Premium Essay

Steve Jobs Leadership Style

In:

Submitted By gulskhokhar
Words 676
Pages 3
The leadership style adopted by Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs was an unconventional leader and his management style was complex. He was an autocratic and missionary leader driven by beliefs and a vision of creating an enduring company with a motivated workforce that created great products and would be remembered by future generations. In relation to Apple, many people refer to Steve Jobs as a Visionary. Steve Jobs was a willful and driven leader and he demanded excellence from his staff and was known for his blunt delivery of criticism. He was focused and committed, confident to take risks and combined with his sheer genius, he had the charisma and an ability to successfully communicate his vision and, thus, gain the support of employees, customers and investors. His criteria for creating products and services were simplicity, functionality, and consumer appeal before profit, cost and sales volume. Also, he had an eye for detail, understood the power of cultural influence and was innovative and a perfectionist. Steve Jobs would not be described as warm and fuzzy. He wasn't known for his consultative or consensus building approach and was not a giving, caring organizational mentor. He didn’t mince his words and had a habit of distorting reality to fit his purposes which caused people to question his credibility. Steve Jobs had an abrasive personality and was not known for his interpersonal skills. He was impatient, stubborn, rude and hypercritical. Also, he had a whimsical approach to commitment in his professional relationships. While interacting with his teams, Steve jobs challenged them to push the limits and to do the impossible .Some people thrived on this. However, because of this Steve jobs alienated and lost other people who were frustrated by his demanding attitude. In conclusion, we can say that the reason for Steve Jobs success was that

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Leadership and Motivational Styles of Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs

...management and leadership, it becomes hard to differentiate the two aspects since a good manager must exhibit good leadership skills. Furthermore, good leadership encompasses autocratism, democratism and Laissez-fairism applied concurrently by an individual depending on the situation. Management styles on the other hand are mainly two, autocratic and permissive. They are key in determining the leadership style to be applied. For instance, it is very hard for democratic leadership style to be applied in permissive management style. Therefore, the leadership style selected by an effective manager in most cases depends on the situation Jeff Bezos An exemplary and visionary leader who not only enforces his vision among his employees but also makes them feel important to the organization by directly involving them in development of important decisions in the organization. His success is basically founded on his ability to complement effective leadership, as well as management styles. His leadership approach is based on sustained pressure that comes from a hybrid style developed by combining the three main leadership styles. His is also unrelenting even after being recognized among the world’s richest persons, he still runs his company as if it is new. Steve Jobs He is one of the greatest and yet controversial managers and leaders in the business world. He successfully managed to revive a dying company into one of the most profitable organizations globally through his leadership and management...

Words: 340 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Leadership

...1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997. Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disney's board of directors. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. With Steve Job , Apple commands a dedicated consumer base and is know for its premium brands like iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes etc . Apples success is known under Steve Jobs Leadership...

Words: 1924 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs

...Introduction The leadership plays a vital role in the success of any organization. In the telecom industry, leadership plays a vital role for transformation and trust among the customers and the company (Dowling, S. 2010). The main role is the leadership styles of various leaders in the mobile industry. This paper discusses and analyses the leadership style of Steve Jobs at Apple Incl. Apple is known for high innovation and employee satisfaction. The company is main contributor to the design aspect of the modern computer and smart-phone industry. The main contributor to the same is Steve Jobs. Steve through transformational leadership and through people oriented attitude created the Apple Inc. The company is known for simplicity and high performance devices (Dowling, S. 2010). The company faced various challenges from the competitors at its times, but the leadership style of Steve Jobs, helped the company to survive and grow in aspect of innovation and revenues. The company is known for Mac computers, iPhones, iPods and iTunes for high performance and simple design. In all aspect the founder Steve Jobs is considered as the father of innovation at Apple Inc (Dowling, S. 2010). This paper tries to understand the strategy taken by Steve during his reign at Apple Inc and the ways suggested by him to make company as a world leader in its foray. As per management gurus there are seven leadership styles, but the most important is the transformational leadership style. It helps the company...

Words: 1617 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Leadership Quality of Steve Jobs

...Business Leadership EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs, the man who saved a company that was literally a fiscal quarter away from bankruptcy and proceeded to grow it into the largest company in the world by market capital the company ‘The Apple’. Steve Jobs was an American businessman, designer and inventor. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. Good leadership is major, particularly in today’s competitive global economy, and can make the difference between the success and the failure of the organization. As per the sentence Steve jobs is the concrete example of a lifetime natural successful leader, evidence is the Apple’s success. Apple’s market capitalization is over $300 Billion (Elmer-Dewitt, 2011) making it the second most valuable publicly traded company in the world, surpassing even giant (and rival) Microsoft. Steve Jobs was an American businessman, designer and inventor. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was different from many other corporate leaders in that he always knew what he wanted. When he returned to Apple after his decade-long banishment starting in the mid-80′s, the company was on the margin of bankruptcy. He actually wrote some of the...

