Critique of the Leadership Style of Steve Jobs
Added on 2022-01-17
7 Pages4118 Words35 Views
Strengthening Leadership & Management Kimberly Marie Celse
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 1 February 2, 2014
A Critique of the Leadership Style of Steve Jobs
Kimberly Marie Celse
Department of I-O Psychology
Touro University Worldwide
One of the most controversial yet wildly successful leaders of our time, Steve Jobs
mesmerized the world with his passion for excellence yet infuriated many with his myopic
drive. He was an incredible visionary who revolutionized the personal computer industry and
gained devoted followers from the world over. Many waited with baited breath for the latest
iPhone, iPod, or iPad, and the craze of sales and infinite lines at Apple stores portrayed to the
world that this was, indeed, an extremely important company with a leader who must be
doing every single thing right in running his company. But was this actually true? Dubbed by
his colleagues as having a “Reality Distortion Field”, which could be akin to bullying, this
allowed him to push people to achieve feats on an extraordinary level (Isaacson, 2012). His
untimely death proving that he was still yet a man, immortalized him forever in our minds
and in many hearts as a dreamer who realized his dreams – as many of his followers lived
vicariously through his overwhelming accomplishments.
Researching Steve Jobs’s background, one can see some of the elements that led to the legend
he became. Adopted at birth, his adoptive parents had promised his birth mother that they
would send him to college. His adoptive father taught him electronics at an early age and he
had an average middle-class lifestyle. He was terribly bright in school and even skipped a
grade, but was known to be a prankster. A former college dropout after just a semester, he
continued to audit classes and didn’t seem to be worried about his future. Growing up in the
San Francisco Bay Area, he was likely influenced by two major social movements in that
area – the counterculture hippy, anti-war revolution starting in San Francisco, and the Silicon
Valley boom of high-tech innovation. He even went to India for a while to connect with his
spirituality and dabbled in LSD and other psychedelic drugs (Isaacson, 2012). As Isaacson
noted in his biography of Steve Jobs written in 2004, his first twenty years of life were
“Abandoned. Chosen. Special. Those concepts became part of who Jobs was and how he
regarded himself.” (Evans, 2012).
Steve Jobs had the ability to inspire people to share his passion and the belief that they could
achieve the seemingly impossible (Isaacson, 2012). California was a hotbed of a culture of
individualism and more and more people began contributing to society in innovative ways
irrespective of their race, gender, background, socioeconomic, and educational level. His
countercultural rebellious attitude sparked a revolution of free thinkers who felt they had the
power to change the world and is reflected in his “Think Different” ads upon his return to
Apple, “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs
in the square hole...While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the
people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
(Isaacson, 2012).
I once had the opportunity to meet Steve Jobs at a technology networking event in Silicon
Valley, and perhaps because I wasn’t a fan of Apple products at the time, I wasn’t intimidated
by his presence as so many others around me were at the time. I wasn’t aware of Jobs’s cult
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 1 February 2, 2014
A Critique of the Leadership Style of Steve Jobs
Kimberly Marie Celse
Department of I-O Psychology
Touro University Worldwide
One of the most controversial yet wildly successful leaders of our time, Steve Jobs
mesmerized the world with his passion for excellence yet infuriated many with his myopic
drive. He was an incredible visionary who revolutionized the personal computer industry and
gained devoted followers from the world over. Many waited with baited breath for the latest
iPhone, iPod, or iPad, and the craze of sales and infinite lines at Apple stores portrayed to the
world that this was, indeed, an extremely important company with a leader who must be
doing every single thing right in running his company. But was this actually true? Dubbed by
his colleagues as having a “Reality Distortion Field”, which could be akin to bullying, this
allowed him to push people to achieve feats on an extraordinary level (Isaacson, 2012). His
untimely death proving that he was still yet a man, immortalized him forever in our minds
and in many hearts as a dreamer who realized his dreams – as many of his followers lived
vicariously through his overwhelming accomplishments.
Researching Steve Jobs’s background, one can see some of the elements that led to the legend
he became. Adopted at birth, his adoptive parents had promised his birth mother that they
would send him to college. His adoptive father taught him electronics at an early age and he
had an average middle-class lifestyle. He was terribly bright in school and even skipped a
grade, but was known to be a prankster. A former college dropout after just a semester, he
continued to audit classes and didn’t seem to be worried about his future. Growing up in the
San Francisco Bay Area, he was likely influenced by two major social movements in that
area – the counterculture hippy, anti-war revolution starting in San Francisco, and the Silicon
Valley boom of high-tech innovation. He even went to India for a while to connect with his
spirituality and dabbled in LSD and other psychedelic drugs (Isaacson, 2012). As Isaacson
noted in his biography of Steve Jobs written in 2004, his first twenty years of life were
“Abandoned. Chosen. Special. Those concepts became part of who Jobs was and how he
regarded himself.” (Evans, 2012).
