cook, the current COO with a prior announcement. Jobs will be difficult to replace, since it is considered that no other person at Apple has had the experience of founding the company, being asked to leave the company, and returning years later to save it from bankruptcy just like Jobs was. But then, although the challenge soon to be faced was getting harder, several analysts are confident that Apple will survive the loss.

After ten years with Apple, Jobs left a gap between him and Apple when he purchased Pixar. Jobs came back to Apple after eleven years after selling Pixar to Disney for 7.4 billion dollars. By the time Jobs came back, Apple bought NeXT and hired Jobs as an advisor, but through the pure genius of Steve Jobs, the “nearly bankrupt Apple was transformed into one of the planet’s most valuable corporations” (Apple Founder Steve Jobs Dies). After Jobs’ comeback, everything about Apple became better. From new products such as the iTouch, ipod, iPhone, iPad, Jobs’ ideas rained down new products that Apple’s rivals just could not catch up. Although some people prefer the complex computers from Windows, most everyday people want a electronic device that we know how to function and control. Jobs was able to bring to the common people what they really needed with his simplicity in most of his products and his user-friendly applications. Jobs led Apple until August of 2011 when he stepped down from CEO seat of Apple, and six weeks later, passed away in Palo Alto, California, the city Apple was born.

In 1997, what is now arguably the most recognized brand name, was caught in a downward spiral further fueled by a rapidly maturing rival. In an effort to stem the hemorrhaging, the flailing company had cycled through one Chief Executive Officer to the next, but yet continued to lose market share and profitability. It was not until the return of a high-profile alumnus did said company reverse course and ascend to technological supremacy, drastically altering the consumer culture landscape along the way. Steve Jobs, in assuming Apple’s reins in 1997, armed with vision, a new strategy, and an implementation plan, shepherded the fabled technological turnaround of the

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.

“Brrr-ing!,” she heard her state of the art, space grey iPhone 6 plus ring. “Ding-Ding!,” it sings as he receives a Facetime call from a friend. “Take out your Mac.,” says about all of the Clinton High School teachers. Without the diligent work of Steve Jobs none of these actions would have been able to be carried out. Steve Jobs changed the landscape of America through Apple by turning a hobby into a career focused on providing products for the world, constructing “user-friendly” devices based off of the idea of simplicity, continuously supplying his consumers with new and improved devices or updates to counteract any mishaps, and always having a variety of devices depending on the consumers’ needs.

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.

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.

Co-founded by Steve Jobs in 1976, the company was named under Apple Computers Inc. and its initial product Apple IIe gained relative popularity and success. The release of the Macintosh revolutionized the computer experience with a graphical user interfere and a pointer devise called the ‘mouse’ was launched in the same year. The company went public in 1980 resulting in its owners gaining immediate wealth. However, its company’s