Words: 4878 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Marketing

...Leadership can be described as the manner and approaches that leaders uses to direct, implement plans and motivate people. Basically, it describes how leaders react, interact and treat employees at work. According to Bass (2007, p. 1), leadership can be defined as “an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perception and expectations of the members”. There are various leadership styles namely the autocratic, democratic, laissez faire and charismatic. Basically leaders tend to use all these leadership styles depending on the situations; however, one of the styles is always the predominant on them. It has to be noted that a particular leadership style will not be effective in an organisational setting. Hence, different styles are needed according to different situations. Steve Jobs CEO of Apple has been a successful leader in this modern era. His approach to leadership is both fascinating and confusing and that is the reason why he has been able to make Apple a successful company. He has brought a lot of changes in the life of people through his greatest advanced technology ever made namely the Mac, the iPod, the iPad and iPhone but has also introduced a new concept for business and leadership. His approach to creative leadership was remarkably high, that is inspiring others to do the impossible but at the same time Steve Job’s leadership style was complex because he always put a...

Words: 2864 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

Management

...profiles of two visionaries: bill gates and Steve jobs Prepared for: Rumana Afrose Lecturer Department of Business Administration East West University Prepared by: Md. Taijul Islam ID: 2009-2-10-217 Subject Code: MGT 101Section: 09 | Date of Submission: November 04, 2013 Table of content: Introduction In this assignment contrasting leadership style of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs has been analyzed and main features of the style have been described. The impact of their leadership style individual, team and organizational performance has also been explained. Various global leaders have different leadership style depending on the size and nature of the organization. The two global leaders known for their achievements in their field are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Their leadership style has contrasting aspects as well as few similarities. Profile of Steve jobs: * Name: Steve Jobs * Full Name: Steven Paul Jobs * Aka: Steve Jobs * Aka: Steven Jobs * Birth date: Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California. * Education: Reed College, Homestead High School * Occupation: Entrepreneur, Inventor 1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer Inc. is incorporated by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Apr 1989: Steve Jobs is named 'Entrepreneur of the decade' by Inc. magazine Jul 1997: Gil Amelio is ousted by the Apple Board of directors after a disastrous quarter. Steve Jobs is named interim CEO in his place and installs...

Words: 3050 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Leadership

...Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founder in 1976(Anonymous, 2002). As we were known, Apple success is known under Steve Jobs leadership. To deeply evaluate his leadership style, first of all, we need to understand clearly the Steve Jobs’ legacy both in the terms of thins and ideas. Steve JOBS attended Reed College in Portland. Unfortunately, he dropped out after six months(Stanford, 2008). There are two factors that lead to this situation: perhaps the primary reason is about expensive college tuition were being wiped out all of his working-class parents’ savings. Another contributing factor is that he found college couldn’t help him to figure out the value he wants. It is considered by many that transformational business leadership will exercise a profound influence upon the change of the company’s direction(Chirantan Basu, 2015). Two of significant essential elements of transformational leadership is about ability to bring innovation and change (Bass, 1995; Devanna & Tichy, 1996; Eastman & Pawar, 1997). Many people argue that when assessing Job’s leadership style, most people tend to characterize his leadership style as primarily transformational. As an illustration, I would like to take Steve Jobs as the typical example. As Jobs begins his second tour at Apple in the late 190s, Steve Jobs have used his special visions and super innovation to revitalized Apple Inc. And resulting in returning it to profit. Due to the internal struggled within the company...