Steve Jobs had the ability to inspire people to share his passion and the belief that they could
achieve the seemingly impossible (Isaacson, 2012). California was a hotbed of a culture of
individualism and more and more people began contributing to society in innovative ways
irrespective of their race, gender, background, socioeconomic, and educational level. His
countercultural rebellious attitude sparked a revolution of free thinkers who felt they had the
power to change the world and is reflected in his “Think Different” ads upon his return to
Apple, “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs
in the square hole...While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the
people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
(Isaacson, 2012).
I once had the opportunity to meet Steve Jobs at a technology networking event in Silicon
Valley, and perhaps because I wasn’t a fan of Apple products at the time, I wasn’t intimidated
by his presence as so many others around me were at the time. I wasn’t aware of Jobs’s cult
Strengthening Leadership & Management Kimberly Marie Celse
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 2 February 2, 2014
status but I recall the intensity and focus in his eyes when he spoke. I was merely a quiet
observer in a group of enthusiastic listeners and what I expected would be a group
conversation was immediately dominated by essentially a question and answer session with
this modern day guru. As I recall, it was all quite fascinating, but I was already quite used to
this kind of exchange in that industry. I got the feeling people were constantly picking his
brains and he seemed to enjoy telling people his ideas and how well Apple was doing.
As his innovations have been copied the world over, so has also been his leadership style. His
strive for complete perfection in spite of profit-making and people’s feelings pushed people
beyond their boundaries, and he expected his engineers to be on the level of artists. He even
went as far as having them line up PC chips perfectly and having their signatures engraved in
the cases of the products, commenting “Real artists sign their work” (Isaacson, 2012). Yet he
was also known as being rude, rough, and impatient. Antagonizing and insulting others with
his superior genius. But how is it that such negative traits could also emanate from a leader
who inspired and transformed people?
But what was his particular leadership style that made him such a huge success? Did he
honestly even hone leadership skills or did he just run things based on his personality alone?
After pouring over effective leadership theories, how is it that Jobs’s approach could even
remotely be classified as “positively effective”? He was considered dictatorial, controlling
every step along during the product design phase, and often reprimanded and humiliated staff
in front of others (de Silva, 2011). But indeed, he really did see himself as a leader as
opposed to just a manager, director, or CEO (Arlen, 2011). Jobs practised a form of “tough
love” leadership. He was incredibly hard on his employees yet showered them with praise
when they fulfilled what he wanted. A 2011 study out of Cornell University, University of
Notre Dame, and University of Western Ontario found that disagreeable leaders were more
highly regarded and received higher salaries than agreeable ones (Badass-Boss, 2014). Other
leaders who have tried to copy his “tough love” approach have often failed by not
understanding that loyalty needs to be in place in order for such a tactic to work (Isaacson,
2012). Looking at the various popular theories of trait, behavioural, and situational theories, I
will attempt to analyse Steve Jobs’s leadership approach and the positive and negative
aspects of such.
Trait Leadership
If we take a look at the trait theory of leadership which was developed in the 1940s, Steve
Jobs definitely had a tremendous amount of charisma going for him. His style is a mixture of
several traits, with some unconventional and unpopular ones thrown in for added impression.
We find, however, that the most driving trait factors for effective leadership are extraversion
(sociability), followed by conscientiousness (determination & integrity), openness, and low-
neuroticism (Northhouse 2013). Although his social graces are in question, Jobs certainly
seemed to have no fear of people and was very proactive in meeting and working with them.
He believed in face-to-face meetings and spontaneous meetings and discussions (Isaacson,
2012). The second trait of conscientiousness certainly applied to him. He was driven by his
vision and held true to his self and his beliefs despite criticism. His Zen training taught him
how to focus and he often overlooked ordinary day-to-day things that his family and friends
deemed important, even his health issues (Isaacson, 2012). He rarely wavered from the
integrity of his products and ideas and wasn’t driven by profit like so many others. An
amazing product line and giving customers what they wanted is what mattered most and falls
in line with his high integrity. As for openness, he possessed it for new ideas that drove the
creative force behind Apple; but how open he was to implementing the ideas of others and
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 2 February 2, 2014
status but I recall the intensity and focus in his eyes when he spoke. I was merely a quiet
observer in a group of enthusiastic listeners and what I expected would be a group
conversation was immediately dominated by essentially a question and answer session with
this modern day guru. As I recall, it was all quite fascinating, but I was already quite used to
this kind of exchange in that industry. I got the feeling people were constantly picking his
brains and he seemed to enjoy telling people his ideas and how well Apple was doing.
