Steve Jobs: A Visionary Leader

This report explores the leadership style of Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. It discusses his sources of inspiration, how he dealt with managers and employees, and his vision for the company. Lessons that can be learned from his leadership approach are also highlighted.

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Organisational Behaviour

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................2
Steve Jobs: A Visionary Leader...................................................................................................3
Sources of drawing inspiration or ideas.....................................................................................3
Dealing with managers and employees.....................................................................................4
Vision of the leader....................................................................................................................5
Lessons to be learned from the leader......................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Leadership plays a crucial role in generating a competitive advantage for business by
ensuring that the corporation is able to effectively conduct its business operations.
Successful leaders assist in launching new products that disrupt the industry, discover new
processes, make customers happy and take risks in the business for innovation (Kaynak and
Darling, 2013). Without the contribution of effective leaders, it is difficult for companies to
effectively conduct their business operations in order to sustain their future growth even in
adverse market conditions. In this report, Steve Jobs is selected as a business person who
had a great influence as a leader in the business world. Steve Jobs was the co-founder and
CEO of Apple Incorporation which is currently the most valued company across the globe.
This report will evaluate the sources from which Steve Jobs draw his inspiration or ideas and
analyse how he deal with managers and employees. The vision of Steve Jobs will be
discussed in this report along with lessons which can be about him as a leader.

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Steve Jobs: A Visionary Leader
Steve Jobs was an American businessman and technology visionary who is best known as
the co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Apple Incorporation. He was born on
February 24, 1955, and he was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs and Clara Jobs. Steve
was interested in electronics because his father demonstrates him how to take apart and
rebuild electronic items such as televisions and radios (Isaacson, 2012). Jobs attended high
school in Cupertino, California where he met Bill Fernandez and Steve Wozniak. Jobs
attended Reed College in Portland Oregon where he dropped out after six months and spent
the next 18 months studying different classes including calligraphy. These small incidents
shaped the leadership skills of Steve Jobs and contributed to the success of Apple. Jobs
started Apple in 1976 when Wozniak invented Apple I computer in the garage of Steve
Jobs’s parents (Yoffie and Cusumano, 2015).
Sources of drawing inspiration or ideas
The life incidents and experiences of Steve Jobs were the main sources of drawing
inspiration and ideas in the business. Steve Jobs was heavily influenced by the “simplicity” of
monks and gurus, and he even went to India in order to learn life lessons from them. Steve
preferred simplicity in operations, and he believes that people should have a personal
connection with their electronic devices (Lunenburg, 2012). These ideas later shown in the
computers designed by Apple, for example, the design of Macintosh which was hugely
popular and the mouse which can be used on any plane surface. Apple is known for
developing devices which are simple to use and easy to understand by its customers. For
example, Apple made a computer which enables its users to change the font type which was
a small change; however, it becomes very popular between users, and later all the other
corporations adopted this feature in their devices as well. Steve Jobs got the idea of
introducing beautiful fonts in computers based on the calligraphy classes which he took
during his time in the college (Venkatraman, 2017). At that time, the class of calligraphy was
considered as a waste of time; however, it later became the key factor which separated the
products of Apple from its competitors and ultimately generating a competitive advantage.

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Steve Jobs has created a separate team of engineers to work on the project of Macintosh
because he believed that new ideas come from working together. He used to host parties
for these employees and enjoy with them in order to build strong relations between them
which enable them to work together to achieve common organisational goals. He was
passionate about his projects, and he prefers to focus only on a few products at a single
time. When he came back in Apple on July 9, 1997, he discontinued most of its products in
order to increase the focus of the company on a small range of products which leads to
innovation (Edwards, 2012). It shows that his source of inspiration was dedication on
relevant products which he wanted to make rather than focus on profit maximisation. Steve
Jobs was not afraid to take risks in the business, and he always take calculated risks which
enable him to lead Apple in the right direction, for example, the decided to work on the
project of iPod even when Apple was making a lot of money from the sale of its computer
since he was passionate about this project. This idea comes to his mind because he was
frustrated by using his Sony Walkman (Adner, 2012). The introduction of iPod disrupted the
music industry and opened new business opportunities for Apple which shows how great
Steve Jobs was as a leader.
Dealing with managers and employees
While dealing with managers and employees, Steve Jobs was brutally honest, and he
encouraged them to give their honest opinion as well. In meetings, Steve Jobs did not make
feedback an optional question; instead, for him, it was a demand for every meeting, and
each employee was responsible for answering. It promotes engagement between the
employees and managers and also positive criticism which enables the company to stay on
track (Heracleous and Klaering, 2014). Although Steve Jobs was not patient at the beginning
of this career with employees and managers and he was known for firing them on small
mistakes; however, he becomes more patient over his career. He used to host parties at his
beach house for employees who were working in similar projects to promote positive
relationships between them. At the same time, he was brutally honest about their work,
and he did not fear to criticise their work in front of them.
Steve Jobs did not show sympathy to employees when it comes to work, and he was known
for calling them in unusual hours to discuss business issues. While meeting with employees