Words: 1748 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs Leadership

...Transformational Leadership Theory 2.3 Transactional Leadership Theory 3.0 Application of Tranformational Theory to Steve Jobs’s Leadership 4.0 Application of Transactional Theory to Steve Jobs’s leadership 5.0 Application of Hershey Blanchard Theory to Steve Jobs' leadership 6.0 Application of Path-Goal Theory to Steve Jobs’s leadership 7.0 Steve Jobs as a Charismatic leader 8.0 Uniqueness of Steve Jobs leadership 9.0 Conclusion Executive Summary Leadership style has an impact on all aspects of business in organization. Therefore over the last four decades, leadership scholars and practicing managers have been focused to identify those behaviors that affects a leader’s effectiveness in their leadership( Avolio, alumbwa, & Weber, 2009) The definition of ‘leadership’ and why it is important is vary to different people. (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2008) defined leadership as whether the leader’s abilities, personality traits, influence relationships, cognitive versus emotional orientation, individual versus group orientation, and/or appeal to self versus collective interests . The objective of this assignment is to analyze and comparing Steve Jobs leadership style and qualities with the selected leadership theories. This study identified the characteristics of Steve Jobs leadership which were matched with a combination of leadership theories of Path-Goal Theory, Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory, Transformational Leadership Theory and...

Words: 5606 - Pages: 23

Premium Essay

Not My Paper

...Leadership Styles of Carly Fiorina and Steve Jobs Running head: LEADERSHIP STYLES OF CARLY FIORINA AND STEVE JOBS 1 Leadership Styles of Carly Fiorina and Steve Jobs Group 1 Management 4314 MGT4314 Submitted to Dr. Stephanie Solansky Leadership Styles of Carly Fiorina and Steve Jobs Leadership Styles of Carly Fiorina and Steve Jobs Carly Fiorina took a leadership position as CEO of Hewlett-Packard for about 6 years. She brought to Hewlett-Packard (HP) nearly twenty years of experience and expertise in marketing and sales that she acquired with AT&T and Lucent. However, she failed to execute HP's strategy and deliver improvements in the company's profits and stock price. She was asked by Hewlett-Packard's board of directors to resign due to the lack of the leadership skills needed to take advantage of emerging market opportunities (Hewlett-Packard, 2007). Fiorina's mistakes in leading HP are an illustration that leadership effectiveness is dependent on situation and other environmental influences, 2 and not only the traits of the leader. In contrast to Fiorina’s leadership failure, a success story unfolded at Apple Computers where a leader practically saved the company. Management guru Jim Collins calls him the "Beethoven of business," Wall Street loves him, and even Bill Gates became more of a partner to him after once being his nemesis. This powerful man is Steve Jobs, cofounder and current chief executive officer of Apple Computer. Much has been made of Jobs'...

Words: 2762 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Bus520

...Leadership style approaches: Richard Branson’s Virgin Group LTD Case Study Sandra Cole Strayer University BUS 520 – Leadership and Organizational Behavior Professor: Dr. Jones - Ph.D. 05 January 2011 Leadership style approaches: Richard Branson’s Virgin Group LTD Case Study Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 and evaluates the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today In determining the leadership style of Sir. Richard Branson one of the most influential, creative and charismatic leaders of business today has admired the business sense and innovative leadership style of Steve Jobs. Oddly enough, both Steve Jobs and Richard Branson both have a flair for business but both have two totally different personalities and leadership styles. It is odd to see the admiration of Steve Jobs peak the curiosity of Richard Branson as they had different ways of doing business and working with people (Branson, 2011). Leadership in the eyes of Richard Branson An article written by Richard Branson in the United Kingdom press media release in the “Telegraph”, he makes a comparison and contrast between he and Steve Jobs. Branson first identifies Steve Jobs as an Autocratic and directive leader from a situational leadership perspective. Richard Branson on the other hand sees himself being more delegative, participative, and selling as he relates to his employees and giving them their room to breathe and...

Words: 1640 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs

...Chinese Culture University Department of International Business International Business Administration Leadership Style of Steve Jobs Professor: Ph.D. Johnny Shaw /………………/ Group members: Tumennast (A2123706) Maria (A2125229) Thelma (A2506486) Enkhgerel (A2123731) Steve Job’s Leadership Style 1. Leadership, transformational leadership style. 2.1. Definition of a Leadership Leadership itself can be defined by many alternatives: 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" Some understand a leader simply as somebody whom people follow, or as somebody who guides or directs other, while others define leadership as "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal” . Who is a leader? At the most basic level, a leader is someone who leads other. But what makes someone a leader? What is it about being a leader that some people understand and use to their advantage? What can you do to be a leader? Here's what you need to know and do. A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Let's look at each of those in detail. The Leader's Vision A leader has a vision. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle...

