Steve Jobs - A Biographical Discussion of What Made This Business Leader Unique - Essay Example

Section/# Steve Jobs: A Biographical Discussion of What Made This Business Leader Unique Understanding what defines a successful individual has been a tempting question for many individuals throughout the course of history. Ultimately, it is doubtful that a single answer might be agreed upon any time within the immediate future. However, it is the understanding and determination of this particular author that the successful individual is the one that is most suited to handle adversity. It is without question that individuals are extraordinarily brilliant, talented, and possibly dedicated with respect to the goals that they hope to achieve. However, one particular determinant that set apart those who would be successful from those who are not has to do with the fact that the successful individual will not understand adversity or hardship as sufficient discouragement for them to continue to pursue their goals and expect their dreams within the world. Although there are of course many individuals that could be utilized as an example of this, this particular essay will focus upon the biography of Steve Jobs as a prime case in point for the individual who faced a litany of defining moments within his life; yet never gave in to the pressures that might have discouraged a lesser individual. Through such a discussion, it is not only the hope of this particular student that the reader can gain a more informed understanding with respect to the biography of Steve Jobs, is also the hope and expectation seek to understand what separates the successful individuals in the world from those that appear to be equally as brilliant. Unlike the many individuals within the current model of education that are encouraged towards conformity, perhaps one of the single most important turning points with respect to Steve Jobs has to do with the fact that he opted to pursue his passions rather than fulfilling a mundane and otherwise “fruitless” college degree. This may come as something of an unorthodox approach. However, the fact of the matter was that by ignoring the core curriculum the colleges typically require as a means of fulfilling a broad spectrum of education, Jobs was instead able to focus his energies on those aspects of the world that intrigued him; and follow his passion. Because of this freedom to pursue his passions and develop in an unimpeded way, many biographers have pointed to this as a fundamental motivation for the way in which Jobs developed as a human being and how the Apple brand soon came to be such a dominant force in the realm of personal electronics. Left with the ability to audit classes and study type face, art, and computer graphics, Jobs utilized this instrumental period in his life to form the basis for the way in which a new approach to personal computing would be had. Together with Steve Wozniak, Jobs established a “Home brew” computer club that sought to tackle many of the issues surround the need for further development of personal computer technology. Although these individuals might not have known it at the time, these meetings and the formation of this club allowed for these individuals to form the basis for how they would seek to engage the market and how Apple would come to be established. Rather than merely attending university and acquiring a degree, Jobs instead had the life defining experience of being set adrift amongst his dreams and finding the most reasonable and best path towards realizing them. Another extraordinarily defining moment in Steve Jobs life was with regards to the fact that he was ousted from the Apple company he helped to create not long after it began to experience an unprecedented level of growth and development. Lesser individuals, and ones that could be easily discouraged, might have viewed this situation as reason to exit the market and is a quieter life; rather than continuing to battle with pushing the envelope and developing new and exciting products. However, in response to this coup within Apple, Steve Jobs went on to found the extraordinarily successful NeXT. Leveraging his experiences at Apple as a baseline through which he could develop his own creativity as a means of promoting integrating computing, NeXT soon came to be a dominant force within Silicon Valley. Yet, once again, Steve Jobs found himself with a wealth of creative potential that was not being affectively utilized within NeXT. Once again, rather than being satisfied with the renewed level of success that he was able to exhibit within NeXT, Jobs sought to branch out and expand his creative potential outside the bounds of that which he had already been responsible for creating. This led him to co-found the now extraordinarily successful and profitable Pixar studios; widely renowned as a breakthrough development with respect to the usage of computers and animation technology. It was during his time at Pixar that he is widely credited to have had a powerful role in steering the development of both Toy Story and Finding Nemo – both of which are widely regarded to serve as the pinnacle of success in digital animation technology. This brings the reader to an especially important understanding. At the time in which Jobs had been dismissed from Apple, he was already extraordinarily wealthy. However, wealth, and/or the desire to achieve wealth, was not the primary motive that Jobs strove for. Instead, it was a primal need for Jobs to develop something and use his creativity in different ways. This brings one to understand that even though profit margins are an important element of what makes an individual successful, it was his underlying passion for the work he did that drove him to develop NeXT and Pixar studios. Without the need to develop his creativity and branch out in other areas, a lesser individual might have easily retired on the funds that they had