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Middlesex University/ ICBT City campus, Sri Lanka BABM Batch 04 1

Steve Jobs

Who is a leader ?
The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals (Dubrin, 2007) The process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement (Buchanan & Hyczynski, 2004) , (Stodgil, 1950) Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves (Covey, 2006)
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Steve Jobs career path


1955- Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco 2006- Disney bought out Pixar 1974- He was hired as a technician for Atari From 1997 to 2010 Steve launched 10 products such as Apple 1, Apple11, Macintosh, Pixar, NeXT, ipod, iPhone, iPad etc

1976-He started to working on constructing new computer & named that company as Apple.
1985- Steve fired from the Apple because board of directors voted for the removal of Jobs from the company, due to internal politics 1986- Steve found Pixar 1989- Decided to start his own company, NeXT

2011Apple worlds most company

become valuable

2011- Steve steps down as Apple CEO

2011- Steve Jobs died at the age of 56.

1997- Jobs came back to Apple.

(Quinn, R, C, 2011)
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Types of Leadership
Charismatic leadership
Transactional leadership

Transformational leadership
Autocratic leadership Democratic leadership Situational leadership

Leadership characteristics of Steve Jobs


Innovative
Year 1976 1977 1984 Innovated product Created Apple 1, the first personal computer with no monitor, no mouse or key board Apple 11 was improved, & updated with a key board, monitor, new operating system Introduced Macintosh , the first personal computer with graphic interface and mouse, an efficient & easy to use substitute to the key board Pixar the animated film studio was launched, which won 26 academic awards Steve job found NeXT, a high end computer company Innovated the cube Launched ipod, which enabled to store, playback music & songs on its hard drive
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1986 1996 2000 2001

Year 2006 Launched MacBook laptop computer

Innovation which had all capabilities of a desktop

2007

Introduced the iphone, which could send and receive telephone calls, play movies, retrieve your e-mail, surf the net, and send and receive text messages
Introduced the iPad tablet which is thin, lightweight, touch screen interface, audio capability & internet connectivity

2010

(authorSTREAM, 2013)

Direct resources to most important areas during change


In 1997 Apple was close to bankruptcy, & Steve realizes a change is required Steve jobs realises, having just so many products as 300 doesnt satisfy customer, if organizations

products does not help customers reach their


dreams & condense into 10 Therefore Steve Jobs, stopped production of

products that were less demanded by customers, &


concentrated & used the resources to research & develop products, that would create a difference in

individuals living style

(Nguyen, A, 2012)

Practice supportive leadership and empower team members.


Making four employees in charge of Mac hardware, iPhone hardware engineering, world wide marketing, & operations indicates empowerment (Empowerment)

Conducting three hour meeting weekly & providing supportive


leadership & guidance to employees

(ragni, 2010)
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Create and communicate vision


Creating a clear two way communication path, ensuring all employees are clear with the vision (rangi, 2010)

Bring about positive large scale change Creating a large positive change in the communication industry by

innovating products suich as iPod, iPhone. iPad (authorSTREAM,


2013)

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Keep management informed about the urgency to change


Steves positive skill with this regard could be proven, as if the management was not informed about urgency change, Apples journey so far would have been an unsuccessful, as it operates in a complex & dynamic market Creating value Present CEO of Apple Mr. Tim Cook stating Our values

originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation
of Apple (Masters, A, 2012), highlights the value Steve created within Apple
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Takes personal responsibility for what is delivered to the customer Ex: Takes personal responsibility, for how products feel to the user, therefore unlike other companies pays special consideration into the finishing aspect of the product & consider it as a core section of the

production process (Inc, 2013)

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Positive & negative leadership qualities of Steve Jobs


Referred to as,

Innovative & creative Effective communication Good negotiator Confident Visionary Target oriented

A proud & personalized person, & who cares about reputation range A tempered individual who yells at employees & board members in public. However instead of acting in that manner, on a personal view, team believes that Steve should have spoken & given instruction to employees in a personal level.
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Leadership traits of Steve Jobs


Emotional intelligence (Team work & collaboration) Ex: Once Steve jobs said you have to also let others make decisions & run by ideas (rangi, 2010) & stated Its not winning & getting employees agreed to what I say, but its all about winning good ideas (rangi, 2010) Courage, self confidence & self control

Ex: Openly saying what to be said, & saying no & rejecting


innovative ideas of employees, if it had a possibility to plodder the users convenience (Nguyen, A, 2012)
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Emotional intelligence (Transparency) Communicating openly & frequently with management, & discussing

problems, solutions & developments that relates to Apple vision &


success (rangi, 2010)

Adoptability & flexibility


Steve Jobs quick adoptability to changing needs of customers busy life style by recently innovating the ipads, ipods & I phones shows the adoptability & flexibility skills (authorSTREAM, 2013)

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Passion Ex: Steve Jobs always did what he loved & had a passion in. Ex: Steve

had a passion in studying calligraphy in college, which later enabled to


use the skills learned in developing the beautiful fonts for the Mac (Stanford university, 2005)

Emotional intelligence (Initiative) Steve took the initiative in leading & restructuring Apple in 1997 from its bankruptcy situation (Kunal Agrawal, 2009)
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Internal focus of Control The statement made by Steve sometimes when you innovate, you

make mistakes. Its best to admit them quickly, and get on with
improving your other innovations (alltime10s, 2011) highlights the confidence Steve has that he could control what needs to be done, &

also work without blaming others for work not done.

