Vision, Charisma, Research, and Precision: The Situational Leadership of Steve Jobs
EssayChat / Aug 7, 2017
Steve Jobs, the founder and former CEO of Apple Computers, is remembered by many as an extraordinary leader. In an article for the New York Times, Joe Nocera observes, "there is no denying that Jobs is on a very short list of greatest American businessmen ever" (1). However, identifying Jobs' leadership style is a challenging task because his behavior did not clearly fit into just one discrete leadership category. Instead, Jobs appeared to pick and choose from different leadership types to form his own distinctive style. He had the vision of the transformational leader, the charisma of a charismatic leader and engaged in the punitive acts of a transactional leader. He could be supportive, inspiring and brutally demanding when the situation required. Therefore, the leadership style of Steve Jobs is best described as situational and his true leadership gift was his ability to discern the best approach for each business situation as it presented itself.
Background
Jobs' unique leadership style may be attributed, at least in part, to his individualist attitude and willingness to ignore convention while blazing his own trail. Jobs' individualism was evident in his atypical educational and business background. While widely known as a major business success, Jobs experienced his fair share of failures and setbacks. As a young man, he attended Homestead High School, one of the top college preparatory programs in the state of California. He enrolled in the class of John McCollum, a widely respected instructor of engineers who also taught Jobs' partner, Steve Wozniak. However, Jobs dropped out of McCollum's class because his "unique way of thinking" did not "mesh well in the class". Jobs impressed the other students with his charisma but preferred to tinker in his spare time to the more rigorous classroom setting.
After graduating high school, Jobs attended Reed College, where he planned to study philosophy. However, after one semester, Jobs dropped out. He later called this decision, "one of the best decisions I ever made" (Gillam 26). After dropping out, Jobs remained on campus and persuaded a dean to allow him to audit classes. Freed from having to take certain courses to fulfill a degree, Jobs sat in on the classes that most interested in, gathering valuable knowledge as he contemplated his business future.
In business, Steve Jobs attained remarkable success but also suffered a major setback when he was fired from the company he helped build. Jobs achieved his initial business success through a partnership with Steve Wozniak, a neighborhood friend a few years Jobs' junior. When Wozniak developed a personal computer, Jobs immediately recognized its potential commercial value. The two men then formed their company, Apple Computers, in order to market Wozniak's design. Apple Computers enjoyed tremendous initial success, making both men wealthy, but then faltered under the pressure created by industry competitors. In particular, IBM "put a lot of pressure on Apple, and Steve Jobs, to create new products that could compete with IBM". After a few years of corporate struggles, Jobs suffered a public humiliation when a conflict with then Apple Chief Executive Officer John Sculley led the company's Board of Directors to fire Jobs in 1985.
Jobs refused to allow this setback to end his business career. He soon founded his own company, dubbed NeXT, and used the opportunity to design a company that would offer customers a superior product. As Jay Elliot and William L. Simon observe in their book, The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation, Jobs was "keeping alive his vision of the future of the Macintosh. The NeXT computer was going to be the next generation Mac" (Elliot & Simon 117). Jobs' new company produced its first computer within three years and the new operating system developed at NeXT influenced the industry. NeXT was eventually acquired by Apple in 1996, a business deal that enabled Jobs to return to the company he founded, first as a consultant and later as the CEO.
For over a decade, Jobs continued to lead Apple. His tenure with the company ended when he stepped down in 2011 due to health problems. Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, from complications related to pancreatic cancer.
The evaluation of the life of Steve Jobs highlights three defining characteristics of his leadership style. First, Steve Jobs developed and maintained a vision throughout his career. Second, Jobs exuded a remarkably high level of charisma. Finally, Jobs emphasized precision, often cruelly dismissing those who failed to live up to his expectations.
To begin, Jobs' status as a visionary was evident early in his life. Wozniak was the engineer focused upon pushing the boundaries of what could be built. In contrast, Jobs tinkered with electronics while crafting a business vision that would guide both their careers. He had a vision "about the power of the computer to change people's lives" (Elliot & Simon 4). His vision focused upon the life-changing power of technology that seamlessly integrated into the lives of consumers. Jobs thought like a consumer and was able to identify a consumer's needs to inspire new features, options and products. His vision particularly focused upon user-friendly innovations that would accommodate an average user and did not require advanced expertise for optimal functioning.
Jobs didn't keep his vision as secret. He shared it with anyone who would listen. Jobs' ability to effectively communicate his vision helped him to build up his followers, first recruiting Wozniak and then recruiting loyal employees for Apple. One of the early marketing managers for Apple Computers, Trip Hawkins, described Jobs as having "an incredible ability to rally people towards some common cause by painting an incredibly glorious cosmic objective" (Gillam 47). Jobs didn't let his employees think that they were just designing a product in order to earn a profit and an income. Instead, he made them believe that they were positively contributing to the lives of their consumers by design products that made life better.
