Rethinking Leadership - Essay Example

Rethinking Leadership Introduction If one’s actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,then he/she indeed is a great leader. History is saturated with the names of such transformational and charismatic leaders, who with their miraculous persona, created a lasting value in the world (Sharif 3). Such leaders are the jewels of humanity who were born with exceptional skills to inspire, motivate, influence and direct others. They indeed are the catalyst of change and of path breaking revolutions. All these leaders had an astounding power to lead the masses, bring out their emotions and begin a new era in the history of mankind. A leader is the one who motivates and influences his/her subordinates to attain the pre-defined goals (Hernandez et al. 1166). With this definition in mind, one can recognize a number of effective leaders; Alexander the Great, Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, Asoka and Mahatma Gandhi etc. However, at the organizational level, Steve Jobs is undoubtedly the most legendary leader of the 21st century who transformed the world of information technology. 2. Steve Jobs Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, innovator, leader and inventor, best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields, transforming one industry after another, from computers and smart phones to music and movies. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios. He became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. Steve Jobs was the one, who led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. He also played a role in introducing the LaserWriter, one of the first widely available laser printers, to the market. 3. Life History Steven Paul Jobs was born on 24 February 1955 in San Francisco, California, to an un-married couple who gave him up for adoption. He was taken in by a working class couple, Paul and Clara Jobs, and grew up with them in Mountain View, California. He attended Homestead High School in Cupertino California and went to Reed College in Portland Oregon in 1972 but dropped out after only one semester, staying on to "drop in" on courses that interested him (Hertzfeld 53). He took a job with video game manufacturer Atari to raise enough money for a trip to India and returned from there a Buddhist. Back in Cupertino, he returned to Atari where his old friend Steve Wozniak was still working. Wozniak was building his own computer and in 1976, Jobs pre-sold fifty of the unmade computers to a local store and managed to buy the components on credit solely on the strength of the order, enabling them to build the Apple I without any funding at all. The Apple II followed in 1977 and the company Apple Computer was formed shortly afterwards. The Apple II was credited with starting the personal computer boom, its popularity prompting IBM to hurriedly develop its own PC. By the time production of the Apple II ended in 1993 it had sold over 6 million units. In 1984, Steve Jobs directed by Ridley Scott, introduced the Macintosh computer to the world (Hertzfeld 53). In 1985 Jobs was fired from Apple and immediately founded another computer company, “Next.” Its machines were not a commercial success but some of the technology was later used by Apple when Jobs eventually returned there. In the meantime, in 1986, Jobs bought The Computer Graphics Group from Lucas film. The group was responsible for making high-end computer graphics hardware but under its new name, Pixar, it began to produce innovative computer animations. In 1996, Apple bought “Next” and Jobs returned to Apple, becoming its CEO. Jobs brought his own aesthetic philosophy back to the ailing company and began to turn its fortunes around with the release of the iMac in 1998. The companys MP3 player, the iPod, followed in 2001, with the i-Phone launching in 2007 and the i-Pad in 2010. The companys software music player, iTunes, evolved into an online music and eventually also movie and software application store, helping to popularize the idea of "legally" downloading entertainment content. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and went for a surgery in 2004. Despite a successful operation, he became increasingly ill and received a liver transplant in 2009. He returned to work after a six month break but eventually resigned his position in August 2011. After another period of medical leave which began in January 2011, he died on 5 October 2011(Hertzfeld 53). 4. Leadership traits and behavior of Steve Jobs considering the “Big Five” Model Personality Traits Personality traits are very observant to others and greatly contribute in becoming an effective leader. Steve Jobs is known for his aggressive and demanding personality. The most significant trait in his personality was his self-confidence. Steve Jobs had an incredible self- confidence in his ability to innovate and solve problems. He also took a great deal of pride and self-confidence within his products. Apple has been known to have quite a bit of arrogance and it shows throughout their advertising. This arrogance comes mainly from Steve’s view of his company. He was low in modesty however; his great belief in himself and his company arguably has made Apple as successful of a company as it is. From the evidence we found in research it seems to be that Steve Jobs had an extreme internal locus of control therefore leading to higher job performance (Schlender 13). According to “Big Five” Personality Traits Model, Steve seems to stand out when it comes to openness to experience. He was highly fascinated when it came to new things. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Steve was little to no agreeableness according to multiple coworkers. Although, ego is usually a positive feature when it comes to personality, he had an egocentric personality. Steve Jobs was a very assertive leader of Apple and had even been called a dictator from time to time. He had no problem telling his coworkers his opinions, feelings, and demands (Schlender 13). Being one of the most powerful and well known CEOs of our age, the flaws present in Steve Job’s personality were perhaps not flaws at all as he stated himself that “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.”