Describe the leadership philosophy and how it plays out in treatment of others.

         Steve Jobs and his Apple co-founder and early friend who no longer works for the company, Steve Wozniak hold the philosophy that one should work at what he or she is good at in life. Eventually it will have value” (D’Orio, 2006) and this is the same philosophy that extends beyond the founders into the foundational elements of the company, especially as it exists under the leadership of Steve Jobs. He is driven by a passion for the company that is unparalleled and expects this same level of deep commitment from his staff. “Apple requires a special kind of workforce. The place is divided by product but also by function…collaboration is key. So is a degree of perfectionism. Apple hires people who are never satisfied. A designer has to be a borderline fanatic to care about the curve of a screw on the underside of a MacBook Air or the apparent weightlessness of the tiny door that hides all of its connectors” (Morris, 2008, p. 70 ) and they stress that emotion is a big part of this as well.

This philosophy even extends to the consumer, which is a definite break from other products on the market. For example, at the “genius bar” at a Apple store, ‘geniuses’ earn their tides—they are hand-picked by the company and receive intensive training at the Cupertino headquarters…the company also offers extensive, one-on-one training on hardware and software, along with free daily workshops” (iRetail, 2008, p. 13). The consumers, through this free and open process, are invited to step into this world of “ultra-knowledge” and engage in the same perfectionist drive for more and endless information so that they, as users, can be “experts” on their own devices. This passion extends—from Jobs himself, to those whom he hires, to the consumer.

What career milestones have contributed to his leadership development?

         It would be something of an understatement to suggest that Steve Jobs has weathered some mighty storms. He is, after all, a man who was eventually let go from a company he founded and probably had no idea at all that he would be called back to head the company.“In 1985, after riding wealth and power at Apple Computer, Jobs lost control of the company that he co-founded in his garage with Steve Wozinak. Only after a most unprofitable interlude at NeXT computer did Jobs redeem himself through his association with Pixar and return to Apple in 1997” (McKean, 2003, p. 10). Some have suggested that this firing from Apple allowed him to move on to different pursuits and actually developed his leadership and innovation skills. “Steve Jobs was prepared to start over at Pixar, and he was ready to start over again at Apple upon his return. He never lost his vision. He never lost his drive. He never let power go to his head—Steve Jobs is a real power player and real power players have resilience” (Dilenschneider, 2008, p. 8).

 

 What values does he espouse in leadership endeavors?

 Hard work and self-motivation are two frequent themes that emerge in discussions about Steve Jobs and his ideas about leadership. In 1989, well in advance to his involvement with the “revised” version of Apple as a multimedia giant and before his interaction with Pixar, Jobs saw the key to success as continued, exhaustive research and development and the foundation underlying this most crucial factor was in quality self-motivated people to front the efforts. The interview, which mostly concerned the development of the NeXT platform (which would later turn into the Mac OS X) centered also on Jobs and his leadership strategy. He said that with budgeting aside, “We can have the best products and we can have the best manufacturing and we can have the best strategy; because that doesn’t depend on scale, it depends on people, commitment, and hard work” (Jobs, Denning, & Frenkel, 1989, p. 441). This sentiment is echoed constantly in interviews and rehashing of product and press releases from Jobs. The commitment to finding and retaining self-motivated and driven people who share in a similar vision is at the heart of his leadership philosophy. Interestingly, he seems to say that once he finds these rare, great people to work with and share his vision, he takes a “hands off” approach and tries to step back and let their own self-driven motivation take over.

 What is the organizational culture he typically creates in organizations he leads?

 A 1989 interview with Steve Jobs revealed a work ethic (for himself and in terms of his expectations of others) that has remained consistent until present day reports of what it is like to work with the Apple CEO. When asked the question, “how do you get them [all employees—regardless of position] to work all those hours in a day,” (Denning and Frenkel, 1989, p. 440) Jobs responded with a characteristic answer about motivation and management. He stated, “You don’t get them to work all those hours. You try to get them to take vacations. Very, very good people are self-motivated. You do not need to manage them. You need to lead them and you need to give them the tools to interact with the rest of the organization” (p. 440).  What he seeks to build and maintain is a core of people who are not content to do their job well, but who are immensely talented and can be left alone to innovate on their own within the more general vision of Apple.

With this important matter of self-motivation and innovation at the heart of the more general organizational culture of Apple, one should note how Apple is unlike any other technology company simply due to these aspects of its operation. Many are quick to point out that in terms of leadership in the realm of a technological company, Jobs and his sense of innovation and emphasis on creativity is in stark contrast to competitors. For instance, Microsoft tries to product ‘good enough’ products that can also serve as industry platforms and help bring cheap and powerful computing to the masses” (Cusumano, 2008, p. 22).

 What are some of the deficiencies or weaknesses he has exhibited?

 When defining the character traits of Steve Jobs as a leader in business and development, there are few weak adjectives to be found. He has been characterized as everything from a clever rogue to a savage egomaniac and all points in between but again, the characterizations are never steady or dull. Steve Jobs is a remarkably charismatic individual and is dedicated to vision, even if those visions blind him to all else around him at times, which it appears may be the case.

Some writers posit the idea that while many companies found strength in taking an allied stance against a competitor, under Steve Jobs, the leadership style and mission behind Apple was to improve society through a product. “Steve Jobs inspired the highly dedicated culture of Apple’s glory days by building ‘insanely great products’ that could liberate people’s creative energy and transform society” (Rich, 1998, p. 44). To best tie these ideas together, some of these ideas are crystallized when Jobs states, “there’s a very clear link between the clarity of your vision and the people you can attract to make it happen. And I think people forget that. Sometimes when people think they should be more conservative, they forget the impact that it will have on the people they can attract; it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy sometimes. If you don’t go for the best thing, you almost widen the gap” (Jobs, Denning, &Frenkel, 1989, p. 439).

References

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Hensley, D. (2007). Top trumps among brand CEOs. Brand Strategy, no. 210, 30-31

McKean, K. (2003). The Trials of Jobs. InfoWorld, 25(32), 10-10.

Montgomery, C. A. (2008). Putting leadership back into strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 54-60.

Morris, B., &  Levinstein, L. (2008). WHAT MAKES APPLE GOLDEN.Fortune, 157(5), 68-72.

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