Jobs maintained his vision even when suffering career setbacks. When he was fired from Apple, Jobs carried that vision into the formation of his next company. "He was keeping alive his vision of the future of the Macintosh. The NeXT computer was going to be the next generation Mac" (Elliot & Simon 117). Steve's vision continued to guide him when he regained leadership at Apple and he guided the company through its development of revolutionary products like the iPad, iPod and the delivery of content through iTunes. All of these consumer-friendly technologies are consistent with Jobs' basic belief that technology could be designed to be functional, stylish and accommodating.
Jobs' vision of user-friendliness translated into a strong support for innovation. As a leader, Jobs innovated in how he treated his employees. For example, he organized his product-development team as a self-contained unit. Members included engineers, programmers, designers and writers who functioned largely removed from the rest of the company. This team-building approach encouraged personal relationships and accountability from all involved. "The upside of being part of a small product group, particularly when you may be working sixteen-hour days, is to have a comfortably close relationship with the others in the group. This builds accountability. It becomes more personal". Each member of the group was encouraged to excel and no one wanted to lag behind the others or risk holding back the team as a whole.
Steve Jobs' charisma was the second essential element of his leadership style. Reporter Joe Nocera had the opportunity to follow Steve Jobs for a week while he was running Apple and described Jobs as "arrogant, sarcastic, thoughtful, learned, paranoid and 'insanely' (to use one of his favorite words) charismatic" (1). When Steve offered presentations, he was able to use his charisma to inspire listeners. He essentially became the face of the company. The incredible impact of his charisma was evident in the proliferation of loyal Apple consumers that willingly wait in long lines to purchase every new Apple product as it is offered.
Steve's charisma was bolstered by the development of company policies that made employment at one of his company's enviable. "In what would later become a blueprint for Apple, Steve flattened hierarchies, provided generous benefits, reformed staffers as 'members' rather than 'employees,' and oversaw an open-plan facility that physically embodied what for him was a new way of working" (Elliot & Simon 177). Jobs wanted his team members to feel like what they were doing was important. He made them partners and challenged them to better themselves and push the boundaries of what they and their technology could do. The combination of his vision and his charisma led Jobs to command incredible loyalty from his employees. This loyalty was evident in the fact that nearly all of his product design team left Apple to join NeXT after Jobs' firing.
However, Jobs' charisma did not mean that he was always likeable. He did he pander to gain the loyalty of his followers. On the contrary, he demanded incredible precision from his employees. His exacting attitude risked outbursts that would humiliate the unfortunately target of his ire. "For those who believed in his vision, working for him could be an inspiring experience. However, Jobs tended to criticize or make fun of any person, idea, or action that did not fit his vision" (Gillam 49). Many business articles have discussed his willingness to excoriate those who failed to live up to his high expectations. At business meetings, he would criticize employees for their "bozo ideas" with impunity and he would "cut his staff to ribbons for putting out a product that failed to meet his standards" (Nocera 1). Jobs believed in devoting himself entirely to the task at hand and expected his employees to do the same.
Jobs' willingness to attack and criticize suggests a belief in the transformative power of conflict. He highly valued innovation and likely used conflict to promote creativity. Interpersonal conflict might drive away some weaker links but it would also motivate and drive the most brilliant of his employees, individuals who were committed to Jobs' vision and didn't want to let the team down.
This third aspect of Jobs' leadership style appears to contradict what has become conventional thinking regarding leadership theory. Jobs' vision might lead some to associate him with transformational leadership, yet his humiliating punishment of those who failed him appears more consistent with the concept of transactional leadership. Somehow, Jobs walked that fine line between encouragement and abuse, enabled by his charisma. He could be rude and condescending to those who failed to meet his expectations, yet his employees didn't abandon him. They recognized that they were working for a genius and a visionary. He motivated followers to do better and corrected them, cruelly, when they did not. Even when treating others so harshly, he didn't forfeit his charisma. Somehow, his larger-than-life persona insulated him from such damage. He was a charismatic despot.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, the leadership style of Steve Jobs is best categorized as situational. Jobs could be kind and he could be cruel. He could be strict and he could be relaxed. Jobs appeared to have an uncanny ability to understand people and how to motivate him.
However, Jobs' chameleon-like ability to defy easy categorization does not prevent the identification of defining leadership characteristics. Consistent in his leadership approach was his underlying vision, near limitless charisma and demand for precision. From a very young age, Jobs recognized that he could be very successful developing new technology that could change people's lives. He committed himself to that vision and motivated his employees to trust and follow him implicitly through his charisma and personal example. Jobs demanded much from others but he also devoted himself entirely to his mission. He never wavered from his vision, even when disgraced and fired. His willingness to humiliate and criticize those deemed unworthy was just another element of his commitment to excellence.
