Steve Jobs

The leadership style of Steve Jobs can hardly be alighted with the theories found in the
management books. From the first sight his approach might not seem very effective, however, the
fact that Apple is one the most successful companies in the world suggests that there are exceptions
from the rules, and phenomena that cannot be studied.
Steven Jobs started his career very early. Apple Company was founded in 1976, when Jobs
was only years 21 old (Isaacson, 2011, 120). It is, also, worth mentioning, that prior to that he
dropped out from the Reed University, but still would occasionally attend some of the courses.
However, leadership or managerial classes were not of his interest. Due to this fact or, maybe, just
aside of it, his leadership style was very different from the traditional approach.
Leadership style of Steve Jobs was to the biggest extend defined by his personal qualities. Steve
was extremely emotional, he would scream at the workers when was not satisfied with the quality
of their work. He, also, could start crying and throw a fit when was disatsfied. For example, right
when Apple Company was established in 1976 one of the administrative formalities was to assign
each employee a bank card. Steve has got a card #2 while CEO Mike Scott was given card #1 , and,
of course, he was not happy with this fact, so he started hysteric which ended up with tears, to calm
him down bank compromised to make card no. 0. This is just one of the examples that exposes the
emotional character of Steve Jobs, and shows how such small things could ruffle him.
Steve, also, was a perfectionist, and this fact has certainly influenced the way he managed
his company. Steve demanded that everything should be done perfectly. He believed that the
product will be successful only in case if customer sees it fully complete. Due to this fact Steve
would delay the releases of some products. Just as he said: Apple would postpone the release date
and work on the improvements, while other companies would compromise and let it be. That is
one of the things would set Apple apart from most of the companies (Isaacson, 2011, 238). First
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Apple computer Mac became extremely popular, even considering the fact that it was released 16
months after the set date (Isaacson, 2011, 238). This is a perfect example that shows how Steve Jobs
hated to compromise and was very passionate about what he was doing. He explained to everybody:
The computer is not ready, until it appears on a shelf in the store (Isaacson, 2011, 239). Later on
this rule was applied to all Apple products.
Another thing worth saying about Steve is that he was micromanaging Apple, meaning that
he wanted to control every aspect of the business, starting from the top and going to the very tactic
choices. For example choosing music for the TV ad and the food served in Apples cafeteria
(McInerney, 2011).
Another strong aspect of his way of leadership is ability to focus on the priorities and leave
aside all the minor details. Steve has an ability to choose what is really important, set the priorities
for the team. When he came back to Apple in 1997, the company was working on many different
projects, among the first things he did he stopped a few project and narrowed down the focus to
three products he saw as prospective ones (Isaacson, 2011, 501).
Despite the fact the Steve Jobs manipulative, he, also, was very charismatic. When needed
he would use his charisma to persuade partners to accept his idea.
There is one aspect about Steve Jobs style that is hard to call either weakness or strength as
from the first sight it calls for the negative associations, however, on the other side, it has proved
very effective. This aspect is authoritarian leadership approach (Chaudhuri, 2012). Steve controlled
every aspect of the production, and especially design. The product had to be exactly the way he saw
it, and if the engeeniers would say it is impossible to build, Steve would turn on his charisma and
make them try to do it. At the end result the Apple products would completely match Steves vision.
Another thing about Apple is that it was basically Steves company, and he ran it the way he
wanted. One of the examples is when the Iphone 4 was in the development process Steve and the
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engenieers got into the clash about the metal ribbon that was supposed to go around the phone.
Steve was really into the glass and metal combination, and it served him as the example of
simplicity and excelence. Therefore, the desing of the phone was really in to his likening, and
especially the metal riboon that runs around the phones body. However, once Steve showed the
way the phone should look to the engineers they totally refused doing it, just because it is again
physics. The metal ribbon would block the antenna signal, and this is a simple physics law that can
not be abandond (Isaacson, 2011, 553). However, such explanation did not please Steve Jobs, so he
gave then one month to work on the problem. Just after thirty days they came up with the
revolutionary solution, the metal ribbon will actually be an antenna of the phone. This is only of the
example when Steve would demand excellence and total devotion.
Another double-sided aspect of his leadership was the fact that he saw things only in black
and white. He commented on somebodys performance or idea as either outstanding or thats
stupid. However, sometimes he would switch his opinion, but there would never be steps in
between. This kind of approach would at the same time destroy somebody or motivate. However, in
a long run this method resulted in the crew of always motivated and striking for excellence Apple
employees.
Steve Jobs was always seeking for innovations. He wanted Apple to create the best products,
and innovative products. He saw the future, and the change he could bring. As the result of Steves
hunger to innovation the computers are personal and easy in use, phones have multitouch display,
we can change the song with the help of spinning wheel on out Ipod, and store all our files,
including music, video and phone on the ICloud.
People who have ever worked with Jobs have their own opinions about him, ones thought of
him as a great leader who can motivate and make you realize your full potential, while other would
just close down from Steves pouring emotions. Steve Jobs was not the one who would care about
the feelings of other, he knew what he wanted from his workers, and made them do it without
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considering their emotions. He would yell at people and tell them what he thinks instead of looking
for the nice words to make the pill sweeter. For the most part he was using methods that were
completely opposite from ethical, however, if they say that the methods justify the result, there is
nothing that Steve Jobs can be blamed for.

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Works Cited
CHAUDHURI, A. (2012, April 26). Authoritarian leadership, the secret behind Steve Jobs success!
- Arindam Chaudhuri, Editor-in-chief, The Sunday Indian - The Sunday Indian. Today
English Newspaper Update Headlines India - The Sunday Indian Online Magazine.
Retrieved September 21, 2012, from
http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/authoritarian-leadership-the-secret-behind-steve-
jobs-success/33963/ (CHAUDHURI, 2012)
McInerney, Sarah . "Steve jobs management and leadership style."Sydney Morning Herald -
Business & World News Australia | smh.com.au. N.p., 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/management/steve-jobs-an-unconventional-leader-
20111007-1lcmo.html>. (McInerney, 2011)
Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print. (Isaacson, 2011)