Words: 3351 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs

...1. Introduction 1.1 Background of Apple Inc The corporate history of Apple Inc is considered as a history of passion (Schermerhorn 2010, p.438). It was begun by a pair of Stevens, i.e. Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs together with Ronald Wayne, who combined their professional skills to create Apple Computer [1]on 1st April 1976 with the release of the Apple I, the first Apple computer, in the same year. Since the establishment, Apple has been focusing on the consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers and the best-known products include Iphone, Ipad, Mac line of computers and other hardware and software products. And according one of the most recent brand study carried out by the global brands agency Millward Brown, Apple has overtaken Google as the world’s most valuable brand (Bbc.co.uk 2011). Figure 1 Steve Jobs and the most recent Iphone 4 in white Source: Yohe 2010 1.2 Industrial environment introduction As claimed by Hill and Jones (2008, p.100) that for the last 20 years, fast growth of the power of the computer has greatly attributed to the high extent of innovation and a turbulent environment in the personal computer industry. There are a number of players and potential entrants in the industry that drive up the competition and such fierce competition again is enhanced by the fast technological innovation resulting in the fact that no single company, no matter how large and power it is once, could maintain...

Words: 4212 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

A Tale of Two Steves

...A Tale of Two Steves 1 A Tale of Two Steves Joanne Greene-Blose Boston University AD643 Project Communications Professor Steve Leybourne A Tale of Two Steves 2 Joanne Greene-Blose Abstract Good leadership is key, particularly in today‟s competitive global economy, and can make the difference between the success or the failure of the organization (Bennett, 2009). This paper looks at the CEO of the top tech company in the world, Apple Inc., and analyzes his leadership style. Steve Jobs, as Jack Welch called (Elkind, 2008), “the most successful CEO today” exhibits characteristics of both transactional and transformational leadership styles. He can be perhaps best labeled as a composite of both. He possesses micromanagement tendencies, is quick to judge, frequently yells and berates his employees, and reduces them to tears. Yet he also inspires a transcending vision who can connect emotionally with both his customer base and employees (Fannin, 2005; “Transformational Leadership”, 2002). Jobs is unquestionably an enigmatic, polarizing figure – yet his formula for success cannot be denied. A Tale of Two Steves 3 Joanne Greene-Blose A Tale of Two Steves The importance of good leadership in today‟s environment cannot be overstated. Bennett (2009) identifies leadership as determining the ultimate success or failure of the organization and Ismail, Mohamed, Sulaiman, Mohamad, and Yusuf (2011) view it as the primary force in determining competitiveness in a global...

Words: 2415 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Value and Ethics

...Technology is ever- evolving and constantly progressing. Understandably, managers have taken a progressive approach to managing by emphasizing on teamwork and cooperation. (Nickels, McHugh, & McHugh, Chapter 7, 2010). The innovation of Steve Job’s influential leadership has had a substantial impact on the fate of the organization and lives of followers of Apple Inc. At Apple Inc., business is slated to be conducted ethically, honestly and also claims to comply with all laws and regulations. There are many methods for evaluating and defining Steve Job’s style of ethical leadership in comparison to others. The Williams Institute Ethics Awareness Inventory Assessment defines one style of ethical leadership as Equity. Beliefs that there are no absolute standards of right and wrong are common with leaders that exhibit an Equity ethical leadership style. How does the management style used at Apple Inc. parallel with that of Equity? Apple has instituted policies not only for Apple employees but anyone doing business with Apple. There are codes of conduct for suppliers of products and conditions are written out for the price of doing business with Apple. “The code of conduct requires suppliers to provide safe and healthy working conditions, to use fair hiring practices, to treat their workers with dignity and respect, and to adhere to environmentally responsible practices in manufacturing. To that end, the code includes standards in areas of Labor and Human Rights, Health and...

Words: 1016 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs Case Study

...Steve Jobs is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. He is also the chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios and is a board member of Walt Disney Company. His creation of the Apple computer, however, is his well-known accomplishment. His personality can be described as aggressive and demanding. He is also considered as one of Silicon Valley’s leading egomaniacs. Mr. Jobs has always aspired to position Apple and its products at the forefront of the information technology industry. He has accomplished this by foreseeing and setting trends in innovation and style. Jobs has made history in the business world which, “… has contributed much to the symbolic image of the idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal” (Wikipedia). His forward driven mindset for developing products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a devoted following. His ability to use all four aspects of the Situational Leadership Model in his line of work has made him one of the most successful businessmen today. This case analysis will show how Jobs used the Situational Leadership model to make Apple one of the most innovative computer and technology companies today by effectively using the following leadership styles: selling, telling, participating, and delegating. The Situational Leadership Model states that when used, “…one should always keep in...

Words: 2055 - Pages: 9