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Steve Jobs Leadership skills Scores


Criteria Innovator Figure Head Scores 10/10 9 /10

Spokes person 10/10 Negotiator & persuader 9/10 Coach / Mentor Team builder Visionary Entrepreneur Confidence Creativity Total 7/10 9/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 94/100
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Note : Please refer Appendix Pg. no 8 9 for justification on scores assigned

Cognitive factors & leadership ( WICS model)

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Cognitive factors (WICS), with reference to Steve Jobs


Creativity- Designs products, by thinking both as a marketer & a consumer. Believed in simplicity & ensured user friendly products, enabling people more enjoyment of their complicated lives (Nguyen, A, 2012) Wisdom- Steve jobs wisdom could be highlighted by the statement made,

Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could ever happened to me.
The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. If freed me to enter one of the most

creative periods of my life (Stanford commencement speech, 2005)


Intelligence- He evaluate ideas within context
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Leadership motives of Steve Jobs


Tenacity- was determined to Strong work ethics Steve Jobs believe that the group work is worth while. And Jobs had a overcome obstacles. Ex:

Although Steve was fired from


Apple in 1985, Steve did not get

strong work ethics

discouraged (Quinn, R, C, 2011) Effective Leader Power motive Steve Drive and achievement Steve had a great determination & having a high temper & yelling achieved many innovation in his career path (authorSTREAM, at employees could be seen to a certain extent as keeping power to himself
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2013)

Summary of Steve Jobs leadership qualities


Focus & has a clear vision Innovative & creative

Supportive leadership & gets employee involvement in decision


making Effective communication

Responsible & confident in whats been done


Brings large scale change

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Conclusion
Steve Jobs is an Transformational leader Evidence for the conclusion, Steve Jobs focused & made a clear transformation in Apple from where it was & where it is now, & Steve also motivated employees to think about each

other, work as a team, & work as a team together to achieve Apple vision.
The statement made by present CEO of Apple Mr.Tim Cook (slide: 11) shows the inspiration Steve jobs has made upon the organization, which has still

resulted in attracting the best skills to Apple


Steve's leadership & positive performance, has resulted in employee motivation, morale & commitment, resulting in high employee performance,

enabling Apple to be in todays market position


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References
Agrawal, K (2009) Transformational Leadership (APPLE) [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/KunalAgrawal/stevejobs [Accessed on: 06//03/2013] alltime10s (2011) 10 Inspiring Steve Jobs Quotes R.I.P [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FahSoMJRXd0 [Accessed on: 07//03/2013] authorSTREAM (2013) ten products that define steve jobs career [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/niharika031984-1177983-ten-products-thatdefine-steve-jobs-career/ [Accessed on: 05//03/2013] Bloomberg (1998) Excerpts from In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations with the Visionaries of the Digital World Steve Jobs: Hiring the Best Is Your Most Important Task [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/news/coladvice/book/bk981106.htm [Accessed on: 08/03/2013]
Covey, S, R (2006) Servant leadership: Use your voice to serve others. Leadership Excellence, 23 (12), 5-6

Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
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Guardian News (2013) Steve Jobs's greatest legacy: persuading the world to pay for content [Online news article] Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2011/aug/28/steve-jobs-legacy-apple-ceo [Accessed on: 08/03/2013] HUCZYNSKI, A.A and BUCHANAN.D.A (2007), 'Organizational Behaviour' 6th ed. England: Pearson Education Limited Inc (2013) Steve Jobs, Apple Computer, Pixar Americas 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs [Online Article] Retrieved from: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040401/25jobs.html [Accessed on: 06//03/2013] Masters, A (2012) Apple pays tribute to Steve Jobs on the anniversary of his death [Online article] Retrieved from: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/10/05/apple-pays-tribute-tosteve-jobs-on-the-anniversary-of-his-death/ [Accessed on: 05//03/2013]
Morgan, N ( 2010) Steve Jobs's Disastrous iPhone 4 Press Conference [Online Article] Retrieved from: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/07/steve_jobss_disastrous_iphone.html [Accessed on: 07//03/2013]

Nguyen, A (2012) 7 secrets to success of Steve jobs Successmindset.us [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGd2Nl6Xn4k [Accessed on: 08//03/2013]
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Quinn, R, C (2011) An Apple History: Remembering Apple CEO Steve Jobs [Online Article] Retrieved from: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2011/10/09/an-apple-historyremembering-apple-ceo-steve-jobs/id=19779/ [Accessed on: 07//03/2013]
rangi (2010) Steve Jobs talks about managing people [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f60dheI4ARg [Accessed on: 07//03/2013] Riggio, R, E (2012) Cutting-Edge Leadership. The best in current leadership research and theory, from cultivating charisma to transforming your organization [Online Article] Retrieved from: http://start.funmoods.com/results.php?f=4&q=www.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcutti ng-edge-leadership%2F201202%2Fwhy-steve-jobs-is+-leadershipnightmare&a=ironpub&chnl=ironpub&cd=2XzuyEtN2Y1L1QzutDtDtDtD0FtDzyyE0A0Bz zzyzzyEtAtCtN0D0Tzu0StBtAzztN1L2XzutBtFtCtFtCtFtAtCtB&cr=544953546 [Accessed on: 04/03/2013] Stanford University (2005) Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Address (with intro by President John Hennessy [WWW] Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_ptbiPoXM [Accessed on: 06//03/2013]
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