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and managers, he always asked them about what is working and what is not working in the
company and what solutions do they offer to address these issues (Yu, 2013). It shows that
he promoted employee engagement in the workplace and encouraged employees to be
honest. Although Steve Jobs was a strict leader; however, he also goes out of his way to help
employees in unexpected ways. Steve Jobs helped his employees by addressing their health
needs and recommending doctors to them in order to help them in their life (Steinwart and
Ziegler, 2014). He wanted to change the world, and he ensured that other members of the
company follow his vision as well.
Vision of the leader
The vision of Steve Jobs was to develop computers for everyone, and he sparked the PC
revolution and made Apple Incorporation an icon of American business. Steve Jobs wanted
to bring simplicity to electronic devices and focus on developing those devices which a large
number of customers use. The vision of Steve Jobs inspires Apple’s breakthrough
innovations and building a team of employees who are highly talented and skilled (Kane,
2015). Steve Jobs wanted to disrupt the personal computer, smartphone and music industry
by launching products which are aesthetically pleasing and efficient devices which enable
their users to develop great things. He focused on small little details in these devices which
no one else cared about in order to ensure that the company builds the greatest product in
the industry. Due to this vision and high discipline of Steve Jobs, Apple became the market
leader in consumer electronics, software and smartphone industry. The company became
the first ever technology company to generate a market valuation of $1 trillion which is a
major milestone (Salinas, 2018). This milestone has been achieved by the company based on
the vision of Steve Jobs which guides the actions and decisions of employees and managers
in Apple.
Steve Jobs always push for perfection, and he only tolerates ‘A’ players in the company
(Isaacson, 2012). When it comes to the achievement of goals, he put products before profits
to ensure that Apple is building devices based on the demand of customers and with
perfection. The leadership approach of Steve Jobs was focused on bending reality, and he
pushed his team in order to achieve his vision by any means possible. A good example is the
development of iPod; Steve was frustrated by the Sony Walkman which he used because it

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was bulky, aesthetically unpleasing and it only stored a limited number of songs. Steve Jobs
built a team of employees, and he told them that his vision is to store one thousand songs in
his pocket. At that time, it was an impossible task to achieve; however, Steve continued to
push its employees by motivating them to achieve this goal. Ultimately, iPod was introduced
to the world after which Apple did not remain the same, and it paved the way to open new
opportunities for the company which include iTunes Store, iPhone and App Store (Leung,
2015). All these achievements were possible because of the leadership approach of Steve
Jobs and his visions which was far ahead of his competitors.
Lessons to be learned from the leader
There are many key leadership lessons which can be learned from the leadership approach
of Steve Jobs which can assist other leaders in becoming a visionary leader and ensure the
effectiveness of their organisation. The first important less is that leaders should care deeply
about everything about their products, but they should rely on others in order to create
excellence. Steve Jobs was known for his negative behaviour towards his employees;
however, he also had a soft spot for those employees who were excellence in their work
(Toma and Marinescu, 2013). He encouraged employees by hosting parties and going out of
his way to help them which enable him to build a loyal workforce which dedicatedly works
towards achieving the common goals of the company. Jobs preferred to only work with
highly skilled employees in order to develop products which are excellent. He always
prioritised products above profits which show that good leaders should focus on the
demand of their customers rather than profit maximisation while taking business decisions
(Bell and Taylor, 2016). Steve Jobs has also shown that marketing is critical when it comes to
developing products which reach a global audience. Apple is known for its effective
marketing campaign which focuses on the products, and it approaches a wider audience.
Another lesson is that leaders should not take no for an answer and they should work
dedicatedly to make impossible happened. Steve Jobs achieved his visions by building a
team of highly skilled individuals who work dedicatedly towards achieving the common goal
of organisations (Isaacson, 2012). Steve Jobs also promotes employee engagement in the
workplace by taking feedback from everyone in the meeting. He also supported positive
criticism in the workplace which enables the company to find out what they are doing

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wrong and how to improve its operations to achieve their goals. Another lesson is that
leaders should take responsibility end to end of their operations and they should push for
perfection. They should not settle for anything less than perfection which will enable them
to build customer loyalty and reach a wider audience which will increase their profitability
as well (Sonnenfeld, 2013). These lessons can enable young leaders to tackles the issues
which they face in the business and build products which appeal to a wider audience which
will improve their leadership skills.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, Steve Jobs was a visionary leader who used his life experiences to build
products and focus on perfection rather than increasing profits in the business. The sources
of his inspiration and ideas were his life experiences and focused on simplicity when it
comes to development of electronic devices. Although he was strict while dealing with
employees and managers; however, he has a soft spot for talented employees, and he
encouraged employee engagement to receive positive criticism on the business strategies of
the company. Steve Jobs wanted to change the technology industry by building products
which meet the demand of customers, and he wanted to ensure that customers must enjoy
using Apple’s products. There are many lessons which new leaders can learn from
leadership style of Steve Jobs such as prioritising perfection rather than profits, dedication,
focus, employee engagement, positive criticism, building customer loyal, focus on marketing
and others. These skills enable Steve Jobs in achieving his visions and making Apple one of
the biggest corporations across the globe.

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References
Adner, R. (2012) From Walkman to iPod: What Music Tech Teaches Us About Innovation.
[Online] Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/from-
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Bell, E. and Taylor, S. (2016) Vernacular mourning and corporate memorialization in framing
the death of Steve Jobs. Organization, 23(1), pp.114-132.
Edwards, B. (2012) Steve Jobs’s seven key decisions. [Online] Available at:
https://www.macworld.com/article/2009941/steve-jobss-seven-key-decisions.html
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Heracleous, L. and Klaering, L.A. (2014) Charismatic leadership and rhetorical competence:
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Isaacson, W. (2012) The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard business
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competitive advantage. Abingdon: Routledge.
Leung, T.C. (2015) Music piracy: Bad for record sales but good for the iPod?. Information
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10/02/2019].
Sonnenfeld, J.A. (2013) Steve Jobs’ Immortal Quest and the Heroic Persona. Journal of
Business and Management, 19(1), pp.59-68.

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Steinwart, M.C. and Ziegler, J.A. (2014) Remembering Apple CEO Steve Jobs as a"
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Venkatraman, R. (2017) Steve Jobs Took This (Surprising) Class in College, and It Helped
Inspire One of Apple's Most Important Features. [Online] Available at:
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