The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs - Essay Example

Introduction Leadership is considered as one of the most debated topics in the management literature and since the dawn of industrial revolution, ithas been seriously pursued at the academic as well as practice level. As the management evolved and became more sophisticated, the overall debate on leadership and what makes a good leader. Leadership is often described as the social influence in which a leader can actually seek the aid of the others in order to achieve a common goal or objective. This concept therefore requires that leaders always achieve their objectives by directing and leading the behavior and action of those who follow the leaders. There have been many efforts to actually determine what leadership is, how to view it and from which perspective, what are the characteristic traits of the leaders and certain other factors which define leadership and leader. Steve Jobs is considered as one of the most successful leaders in the modern world due to the overall achievements of Apple Inc. the company he led for most part of his life. Though he died however, his legacy is still considered as having one of the most significant in world history. He drastically changed many industries and brought changes which permanently redefined the way those industries used to work. He therefore drastically not only transformed his own organization but different industries also. In order to critically evaluate the leadership role of Steve Jobs, this paper will evaluate the article “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and appeared in Harvard Business Review. Jobs as Transformational Leader Transformational leadership uses various mechanisms to actually enhance the performance and motivation level of the employees. This also requires being the role model for others to work and perform to the highest degree so that others are inspired from the same. The role of Steve Jobs is also considered as the role of a transformational leader who has been able to transform a company which was nearing its bankruptcy. Through its sheer focus on developing few simple things, Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs has been able to transform itself into one of the largest organizations in the world. Transformation leadership is also linked with both the leaders as well as the followers help each other to actually advance to a higher motivation and morale level. With the combination of both the leader’s and followers overall motivation, organization move towards the achievement of higher results and as such achieve the required degree of transformation.( Bass, & Riggio,2006). The article under study also highlights the significant contribution by the Jobs in terms of serving as a role model of highest ethical standards and someone who used idealized influence to achieve the level of product sophistication as well as the simplicity which has made Apple one of the leading organizations in the world. This paper will discuss and argue about the leadership role of Steve Jobs, what lessons can be learned from it and will also offer a critique of his overall leadership style and its impact on the organization. Transformational leadership It is suggested that a transformational leadership occurs when the leader actually assumes the visionary position and instills the belief and motivation that the organization can be transformed into an entirely new manner. (Kotlyar, & Karakowsky, 2007).When Jobs joined Apple again, his first focus was on actual transformation of the Apple and created a degree of vision for the company. His vision was narrowed down to making Apple a leader in both the desktop as well as portable and based on this vision; he curtailed the operations of Apple and narrowed it down to two things. This vision of making Apple to actually focus on just few things and make it a leader in those segments provided Apple a much needed leadership position to transform itself into a completely new direction. He was clearly able to set the direction and also sell it across the whole organization in order to ensure that senior managers and employees of Apple actually buy this vision. In order to constantly sell the vision, it is important to actually become more energetic to continue to push with the desired changes and drive the company towards the real change.( Parolini, Patterson, & Winston, 2009) It is also however important to understand that he was also labeled an autocrat with more control over the way his organization work. By being control freak, he virtually controlled each aspect of the organization. A leader need to trust his followers and also allow them to grow and become adaptive however, in case of Jobs, he was all alone in deciding what to pursue and what not to follow within Apple. An important quality of a transformation leader is to know the way forward and Jobs knew about how to forward his vision by developing products which fulfilled the needs of the customers. (Cox, 2010 ). He was therefore clearly able to set the direction and also knew as to how to achieve this direction through a constant innovation and focus on the simplicity. It is also important to note that a transformational leader also lead the change and actively participate into the overall process of change. Setting up the vision as well as taking the lead to actually make change happen creates the required transformation within the organization. Jobs seems to possess all the qualities of a transformational leader because he not only had the vision but also ensured that this vision is carried out and the organization is transformed. Leader Member Exchange Theory It outlines as to how the relationships between various members of the organization actually develops over the period of time. The article suggest Jobs saying that most of the smartest persons chose to work with Apple despite the fact that Jobs was considered as tyrant with too much control in his hands. Leader-member exchange theory suggests developing positive relationships between the leaders and followers. (Kang, & Stewart, 2007). Though he took his top 100 managers to a personal retreat and be in one to communication with them however, there still seem to be a factor of dominance. Accordingly, Jobs overall relationships with his subordinates was one way as Jobs focused more on following his own vision. He also seems to focus on developing an aptitude to actually do face to face meetings as one of way of actually unleashing the creativity and provide an opportunity to others to speak their minds. This approach may not have been consistently used or used in the manner it should have been because mostly, Jobs focused on pushing his own vision. It is however, critical to understand that his approach towards having this kind of relationship with his subordinates resulted into the development of innovative products. His focus on developing innovative products and Apple actually delivering them suggests that Jobs may have been able to develop two way positive relationships which resulted into development of innovative Apple products. Skills Approach The skills approach to leadership actually takes into consideration the knowledge, skills and abilities possessed by a leader. Accordingly, a leader can develop certain skills and make them into remarkable skills. Steve Jobs seems to possess the skills of having focus, simplicity, taking complete responsibility and the ability to actually visualize. Article suggested that he clearly indicated to develop the degree of apathy to understand and anticipate what could be the requirements of his customers and then subsequently making all the efforts to deliver such products. As such he has been able to develop conceptual skills which helped him to develop the required degree of vision and ability to anticipate future trends and requirements. To assess the leadership role of Steve Jobs based upon the skills approach, it can be clearly established that he possessed excellent conceptual skills as he was clearly able to play with the ideas and develop them into successful business products. It is critical to understand that the level of importance for each skill also depends on the level of position within the organization. Since Jobs was the CEO of the organization therefore he was clearly able to demonstrate and use these skills as the highest level. Conclusion The paper evaluated the leadership style of Steve Jobs and presented a critical analysis of his approach towards leadership. Based upon the article “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and appeared in Harvard Business Review, this paper discussed as to how Steve Jobs actually transformed Apple by making it one of the largest organizations in the world. Steve Jobs had a vision for Apple and he narrowed it down to deliver the products and services which catered to widespread market. He not only transformed the computer industry but has also redefined the music, mobile, tablet and other industries. He had the ability to set the vision and then involve in it to achieve that vision. His overall relationships with the fellow managers was relatively one sided though he was able to meet face to face with the managers and also called the managers for yearly retreats. However, he seems to be more dominating in his approach as a leader. He also possessed excellent conceptual skills to play with new and innovative ideas. References 1. Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E., 2006. Transformational Leadership (Second ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 2. Cox, B, 2010 Leading and following together — leading leadership and leading leaders, International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, The, 6(1), pp.14 – 17 3. Kang, D & Stewart, J, 2007, Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership and HRD: Development of units of theory and laws of interaction, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(6), pp.531 - 551 4. Kotlyar, I., & Karakowsky, L. ,2007. Falling Over Ourselves to Follow the Leader. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 14(1), pp38-49 5. Parolini, J, Patterson, K & Winston, B, 2009 Distinguishing between transformational and servant leadership, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 30(3), pp.274 – 291 Read More