Facebook - The great invention
Steve Jobs’ leadership styles
Y Thi Nhu Dang
Bristol University
I. Introduction
Some one once said that “Smart people learn from experience, but wise people learn from the experience of others”. To become a good leader, I’ve learnt a lot of things and experience from books, documentaries, films and so on written about great leaders such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and so on. In all of them, the one that interest me the most is Steve Jobs.
II. Steve Jobs’ leadership styles
Steven Paul Steve Jobs (February 24, 1995 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, marketer and inventor. He was also the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. He is widely known as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution.
Apple success is known under Steve Jobs Leadership. Though it is not easy to characterize Steve Jobs’ leadership style to any particular theories, in this paper, to evaluate his leadership style, two theories will be used: Transactional theory and Transformational theory.
Transformational leaders are charismatic and vision oriented. Leaders challenge followers to take greater ownership for their work, encourage their intellectual development, inspire and motivate them to higher levels of effectiveness.
In Jobs’ case, his transformational leadership style can be easily recognized. He had a clear vision about the future of the company was to invent products of the future. These products would be a breakthrough in the technology history and Apple would become a leading company in this major. He stated “If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow”
He often said “You just can’t ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new”. For that reason, he always encouraged his employees to “think different” to “make it great”. Specially, in hiring process, he
Y Thi Nhu Dang
Bristol University
I. Introduction
Some one once said that “Smart people learn from experience, but wise people learn from the experience of others”. To become a good leader, I’ve learnt a lot of things and experience from books, documentaries, films and so on written about great leaders such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and so on. In all of them, the one that interest me the most is Steve Jobs.
II. Steve Jobs’ leadership styles
Steven Paul Steve Jobs (February 24, 1995 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, marketer and inventor. He was also the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. He is widely known as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution.
Apple success is known under Steve Jobs Leadership. Though it is not easy to characterize Steve Jobs’ leadership style to any particular theories, in this paper, to evaluate his leadership style, two theories will be used: Transactional theory and Transformational theory.
Transformational leaders are charismatic and vision oriented. Leaders challenge followers to take greater ownership for their work, encourage their intellectual development, inspire and motivate them to higher levels of effectiveness.
In Jobs’ case, his transformational leadership style can be easily recognized. He had a clear vision about the future of the company was to invent products of the future. These products would be a breakthrough in the technology history and Apple would become a leading company in this major. He stated “If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow”
He often said “You just can’t ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new”. For that reason, he always encouraged his employees to “think different” to “make it great”. Specially, in hiring process, he
References: Natalie H. (2013). (2013 August 20 ). Six HR Leadership Lessons We Can Learn From Steve Jobs. Quantumworkplace. Retrieved from http://www.quantumworkplace.com/steve-jobs-leadership/ Anshul S. (2012). (2012 September 30). My Role Model Leader - Steve Jobs. Retrieved from http://nitieim18-cld-026-anshulsinha.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-role-model-leader.html