Works Cited
Eliot, Jay. & Simon, William L. The Steve Jobs way: iLeadership for a new generation. New York: Vanguard Press. Print.
Gillam, Scott. Steve Jobs: Apple & iPod wizard. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing Company. Print.
Nocera, Joe. "What makes Steve Jobs Great," The New York Times.
Background
Jobs' unique leadership style may be attributed, at least in part, to his individualist attitude and willingness to ignore convention while blazing his own trail. Jobs' individualism was evident in his atypical educational and business background. While widely known as a major business success, Jobs experienced his fair share of failures and setbacks. As a young man, he attended Homestead High School, one of the top college preparatory programs in the state of California. He enrolled in the class of John McCollum, a widely respected instructor of engineers who also taught Jobs' partner, Steve Wozniak. However, Jobs dropped out of McCollum's class because his "unique way of thinking" did not "mesh well in the class". Jobs impressed the other students with his charisma but preferred to tinker in his spare time to the more rigorous classroom setting.After graduating high school, Jobs attended Reed College, where he planned to study philosophy. However, after one semester, Jobs dropped out. He later called this decision, "one of the best decisions I ever made" (Gillam 26). After dropping out, Jobs remained on campus and persuaded a dean to allow him to audit classes. Freed from having to take certain courses to fulfill a degree, Jobs sat in on the classes that most interested in, gathering valuable knowledge as he contemplated his business future.
In business, Steve Jobs attained remarkable success but also suffered a major setback when he was fired from the company he helped build. Jobs achieved his initial business success through a partnership with Steve Wozniak, a neighborhood friend a few years Jobs' junior. When Wozniak developed a personal computer, Jobs immediately recognized its potential commercial value. The two men then formed their company, Apple Computers, in order to market Wozniak's design. Apple Computers enjoyed tremendous initial success, making both men wealthy, but then faltered under the pressure created by industry competitors. In particular, IBM "put a lot of pressure on Apple, and Steve Jobs, to create new products that could compete with IBM". After a few years of corporate struggles, Jobs suffered a public humiliation when a conflict with then Apple Chief Executive Officer John Sculley led the company's Board of Directors to fire Jobs in 1985.
Jobs refused to allow this setback to end his business career. He soon founded his own company, dubbed NeXT, and used the opportunity to design a company that would offer customers a superior product. As Jay Elliot and William L. Simon observe in their book, The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation, Jobs was "keeping alive his vision of the future of the Macintosh. The NeXT computer was going to be the next generation Mac" (Elliot & Simon 117). Jobs' new company produced its first computer within three years and the new operating system developed at NeXT influenced the industry. NeXT was eventually acquired by Apple in 1996, a business deal that enabled Jobs to return to the company he founded, first as a consultant and later as the CEO.
For over a decade, Jobs continued to lead Apple. His tenure with the company ended when he stepped down in 2011 due to health problems. Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, from complications related to pancreatic cancer.
Vision, Charisma and Precision: The Steve Jobs Leadership Way
The evaluation of the life of Steve Jobs highlights three defining characteristics of his leadership style. First, Steve Jobs developed and maintained a vision throughout his career. Second, Jobs exuded a remarkably high level of charisma. Finally, Jobs emphasized precision, often cruelly dismissing those who failed to live up to his expectations.
To begin, Jobs' status as a visionary was evident early in his life. Wozniak was the engineer focused upon pushing the boundaries of what could be built. In contrast, Jobs tinkered with electronics while crafting a business vision that would guide both their careers. He had a vision "about the power of the computer to change people's lives" (Elliot & Simon 4). His vision focused upon the life-changing power of technology that seamlessly integrated into the lives of consumers. Jobs thought like a consumer and was able to identify a consumer's needs to inspire new features, options and products. His vision particularly focused upon user-friendly innovations that would accommodate an average user and did not require advanced expertise for optimal functioning.
Jobs didn't keep his vision as secret. He shared it with anyone who would listen. Jobs' ability to effectively communicate his vision helped him to build up his followers, first recruiting Wozniak and then recruiting loyal employees for Apple. One of the early marketing managers for Apple Computers, Trip Hawkins, described Jobs as having "an incredible ability to rally people towards some common cause by painting an incredibly glorious cosmic objective" (Gillam 47). Jobs didn't let his employees think that they were just designing a product in order to earn a profit and an income. Instead, he made them believe that they were positively contributing to the lives of their consumers by design products that made life better.
Jobs maintained his vision even when suffering career setbacks. When he was fired from Apple, Jobs carried that vision into the formation of his next company. "He was keeping alive his vision of the future of the Macintosh. The NeXT computer was going to be the next generation Mac" (Elliot & Simon 117). Steve's vision continued to guide him when he regained leadership at Apple and he guided the company through its development of revolutionary products like the iPad, iPod and the delivery of content through iTunes. All of these consumer-friendly technologies are consistent with Jobs' basic belief that technology could be designed to be functional, stylish and accommodating.