already accumulated; especially an individual that had earned as much during their brief work life as Steve Jobs. Yet, this was not an inclination that Jobs had. Instead of cashing out and cutting his losses, the indomitable spirit of the successful person is one that does not see defeat as an option. Moreover, it is possible to argue that had Jobs indeed taken such an approach and gone into an early retirement, his would have been a life defined by regret and the slow but steady decay of his creative spirit; a fate quite possibly worse than the malady that ultimately claimed his life. Comparatively, Steve Jobs, during his brief lifetime, utilized body language as well as verbal imagery to engage shareholders with the excitement and uniqueness of Apple’s product designs. As a means of presenting himself as the sole individual on an otherwise empty stage and methodically yet engagingly discussing these products with both a physical and multimedia audience, Jobs was able to convey a sense of awe and excitement that would likely not have been engaged by a lesser CEO. With regards to the second determinant, Steve Jobs seemingly had a type of built-in understanding for the type of language that would grip the consumer and provide them with a sense of awe with regards to the given product. As a function of this, his communication style was not one that wandered from topic to topic during the few brief minutes which he engaged with the public. Rather, there was a direct point, key functionalities, and technical specifications that were related to the would-be user within terms that would not frighten those that otherwise would not have a great deal of technical expertise or understanding. This primary knowledge of the market with which he was ultimately engaging was the primal reason why Apple has become such a fixture of US technology and engineering that it is today. By realizing what the consumer needed relayed to them and tailoring his message as appropriate to meet such an end, Jobs is perhaps the best exemplification of the three business leaders that will herein be discussed. A final turning point that existed within Steve Jobs life, and one that will be discussed within this brief essay, is with respect to the way in which Jobs understood and acted on the news that he had terminal cancer. Such an announcement came as an absolute shock to Jobs who had otherwise considered himself to be in good overall health. Yet, just as he had faced the challenges of being fired from the company he helped to set up and just as he had faced the challenges of setting up two additional successful companies shortly thereafter, the indomitable spirit of Jobs once again illustrated itself. Rather than quitting his passion and focusing upon setting his affairs in order, Jobs opted to focus instead of continuing life as he had known it. Such an approach was beneficial in a number of ways. Firstly, it did not allow his cancer to be the defining element of his life. Secondly, it did not allow for his passion for innovation, leadership, and development to be taken from him. Against the advice of his doctors, Jobs opted to continue as Apple’s CEO up until the point in which he became so ill that furthering his responsibilities in this position no longer became feasible. Even as it became clear that Job’s cancer was effecting his ability to continue to make decisions and lead the firm, he continued on in this role; evidence yet again that his obstinate and driving spirit was one of the hallmarks of what made him unique within the realm of business leaders that have existed before or since his time. Although many might question Jobs commitment to himself, his family, or indeed the company, it is the understanding of this student that the behavior which has been exhibited by Jobs is indicative of the way in which he sought to live his life. Moreover, the drive and continual need to develop was one of the defining elements of what made Steve Jobs unique within the realm of expertise that he operated within. As such, merely throwing in the towel and shying away from his passion in his final years and months would have been a betrayal that neither he nor the firm he helped to found could have reasonably been expected to recover from. The turning points of Steve Jobs’ life that have thus far been denoted should not be understood as an exhaustive discussion with respect to all of the turning points or key moments that he experienced. Instead, they are merely highlights which hopefully will assist the reader in understanding the way in which Jobs developed his approach and honed his personality throughout the years. As has been stated multiple times throughout this biographic sketch, Jobs was an individual that perfectly exemplified a spirit that would not allow simple defeats or shortcomings to serve as crushing to his way of life. Instead, he utilized these experiences in order to further spur him on to greater degrees of success, profitability, and creativity. As has been denoted at some depth previously, it is this indomitable spirit that helps to define the successful individual from those that are otherwise talented or brilliant with regard to a specific field. Whereas it is no doubt true that Steve Jobs represented an individual that was both talented and brilliant, it was neither his talent or his brilliance that had the most formative impact with respect to his personal success; or the success of the Apple brand. Instead, it was the unwillingness to cede defeat and the unwillingness to give up, even in the face of depressing news, that helped to craft him into the business leader and success story that he typifies today. Without this outside the box thinking and/or the inability to concede that he had been bettered, Jobs was able to engage with the world and his surroundings in a manner wholly unlike so many other lesser business leaders that exist within the current environment. Read More