Principles and Practices of Effective Leadership (Apple Inc). Leadership Portfolio - Essay Example

?Part I: Analysis of Leadership within an Organization “A Leader is not one who rules over the people under him, but a catalyst that would encourage them to grow”. Leadership is a virtue that is cherished in many walks of life. Leadership may be defined as an ability to organize, guide and socially influence a group of people in the accomplishment of a common goal. Each leader adopts a unique approach and style, through the interplay of one’s traits, intelligence, behavioral set, authority, power, temperament and charisma. Within an institution, there develops an emphasis on implementing leadership skills and abilities that are relevant across the organization. This cultivates the ‘leadership style of the organization’. Let us delve in to an analysis on leadership at Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer Inc.), an American multinational corporation that designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer hardware, software and personal computers. The powerful visionary, Steve Jobs, was the co-founder of Apple Inc. along with Steve Wozniak. They went on the establish Apple as one of the world’s giants, with an unconventional approach and leadership style that was starkly different from conventional business wisdom. The predominating leadership approach at Apple Inc. was that of ‘Transformational Leadership’, wherein Steve Jobs (the leader), identified the need for change, created a vision amongst his people to enforce the change and finally, ensured its enforcement with the unfailing commitment of the members of his company. (Bryant S., 2012) This style of leadership involves high levels of communication and involvement from the top management, to meet their goals. Jobs showed the world his remarkable talent through his ability to turn the company around from near failure to astounding success! Steve Jobs possessed an extremely aggressive and demanding personality, which he used in order to bring out the best from his people. The key components of leadership in Apple Inc. were that of focus, passion, innovation, involvement and effective communication. Focus was ingrained in Jobs’ personality and had been honed by his Zen training. (Issacson, 2012). Interestingly, in 1997, Apple was producing a random array of computers and peripherals, including a dozen different versions of the Macintosh. At a review session, Jobs was quick to grab a ‘Magic Marker’ and draw a two-by-two grid on the board, labeling each quadrant sequentially as “Consumer”, “Pro.”, “Desktop” and “Portable”. He insisted that Apple focus on just four great products (one for each quadrant), cancelling all other products. Steve Jobs is known to have said to Walter Isaacson, “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. “That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.” (Issacson, 2012). The Apple Company under Steve Jobs, developed a ‘perfectionist style’ with an eye for great detail. The success of the company lay in the fact that Jobs recognized his own strengths and delegated areas suited to other people’s strengths, so that only the best product emerged from its shores. Steve Jobs was a driven leader and the products and services he directed his company to develop and commercialize changed the way many of us live, as well as the course of a diverse set of industries, including computing, publishing, movies, music and mobile telephony (Katzenbach, 2012). Undoubtedly, the success of Apple Computers under Steve Jobs stemmed from his creativity in decision-making, charismatic leadership and the ability to take risks in order to adapt to changing market conditions. As testimony to Apple’s creativity, Steve Jobs himself famously said “innovation distinguishes a leader and a follower”! Both, situational factors and the leadership approach of Steve Jobs contributed to Apple’s success. By selecting Steve Jobs to lead the company, Apple was not only able to improve its performance, but also position itself to take advantage of the opportunity in the field of “music” (Robbins and Judge, 2007). A notable leadership theory evident under Steve Jobs was that of ‘Charismatic Leadership’. Jobs had a vision to turn Apple around by focusing on producing software to cater to “customer experience” (Investor Relations, 2007). Also, Apple clearly demonstrated the stance that it was prepared to take risks to achieve its vision. It showed the willingness to cater to the emotional needs of the customer. This emotional buy-in served to enhance the Transformational Leadership strategy of Apple. Apart from producing innovative technologies, Apple has always emphasized on a pro-active, customer-centric approach, for the ease of the end – user. In addition, Apple won the hearts of its followers by attributing the success of the company to the customers! Today, Apple is under the leadership of its new CEO, Tim Cook. The focus within Apple has changed to some degree, shifting from creativity and innovation to operational efficiency. Yet, a recent Fortune cover story states that Apple is now willing to release a less-than-perfect product! The leadership within Apple has moved to a rather level-headed and conservative approach. The new Apple believes in diversity of leadership and transparency. Cook has stated that “you can only do a few things great.” (Markowitz, 2012) His leadership style encourages Apple to focus on what it does best, and to accomplish it successfully. In his short tenure as CEO, Cook has presided over some of the most successful results any technology company has ever made. Interestingly, under Tim Cook, the company's culture is more easy-going. Though the work environment is a lot less menacing to today’s Apple employee, critics often debate on whether the new leadership style will transform Apple in to an ‘ordinary company’ (Markowitz E., 2012). In conclusion, Apple has housed different leadership traits and approaches under different leaders. Each leader believed in one’s own style and developed the organizational temperament accordingly. The success of Apple lies in the ability of its leaders to percolate to every employee level, instilling the concepts of leadership, responsibility and commitment as a common goal of the organization. Given today’s world of complexity, it is thus undoubtedly ‘leadership within the organization’ that spurs the company’s success amongst the competition! . References: Part I 1. Bryant S. (2012) The Role of Transformational and Transactional Leadership in Creating, Sharing and Exploiting Organizational Knowledge, Montana State University Bozeman, MT 2. Isaacson W. (2012) The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs, Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from: http://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs/ 3. Katzenbach J. (2012) Leadership Lessons: Steve Jobs, Apple. The Steve Jobs Way, 67, 1. Retrieved from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00109?pg=1 4. Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall 5. Investor relations. (2007). Retrieved April 24, 2007, from http://www.apple.com/investor/. 6. Markowitz E. (2012) 5 Essential Leadership Lessons from Tim Cook, Retrieved from www.inc.com Part II: Personal Leadership Profile The recent years have witnessed a rather turbulent phase with a general shift in businesses, largely caused by the global economic downturn. This makes it mandatory for companies to focus on constant innovation and technology development (Bambale, 2011). Leaders are faced with a major challenge to keep up with the rising demands and expectations of the modern consumer and must concurrently ensure the satisfaction of their employees, stakeholders and associates. Establishing effective leadership can motivate the team, help maintain quality standards, ensure safety of resources and assets and inspire innovation in contemporary organizations. This could pose quite a challenge to most institutions, but is surely one that can reap great benefits (Jay, 2012). It is indeed intriguing to imagine myself assuming a leadership role within the organization: Apple Inc. In order to be a successful leader, I must possess certain unique qualities and demonstrate strong leadership skills in an effective manner, so as to derive the best out of my team. My belief is that leadership must begin with oneself. Personal leadership reiterates the concept of “leading from the front”, in which the leader is self driven by a vision and constantly motivates himself and his team in its pursuit. In the organizational context, I would choose to adopt the ‘Transcendent Leadership’ approach, by strategically aligning the levels of self, others and the organization. This effectively encompasses the interrelated realms of the environment, strategy and the organization (Bambale, 2011). As a leader of Apple in the ‘post Steve Jobs’ – era, I would choose to apply an emergent style of leadership, called ‘The Level Five Leadership’, which exhorts the idea of respect towards people, selflessness on the part of the leader with an unrelenting commitment to achieve results in the best interest of my company. Steve Jobs, the remarkable personality that he was, built an empire in his own right, exerting an everlasting impact on the organization. It is a tremendous honor and responsibility on my shoulders to take up the role of a ‘Leader’ in such an organization and all the more important that I do justice to my position. Apple is an established company, backed by access to relevant past data and resources, with a clearly defined mission for the next 10 years. On the other hand, it is a tremendous challenge to lead the present team and bring about continuous innovations catering to today’s dynamic, ephemeral market demand. As a Level 5 leader, I would adopt a blend of a ‘fiery approach’ with ‘personal humility’ and would believe in sharing the credit of success amongst all the contributing team members. My preferred style of operation would be that of ‘Dispersed Leadership’, which promotes the sharing of power between leaders and followers. This is modeled upon a decentralized system that invests trust, generates a sense of individual responsibility, accountability and motivates the team towards giving their best performance. It is rightly said that ‘creative and innovative organizations cannot be born in one day’! It would definitely require a leader who can understand and adapt to dynamic cultures, structures and processes and drive them to generate results which are creative, effective and productive. My leadership values would include a strong ambition, emphasizing on constant innovation. Apple has topped the list of ‘most innovative gadgets’, three times in succession. In an attempt to maintain this legacy, utmost importance would be given to focusing on innovative ideas that can thrust Apple to greater heights. I would be insistent on maintaining a high level of integrity and credibility and expect dedication to work at every level, with a rather optimistic attitude. Positive attitudes are contagious and are sure to percolate through various layers of the organization! Leaders with integrity are often found to be sincere, consistent and good finishers. Though I would lay great emphasis on employee discipline, I would encourage some flexibility in the interest of my team. I believe in the mantra of “excellence, the fun way” through extensive training and self – improvement programs, amid a cordial work atmosphere. I would make every effort to be an ‘effective listener’ and be responsive to my team. Criticism, feedback and suggestions must be handled in the right spirit. Above all, I would inculcate a system of equality and encourage cultural diversity, to achieve ‘the right mix of talents’ from all over the globe. A leader should be completely impartial with team members and show no discrimination or breach of discipline whatsoever. Moreover, as a good leader, I must have control on my temper and remember the venerable motto “Praise publically, but criticize privately”! Indeed, innovative ideas must be supported with a motivated team. Hence an important aspect that I would be very careful to manage would be the ‘motivation of my team’. Motivation in the organizational context encompasses ‘core job dimensions’ such as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, job feedback as well as work environment. This influences perceived psychological aspects such as need for growth, enhancement of knowledge, team strength, authority, responsibility and meaningfulness. Certainly, the affective outcome of such dimensions is motivation at work! (Tuan, 2011) A leader’s consistency and integrity adds to the motivation of the team, in understanding the leader’s passion for the ideas being discussed. The more the leader’s actions match his words, the greater the loyalty of team members to both the organization and the leader. Additionally, if the leader is a good listener, it would help in motivating the team members to think radically, innovate and come out with exceptional