As his innovations have been copied the world over, so has also been his leadership style. His
strive for complete perfection in spite of profit-making and people’s feelings pushed people
beyond their boundaries, and he expected his engineers to be on the level of artists. He even
went as far as having them line up PC chips perfectly and having their signatures engraved in
the cases of the products, commenting “Real artists sign their work” (Isaacson, 2012). Yet he
was also known as being rude, rough, and impatient. Antagonizing and insulting others with
his superior genius. But how is it that such negative traits could also emanate from a leader
who inspired and transformed people?
But what was his particular leadership style that made him such a huge success? Did he
honestly even hone leadership skills or did he just run things based on his personality alone?
After pouring over effective leadership theories, how is it that Jobs’s approach could even
remotely be classified as “positively effective”? He was considered dictatorial, controlling
every step along during the product design phase, and often reprimanded and humiliated staff
in front of others (de Silva, 2011). But indeed, he really did see himself as a leader as
opposed to just a manager, director, or CEO (Arlen, 2011). Jobs practised a form of “tough
love” leadership. He was incredibly hard on his employees yet showered them with praise
when they fulfilled what he wanted. A 2011 study out of Cornell University, University of
Notre Dame, and University of Western Ontario found that disagreeable leaders were more
highly regarded and received higher salaries than agreeable ones (Badass-Boss, 2014). Other
leaders who have tried to copy his “tough love” approach have often failed by not
understanding that loyalty needs to be in place in order for such a tactic to work (Isaacson,
2012). Looking at the various popular theories of trait, behavioural, and situational theories, I
will attempt to analyse Steve Jobs’s leadership approach and the positive and negative
aspects of such.
Trait Leadership
If we take a look at the trait theory of leadership which was developed in the 1940s, Steve
Jobs definitely had a tremendous amount of charisma going for him. His style is a mixture of
several traits, with some unconventional and unpopular ones thrown in for added impression.
We find, however, that the most driving trait factors for effective leadership are extraversion
(sociability), followed by conscientiousness (determination & integrity), openness, and low-
neuroticism (Northhouse 2013). Although his social graces are in question, Jobs certainly
seemed to have no fear of people and was very proactive in meeting and working with them.
He believed in face-to-face meetings and spontaneous meetings and discussions (Isaacson,
2012). The second trait of conscientiousness certainly applied to him. He was driven by his
vision and held true to his self and his beliefs despite criticism. His Zen training taught him
how to focus and he often overlooked ordinary day-to-day things that his family and friends
deemed important, even his health issues (Isaacson, 2012). He rarely wavered from the
integrity of his products and ideas and wasn’t driven by profit like so many others. An
amazing product line and giving customers what they wanted is what mattered most and falls
in line with his high integrity. As for openness, he possessed it for new ideas that drove the
creative force behind Apple; but how open he was to implementing the ideas of others and
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12/13/2021, 8:56:28 AMStrengthening Leadership & Management Kimberly Marie Celse
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 3 February 2, 2014
giving them credit for it remains debatable. In fact, he was often criticized for plagiarizing
new ideas presented by his competitors and followers (Evans, 2012). The final major
personality aspect of low-neuroticism doesn’t fit Jobs’s approach. He was known to be
neurotic due to his worry, contempt and envy of competitors, and extreme obsession even
with the smallest of details (Evans, 2012).
Northhouse points out that another way to assess the effectiveness of trait leadership is by
considering emotional intelligence. It is considered by many researchers to be comprised of
both personal and social competencies. Personal competencies being self-awareness, self-
confidence, self-regulation, conscientiousness, and motivation. We have already pointed out
that Jobs was conscientious and motivated to certain degrees, yet his self-awareness and self-
regulation were certainly lacking through evidence of his often abusive and obsessive
behaviour. Additionally, although he publicly displayed tremendous self-confidence, he
ironically often “broke down and cried when he felt that he had not been treated fairly”
(Evans, 2012).