(Pearce & Richard 1214) Leadership Style of Steve Jobs considering Iowa State University Leadership Styles The studies from this university identified two leadership styles that are autocratic versus democratic leaders. Steve Jobs was the exemplar of autocratic style of leadership. The top brass in Apple considered him a “control freak”. He is today the strongest example of how an insistence on total control over your company and employees (totalitarian leadership) and a focus on innovation can keep the clock ticking, with the sound getting sweeter by the second. What Jobs did was to use a tyrannical leadership style – fire and force at will – to ensure that his employees delivered products that consumers lusted after, in an ever-evolving digital world. The American author Andrew Keen’s in his best-seller titled, The Cult of the Amateur wrote: “There’s not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That’s what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organization and centralized control. It’s Steve’s company – pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs’ authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit.” 5. Dyadic Approach used by Steve Jobs Dyadic theory emphasizes on the concept of exchange between a leader and a follower in a work unit referring to the relationship between a leader and each follower. 6.1 Before being fired from Apple Steve Jobs, The man who helped make Apple a household name could also be tactless in interpersonal relationships. Initially, he wasn’t that much a relationship oriented leader. He was insensitive to relationships and as a result of which got fired from Apple in 1985. In 1987, New York Times wrote: “Senior management had to endure his (Steve Jobs) temper tantrums. He created resentment among employees by turning some into stars and insulting others, often reducing them to tears. Mr. Jobs himself would frequently cry after fights with fellow executives". 6.2 Again Joining Apple in 1996 After being fired from Apple by John Scully, he learnt a lot from this painful experience. He was moved towards making some relationships with his employees. When he joined it again, He delegated some duties to members of his executive team, most notably his second-in-command and eventual successor, Tim Cook, and focused on what he was best at: creating products, recruiting, marketing, and of course, being the public face of the company. He described it in a 2004 interview: "I get to spend my time on the forward-looking stuff. My top executives take half the y plate. They love it, and I love it." It was Steve Jobs, who set the direction for all of Apple, together with his executive team (nicknamed ET). The ET consisted of the top 10 executives of the company, including COO Tim Cook, SVP of industrial design Jony Ive, SVP of iOS Scott Forstall, SVP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, SVP of Retail Ron Johnson and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. They met with Steve every Monday morning, and reviewed all aspects of Apple, discussing every issue and taking decisions. All the power at Apple was concentrated in these meetings i.e. it didnt lie with the board. The first priority for Steve when he came back was simplicity. He said (2004): “The organization is clean and simple to understand, and very accountable. Everything just got simpler. Thats been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity", In other words, the responsibilities of every employee are very clear. For each project, and every task in that project, there will be someone accountable, a so-called DRI (directly responsible individual) who will be congratulated or blamed depending on how he does.” The employees involved in the development of Apple products used to learn about their developmental efforts either directly by Steve or by their immediate bosses in three forms; the first response used to be ‘it’s great’. Sometimes it turned out to be ‘it’s not bad, but need changes’ or in some cases ‘it sucks’. This was usually limited to new developers (Pollack 7). Those who have worked with Steve Jobs are of the opinion that this person was ‘brutally honest’. The reason for such statement is that he was not satisfied with average things in life; instead he would opt for the best thing and continued his quest for perfection. Indeed, most employees felt as if Steve Jobs was always behind them, watching their work and making sure it was up to Apples standards. In the view of his employees, Steve’s opinion about anything did not contain any grey areas; things were either ‘excellent’ or ‘unacceptable’. Similar was his opinion about the people who used to work in his organization. However, Jobs demanded that all divisions work together as one on Apple products. Cooperation and good communications were ingrained in the corporate culture (Pollack 7). 6. Conclusion There are rare people that impact the world. They come and go so quickly sometimes. We wish they stayed a while longer. But they leave their legacy and move on to a higher plane of existence, Steve Jobs was one of those rare people. He left so much to us. He gave so much to us. He changed our world forever. He reinvented Apple and desktop computing. He created a world of tablet, mobile commuting and communication that has never been before him. He was innovation. He was creation. He was strength. He was a leader. He was a wonderful soul in this world. Adam Beam of The State newspaper summed it up: “Being Steve Jobs may create a great company. But it may not be the best way to lead a life. Jobs made a lasting contribution to the business world, although at the cost of many personal relationships. However, the business tactics he applied at Apple are valuable to leaders worldwide.” If all the leaders could be like Steve, our country and probably our entire world’s economy would be golden and reaping benefits more wonderful than we can imagine. If all people could be like Steve, there would most likely be no war, no poverty no prejudice. If all followers could be like Steve, we would have more free thinkers and we would not be afraid to think for ourselves. Life is suffering. We battle attachment and try to overcome it in order to overcome suffering. Let’s all learn a lesson from this wonderful soul and strive to be just an iota like Steve. Works Cited Page Hernandez, Morela. Eberly, Marion. Avolio, Bruce. Johnson, Micheal. “The loci and mechanisms of leadership: Exploring a more comprehensive view of leadership theory.” Leadership Quarterly. October 2011: 1166. Web. 9th March, 2014. Hertzfeld, Andy. “The Little Kingdom.” The Times Magazine. December 1982: 53. Web. 9th March, 2014. Pearce, John A, and Richard B. Robinson. “Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control”. Boston: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print. Pollack, Andrew. “Apple Company’s Entrepreneur Rise and Fall.” The New York Times. September 1985: 7.Web. 9th March, 2014. Sharif, Monica. “Leadership and Organizational Change.” University of Miami Scholarly Repository. May 2011: 3. Web. 9th March, 2014. Schlender, Brent. “The Three Faces of Steve In this exclusive, personal conversation, Apples CEO reflects on the turnaround, and on how a wunderkind became an old pro.” Fortune. November 1998: 13.Web. 9th March, 2014. Read More