ideas. With respect to a product-based industry such as Apple in particular, it becomes vitally important to motivate teams across all departments, i.e. beginning with the innovation and development team, all the way up to the sales team (at the very end of the chain). In order to develop spirited focus and alignment of the team to the leader’s vision for the company, ‘communication’ is of prime importance. A leader should frequently communicate the mission and objectives of projects, to keep all the team members focused. Most leaders use the written forms of communication which often fail in reaching out to every individual of the organization. The necessity for imparting accurate information and sound communication within the organization attains greater significance in turbulent environments and during the initiation of change programs (Constantin, 2009). Hence, as a leader, I would make a special effort to communicate more extensively in a face-to-face mode and keep the team members informed about company updates. This would in turn encourage self-evaluation of each individual. Effective communication would also serve to displace rumors and prevent misinformation, which would otherwise hamper Apple’s growth. I am a strong believer in ‘working together to achieve common objectives’. In this regard, I would encourage ‘team-building activities’, to balance out each individual’s personal autonomy, to the extent necessary to achieve the team objectives (Zia, 2011). I would do my best to create a friendly work environment that encourages the sharing of ideas and thoughts in an amicable way. I would structure the organization in such a way that ‘relationship building’ is encouraged between departments by providing accurate information within the institution (openness); providing necessary client information (involvement) and identifying issues (if any), which would impact the achievement of organizational policy goals and objectives (Taliaferro, & Ruggiano, 2010). It is a well known fact that every company would like to be ‘the best’ and ‘the most competitive’ in their strategy, structure, technology and culture. This can only be accomplished under a leader who positions as a catalyst, to bring about the innovativeness in the people under him / her (Agbor, 2008). As part of an ideal strategy style, I would first and foremost, get clarity on my ‘leadership vision’ of Apple Inc. “being the world’s biggest and most coveted electronic brand, with the largest global market share”. I would ensure that the objectives are clearly defined, limited to the aspects of top priority and leveraged to the best possible extent. I would earnestly support innovative and novel ideas such as 3D printing of images projected out of mobiles or laptops (for greater ease in the understanding of concepts) or to develop an environment - friendly and healthier ‘Apple smart phone’ that would emit minimal radio waves. I would effectively build my team; personally and professionally, so that I do not find myself “lonely at the top”. I believe in ‘greater success as a team’ and would invest time, funds and efforts in developing a skillful and supportive team. I would stress on the importance of effective communication for best results. As a leader, I understand my sense of accountability and responsibility and would empower my team members with the same values. I would also ensure rewards and recognition for their achievements. My special efforts would be focused on customer retention through the concepts of supreme quality of goods and services, brand image, brand appeal, familiarity and loyalty. I would encourage a working environment of constant learning and knowledge enhancement. Most importantly, I would develop a corporate culture based on sound business ethics, built on authenticity, honesty and reliability. An effective leader is prepared for change and recognizes that ‘change’ brings momentum and creates new opportunities for growth. Realistically, to be a good leader, I would need to hone my problem – solving skills and be responsive to my followers. I would also understand and equip myself with niche skills such as ‘crisis leadership’ given the unpredictability, intensity, duration, and costs involved in global businesses today (Prewitt, Weil, McClure, 2011). The followership style that I would promote in my organization would be that of “an effective follower”, who is a critical and independent thinker, as well as an active contributor to the organization. Such followers are mindful risk-takers, who are willing to initiate change and act in the best interest of the organization (Daft, 2006.) In conclusion, leadership is a process that gathers followers gradually and brings about movement towards outlined and accepted objectives. It is up to each leader to understand and adopt those principles and practices that are specifically relevant to their industrial context. Leaders must ensure that they can be looked up to as ‘mentors’; at the same time, encouraging independent thinking and creativity within the organization. Hence, my profile in a leadership role at Apple Inc. would incorporate an appropriate blend of the traits, values, styles, approaches and activities discussed in the above text, in an earnest endeavor to realize my dream and vision for the company! References: Part II 1. Bambale A. (2011) Auditing the Leadership Approaches and Their Relationships to Organizational Outcomes, Business and Management Review, Vol. 1, Pg. 1 – 13. 2. Jay J. (2012) Leadership as a Way of Life, Strategic Leadership Review, Vol. 2, Pg. 1 – 7. 3. Tuan L. (2011) Convergence of Antecedents on Work Motivation and Work Outcomes, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 2, Pg. 54 – 64. 4. Constantin V. (2009) Communicational Approach in the Organizational Change, Annals of the University of Oradea : Economic Science, Vol. 4, Pg. 185 – 190. 5. Zia S. (2012) Effects of organizational team building on employees' morale & job retention, Business Management Dynamics, Vol. 1, Pg. 31 – 37. 6. Taliaferro J, Ruggiano N. (2010), “It’s human beings talking to one another”: The role of relationship building in non-profit lobbying, Prism Online PR Journal, Vol.7. 7. Agbor E. (2008) Creativity and Innovation: The Leadership Dynamics, School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University 8. Prewitt J., Weil R., McClure A. (2011) Crisis Leadership - An Organizational Opportunity, Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, Vol. 1, Pg. 60 -74. 9. Daft R. (2006) The Leadership Experience, Vol. 6. Read More