Leadership Legacy A lot has been written about the late Steve Jobs.8 How he took
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Leadership Legacy A lot has been written about the late Steve Jobs.8 How he took Apple, a niche business, and turned it into the most valuable company in the world as measured by market capitalization. How he was extremely charismatic and extremely compelling in getting people to join with him and believe in his vision. But how he was despotic, tyrannical. abrasive, uncompromising, and a perfectionist. So what is his leadership legacy? Everything that Jobs did and how he did them was motivated by his desire to have Apple make innovative products-products that were "insanely great- insanely being one of his favourite descriptors. That singular focus shaped his leadership style, which has been descrnibed as autocratic and yet persuasive. As one reporter said. Jobs violated every rule of management. He was not a consensus builder but a dictator who listened mainly to his own intuition. He was a maniacal micromanager.He could be absolutely brutal in meetings. His verbal assaults on staff could be terrifying. The story is told that when Apple launched its first version of the iPhone that worked on 3G networks, it included MobileMe, an email system that was supposed to provide seamiess synchronization features similar to that used by the fanatical corporate users of BlackBerrys. The problem It didn't work well at all, and product reviews were quite critical. Since "Steve Jobs doesn't tolerate duds, it was not long after the launch that he gathered the MobileMe team in an auditorium on Apple's campus. According to a participant in that meeting Jobs walked in-in his trademark black mock turtleneck and jeans-and "asked a simple question: Can you tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do? Having received a satisfactory answer, he responded, So why the xoox doesn't it do that? Then, for the next 30 minutes, Jobs blasted criticisms at the team. You ve tarmished Apple's reputation. You should hate each other for having let each other down. Ouch. And this was not the only example of his taking employees to task. He was tough on the people around him. When asked about his tendency to be rough on people, Jobs responded, Look at the results. These are all smart people I work with, and any of them could get a top job at another place if they were truly feeling brutalized. But they don't. On the other hand, Steve Jobs could be thoughtful, passionate, and "insanely charismatic. He could push people to do the impossible. And there is no argument with the fact that the results from the company he cofounded have been market-changing. From Macs to Pods to iPhones and iPads, Apple's products have revolutionized industries and created a fan base of consumers who are very loyal to the Apple brand and employees who are very loyal to the company. Discussion Questions 3. What were you most surprised about after reading this case? 4 Would Steve Jobs's leadership approach work for others? DiscussExplanation / Answer
3. From the description of an event presented in the case, it is evident that the Steve Jobs was driven by a passion to provide an un-matchable experience to the Apple customers. We can even say that Steve Jobs was obsessed with providing customer experience through innovative technology and he expected others to follow his obsession. What is surprising is that Steve jobs manipulated others openly. When he challenged the team members that though a team member is free to leave the organization, but will not do so, has demonstrated extreme confidence on one’ leadership. In spite of having capability, brilliance and experience, why the team members did tolerated the tantrums of Steve Jobs.
4. Steve Job’s leadership style may not work for others. There are several reasons behind the unique style of leadership of Steve Jobs. The Steve Jobs intolerance to mediocrity is manifested in many ways such as open insult to the people around, rigid insistence on product quality, extra fine micro-managing of the people, etc. These behaviors of Steve Jobs are easily can be considered as lack of respect for others, disregards for others opinions, self-conceited, etc. However, most people tolerated the put downs by Steve jobs. There are many contextual or situational factors that contribute to the acceptance of Steve Jobs as a leader such as the following.
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