Jobs' vision of user-friendliness translated into a strong support for innovation. As a leader, Jobs innovated in how he treated his employees. For example, he organized his product-development team as a self-contained unit. Members included engineers, programmers, designers and writers who functioned largely removed from the rest of the company. This team-building approach encouraged personal relationships and accountability from all involved. "The upside of being part of a small product group, particularly when you may be working sixteen-hour days, is to have a comfortably close relationship with the others in the group. This builds accountability. It becomes more personal". Each member of the group was encouraged to excel and no one wanted to lag behind the others or risk holding back the team as a whole.
Steve Jobs' charisma was the second essential element of his leadership style. Reporter Joe Nocera had the opportunity to follow Steve Jobs for a week while he was running Apple and described Jobs as "arrogant, sarcastic, thoughtful, learned, paranoid and 'insanely' (to use one of his favorite words) charismatic" (1). When Steve offered presentations, he was able to use his charisma to inspire listeners. He essentially became the face of the company. The incredible impact of his charisma was evident in the proliferation of loyal Apple consumers that willingly wait in long lines to purchase every new Apple product as it is offered.
Steve's charisma was bolstered by the development of company policies that made employment at one of his company's enviable. "In what would later become a blueprint for Apple, Steve flattened hierarchies, provided generous benefits, reformed staffers as 'members' rather than 'employees,' and oversaw an open-plan facility that physically embodied what for him was a new way of working" (Elliot & Simon 177). Jobs wanted his team members to feel like what they were doing was important. He made them partners and challenged them to better themselves and push the boundaries of what they and their technology could do. The combination of his vision and his charisma led Jobs to command incredible loyalty from his employees. This loyalty was evident in the fact that nearly all of his product design team left Apple to join NeXT after Jobs' firing.
However, Jobs' charisma did not mean that he was always likeable. He did he pander to gain the loyalty of his followers. On the contrary, he demanded incredible precision from his employees. His exacting attitude risked outbursts that would humiliate the unfortunately target of his ire. "For those who believed in his vision, working for him could be an inspiring experience. However, Jobs tended to criticize or make fun of any person, idea, or action that did not fit his vision" (Gillam 49). Many business articles have discussed his willingness to excoriate those who failed to live up to his high expectations. At business meetings, he would criticize employees for their "bozo ideas" with impunity and he would "cut his staff to ribbons for putting out a product that failed to meet his standards" (Nocera 1). Jobs believed in devoting himself entirely to the task at hand and expected his employees to do the same.
Jobs' willingness to attack and criticize suggests a belief in the transformative power of conflict. He highly valued innovation and likely used conflict to promote creativity. Interpersonal conflict might drive away some weaker links but it would also motivate and drive the most brilliant of his employees, individuals who were committed to Jobs' vision and didn't want to let the team down.
This third aspect of Jobs' leadership style appears to contradict what has become conventional thinking regarding leadership theory. Jobs' vision might lead some to associate him with transformational leadership, yet his humiliating punishment of those who failed him appears more consistent with the concept of transactional leadership. Somehow, Jobs walked that fine line between encouragement and abuse, enabled by his charisma. He could be rude and condescending to those who failed to meet his expectations, yet his employees didn't abandon him. They recognized that they were working for a genius and a visionary. He motivated followers to do better and corrected them, cruelly, when they did not. Even when treating others so harshly, he didn't forfeit his charisma. Somehow, his larger-than-life persona insulated him from such damage. He was a charismatic despot.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, the leadership style of Steve Jobs is best categorized as situational. Jobs could be kind and he could be cruel. He could be strict and he could be relaxed. Jobs appeared to have an uncanny ability to understand people and how to motivate him.
However, Jobs' chameleon-like ability to defy easy categorization does not prevent the identification of defining leadership characteristics. Consistent in his leadership approach was his underlying vision, near limitless charisma and demand for precision. From a very young age, Jobs recognized that he could be very successful developing new technology that could change people's lives. He committed himself to that vision and motivated his employees to trust and follow him implicitly through his charisma and personal example. Jobs demanded much from others but he also devoted himself entirely to his mission. He never wavered from his vision, even when disgraced and fired. His willingness to humiliate and criticize those deemed unworthy was just another element of his commitment to excellence.
Works Cited
Eliot, Jay. & Simon, William L. The Steve Jobs way: iLeadership for a new generation. New York: Vanguard Press. Print.
Gillam, Scott. Steve Jobs: Apple & iPod wizard. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing Company. Print.
Nocera, Joe. "What makes Steve Jobs Great," The New York Times.