Although trait theory boasts the largest body of research, it is often a difficult style to apply
because it is an intuitive approach and the traits are usually inherited and can’t be learned. As
commented by Evans, “His perfectionism was legendary, but so were his disloyalty,
abrasiveness, abusiveness, and lack of generosity, both financial and otherwise” (2012). It’s
likely that much of his disagreeableness led to his first dismissal from Apple. It was only
when the company was in trouble was when he was invited to return. One wonders if Jobs
could have accomplished just as much if he had only treated people with a little more
decency. He admitted that he might have, but that he would have betrayed his true nature by
suppressing his unpleasant personality traits (Isaacson, 2012).
Behavioural Leadership
As laid out by Doyle and Smith, behavioural leadership dominated the 1950s and 1960s and
the focus moved from traits to how leaders behaved. This type of leadership generally
comprised of four basic styles (2001): 1) Concern for task – priority in productivity and ways
to meet objectives, 2) Concern for people – priority in the needs, interests, desires of
follower, 3) Directive leadership – leaders make decisions and expect followers to follow,
and 4) Participative leadership – leaders share decision-making with others (Doyle & Smith,
2001).
Further research and development into the area of behavioural theories discovered more
distinct categories based on original research. The newly defined categories are:
Task-oriented behaviours
Relational-oriented behaviours
Change-oriented behaviours
Passive leadership (Derue et al., 2011)
Task-oriented behaviours: This falls under what is known as transactional leadership and
involves the pairing of concern for task and directive leadership. In this style, leaders offer
contingent rewards depending on the successful completion of tasks, as well as punishment
for failure of achievement. They are directive in that they make decisions and expect
subordinates to follow, generally without question. There is evidence to show he engaged in a
strong transactional approach. He would show the end result of projects to his followers and
lay out every single step on how to get to it and dictate how to conduct each step (de Silva,
TUW Department of I-O Psychology 3 February 2, 2014
giving them credit for it remains debatable. In fact, he was often criticized for plagiarizing
new ideas presented by his competitors and followers (Evans, 2012). The final major
personality aspect of low-neuroticism doesn’t fit Jobs’s approach. He was known to be
neurotic due to his worry, contempt and envy of competitors, and extreme obsession even
with the smallest of details (Evans, 2012).
Northhouse points out that another way to assess the effectiveness of trait leadership is by
considering emotional intelligence. It is considered by many researchers to be comprised of
both personal and social competencies. Personal competencies being self-awareness, self-
confidence, self-regulation, conscientiousness, and motivation. We have already pointed out
that Jobs was conscientious and motivated to certain degrees, yet his self-awareness and self-
regulation were certainly lacking through evidence of his often abusive and obsessive
behaviour. Additionally, although he publicly displayed tremendous self-confidence, he
ironically often “broke down and cried when he felt that he had not been treated fairly”
(Evans, 2012).
Although trait theory boasts the largest body of research, it is often a difficult style to apply
because it is an intuitive approach and the traits are usually inherited and can’t be learned. As
commented by Evans, “His perfectionism was legendary, but so were his disloyalty,
abrasiveness, abusiveness, and lack of generosity, both financial and otherwise” (2012). It’s
likely that much of his disagreeableness led to his first dismissal from Apple. It was only
when the company was in trouble was when he was invited to return. One wonders if Jobs
could have accomplished just as much if he had only treated people with a little more
decency. He admitted that he might have, but that he would have betrayed his true nature by
suppressing his unpleasant personality traits (Isaacson, 2012).
Behavioural Leadership
As laid out by Doyle and Smith, behavioural leadership dominated the 1950s and 1960s and
the focus moved from traits to how leaders behaved. This type of leadership generally
comprised of four basic styles (2001): 1) Concern for task – priority in productivity and ways
to meet objectives, 2) Concern for people – priority in the needs, interests, desires of
follower, 3) Directive leadership – leaders make decisions and expect followers to follow,
and 4) Participative leadership – leaders share decision-making with others (Doyle & Smith,
2001).
Further research and development into the area of behavioural theories discovered more
distinct categories based on original research. The newly defined categories are:
Task-oriented behaviours
Relational-oriented behaviours
Change-oriented behaviours
Passive leadership (Derue et al., 2011)
Task-oriented behaviours: This falls under what is known as transactional leadership and
involves the pairing of concern for task and directive leadership. In this style, leaders offer
contingent rewards depending on the successful completion of tasks, as well as punishment
for failure of achievement. They are directive in that they make decisions and expect
subordinates to follow, generally without question. There is evidence to show he engaged in a
strong transactional approach. He would show the end result of projects to his followers and
lay out every single step on how to get to it and dictate how to conduct each step (de Silva,
Asif Mahmood
12/13/2021, 8:59:49 AMAsif Mahmood
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12/13/2021, 9:24:28 AMEnd of preview
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