Transformational Leadership
Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change
Steve Jobs: The Face of Leadership
This paper examines how Steve Jobs brought about change in Apple due to his leadership. It looks at ways he has continually pursued new, successful ventures to benefit Apple. Also, it will show that Jobs has managed to figure out what customers want before they even realize it themselves. Additionally, it will review how he makes the hard choices and stands behind his decisions. Then, it will examine Jobs’ communication abilities and how he creates enthusiasm for upcoming products. Finally, it will illustrate the impact Jobs has made in the world of Apple.
Steve Jobs: The Face of Apple. Is it any wonder that he was named Fortune Magazine’s CEO of the Decade (Lashinsky, 2009)? As the co-founder of Apple, he and Steve Wozniak invented the Macintosh personal computer. This was just the beginning. After being removed from his position at Apple by a CEO he had sought out, Jobs created the NeXT Computer. Although it did not fulfill his personal ambitions, it was used in developing the original World Wide Web (Crunchbase, 2010). Apple then purchased NeXT and Jobs returned to Apple with the purchase. After his return to Apple the iPod was released, followed by iTunes, then the iPhone and soon will come the iCloud. Jobs has managed to develop products ahead of the desires of the market by spending “almost all his time internally with roughly a hundred experts in software, hardware, design, and the technologies of metal, plastic, and glass” (Conaty, B. and Charan, R., 2010). According to the same authors, he brings this group together on a weekly basis to review the products that they are working on and see what problems they may be having. A class in Wharton’s advanced management program, on discussing Steve Jobs, stated that he creates opportunities. That is a good evaluation of a man who has made creating the innovations of tomorrow look as easy as tic-tac-toe.
Steve Jobs: The Face of Leadership
This paper examines how Steve Jobs brought about change in Apple due to his leadership. It looks at ways he has continually pursued new, successful ventures to benefit Apple. Also, it will show that Jobs has managed to figure out what customers want before they even realize it themselves. Additionally, it will review how he makes the hard choices and stands behind his decisions. Then, it will examine Jobs’ communication abilities and how he creates enthusiasm for upcoming products. Finally, it will illustrate the impact Jobs has made in the world of Apple.
Steve Jobs: The Face of Apple. Is it any wonder that he was named Fortune Magazine’s CEO of the Decade (Lashinsky, 2009)? As the co-founder of Apple, he and Steve Wozniak invented the Macintosh personal computer. This was just the beginning. After being removed from his position at Apple by a CEO he had sought out, Jobs created the NeXT Computer. Although it did not fulfill his personal ambitions, it was used in developing the original World Wide Web (Crunchbase, 2010). Apple then purchased NeXT and Jobs returned to Apple with the purchase. After his return to Apple the iPod was released, followed by iTunes, then the iPhone and soon will come the iCloud. Jobs has managed to develop products ahead of the desires of the market by spending “almost all his time internally with roughly a hundred experts in software, hardware, design, and the technologies of metal, plastic, and glass” (Conaty, B. and Charan, R., 2010). According to the same authors, he brings this group together on a weekly basis to review the products that they are working on and see what problems they may be having. A class in Wharton’s advanced management program, on discussing Steve Jobs, stated that he creates opportunities. That is a good evaluation of a man who has made creating the innovations of tomorrow look as easy as tic-tac-toe.
References: "25 most powerful people in business." (n.d.). Retrieved 2011-06-04 from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0711/gallery.power_25.fortune/ Conaty, B. & Charan, R. (January, 2010). How Steve Jobs gets things done. Retrieved 2011-06-06 from http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/25/how-steve-jobs-gets-things-done/ Crunchbase. (2010). Steve Jobs. Retrieved on 2011-06-02 from http://www.crunchbase.com/person/steve-jobs/ Gallo, C. (May, 2011). Steve Jobs: Get rid of the crappy stuff. Retrieved on 2011-06-02 from http://blogs.forbes.com/carminegallo/2011/05/16/steve-jobs-get-rid-of-the-crappy-stuff/ "Jobs MacWorld" (2007). Retrieved 2011-06-04 from http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/library/applekeynote.html/ Lashinsky, A. (November, 2009). How jobs transformed Apple. Retrieved on 2011-06-05 from http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/04/technology/steve_jobs_ceo_decade.fortune/index2.htm Wiki. (n.d.). Retrieved on 2011-06-05 from the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_jobs#cite_note-69