Leadership Tips from Apple CEO Steve Jobs - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Leadership Tips from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Answer: About Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs was Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Apple Inc. He was born on 24th February 1955 in San Francisco. He co-founded Apple computers in 1976 with Steve Woznaik. Jobs enrolled in Reed College after school but dropped out after 6 months. In 1976 when job was 21 years old Apple computers was started in a Garage. Steve Jobs and Steve Woznaik together revolutionized the computer industry by innovating gadgets like iPod, iPad and iPhone, which became part of everyday life of people. He died on 5th October 2011 in Palo Alto due to pancreatic Cancer(Biography.com, 2017). His Strengths Steve Jobs was an amazing salesperson and had the talent of anticipating what consumer wants. He would then develop and design such a product and market it in such a way that both existing and new customers would feel the need of buying Apples products. He had the ability to develop great teams and he also ensured his team performed beyond their limits to accomplish high standards of software and hardware. It was his vision to design technology which can be used by those who themselves are not technologists and using his salesmanship he convinced people to believe in his vision. He had very strong imagination. He envisioned products like iPod, iPad and iPhone which eventually changed the way people communicate work and live their lives. He had the ability to design and develop technology products which changed the world. He aimed at developing innovative and interactive designs and insisted that these designs be absolutely perfect. This gave Apple competitive edge and contributed in developing Apples brand(Himmel, 2013). His Weaknesses Task Oriented. Jobs was very task oriented. Organizations performance was given more importance than employees feelings. His drive for excellence was so high that he did not hesitated in delivering blunt criticisms to his employees. Steve Jobs was too proud to accept criticism and underestimated Apples competitors like IBM. Due to his inability to accept criticism he would turn a discussion in confrontation, this in turn discouraged others to voice their opinion. But when he came back to Apple in 1985, he had made efforts to work on this weakness and developed the ability to consider the ideas of others and reshape his goals in case of any complications. Steve Jobs stole ideas of others and also accepted it openly. In 1979 Jobs visited Xerox where he saw a prototype of a Mouse. He was amazed with the idea of a device which could move the pointer on screen to select menus. He asked his team to develop a device which is sturdier and costs less. He also developed Mac computers with inspiration from GUI he saw at Xerox(May, 2016). Challenges Faced by Steve Jobs After finishing his high school he enrolled in Reed College, Portland. But he dropped out after six months and took calligraphy classes because he thought his education was too expensive for his middle class parents(Linn, 2011). In 1984 Steve Jobs introduced Macintosh as a home computer but it was too expensive for the target audiences. So, Jobs tried to target it to corporate clients with features like less memory and no networking capabilities Mac was not accepted by the American corporate. As a result of this, Jobs was ousted from board of directors by CEO John Sculley, whom Jobs only had hired. By 1985, Steve Jobs sold his share of Apple stocks and resigned. Product Failures: In 1985 Apple discontinued Lisa Computer due to poor sells and faced failure of its Macintosh PC. As a result, Jobs was ousted from his position as head of Macintosh Division. Jobs found Next computers after leaving Apple in 1985 but Next also flopped and Apple acquired its software division in 1997. Powermac G4 Cube introduced in July 2000 was an highly appreciated innovation from apple but it failed because it could not find market with a price tag of $1600. In 2004, Steve Jobs announced about his illness through an email. At the launch event of iPhone his appearance had diminished notably. In 2009 Jobs took a medical leave of about six months. He underwent a liver transplant. All this time he continued to be CEO of Apple Inc. but in August 2011 he stepped down at CEO as he felt he could no longer carry on his duties. In October the same year he passed away at an age of 56. Leadership Lessons from Steve Jobs Innovation is the Key: Jobs believed in developing innovative and interactive devices to be used by everyone, especially those who are not Technologists themselves. He always looked for opportunities to develop devices which are ahead of its time. People used to burn CDs on their personal computers to save on-line content. Jobs realized that Mac did not record CDs. So, instead of adding the plain feature to enable CD writing in Mac, he developed iTunes software and revolutionized the online music market. Nothing is Impossible: During the trial run of iPhone it was noticed that the plastic screen gets scratched easily. So, it was decided that the plastic screen will be replaced with Gorilla glass developed by Corning. Gorilla glass is scratch resistant glass developed through a chemical process. Cornings CEO Wendell Weeks was asked to deliver a shipment of gorilla glass in 6 months. Weeks told Jobs that it was impossible as they have stopped manufacturing gorilla glass and now manufacture LCD displays. Jobs insisted on Weeks to manufacture and deliver gorilla glass in 6 months. Weeks called a meeting of Managers at Kentucky facility of Cornings and converted the LCD displays to Gorilla Glass and delivered it in 6 months. Hire Smart people: Steve Jobs hiring principle was very simple Hire Smart people and let them tell you what to do. He believed in hiring smart people who know their work well. Succession Planning: Tim Cook current CEO of Apple joined the company in 1998 and was groomed by Jobs in preparation to lead(Kalla, 2012). Conclusion In this report, strengths, weakness and challenges faced by jobs were discussed. Finally, the lessons todays leaders can learn from Jobs leadership style are enumerated. Steve Jobs was a Charismatic personality and with his able leadership took Apple from bankruptcy to heights of success, twice. Bibliography Biography.com, 2017. Steve Jobs. [Online] Available at: https://www.biography.com/people/steve-jobs-9354805 [Accessed 10 January 2018]. Himmel, R., 2013. What Personality Traits Made Steve Jobs Successful? [Online] Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/answer/226410 [Accessed 11 January 2018]. Kalla, S., 2012. 10 Leadership Tips from Steve Jobs. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/susankalla/2012/04/02/10-leadership-tips-from-steve-jobs/#599a6ce4667f [Accessed 11 January 2018]. Linn, A., 2011. What Steve Jobs Taught us: Its OK to Fail. [Online] Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/44278117/ns/business-us_business/t/what-steve-jobs-taught-us-its-ok-fail/#.WlcKYa6WbIU [Accessed 11 January 2018]. May, M.E., 2016. Why Coming Up With Original Ideas Is Actually Easier for Your Brain. [Online] Available at: https://www.inc.com/matthew-e-may/why-steve-jobs-was-so-proud-to-steal.html [Accessed 11 January 2018].