Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is certainly someone that would come to mind i

Question

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is certainly someone that would come to mind if you were asked to name a great leader. Prior to his death in 2011, Mr. Jobs wrote numerous articles about leadership and what makes a good leader. In this article in Forbes magazine he describes 10 leadership tips:

Kalla, S. (2012). 10 Leadership tips from Steve Jobs (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Forbes, p. 1 – 3.

An active discussion is the key to an interesting and engaging online course. Discussion in this course is designed to simulate a classroom discussion. As others join in the discussion, you should read what has already been posted and continue on with the discussion from there. We will go through the questions one at a time, moving on to the next question once we have fully explore the current question. I will guide you through the discussions.

The modules in this course are one week in length. Time goes quickly, so remember to post early! Get in the habit of checking the discussions as often as you can to see what others have posted and to respond. The earlier in the week that you begin posting, the deeper the conversation and learning will be.

Answer the first question based on your experiences so that you can begin the discussion immediately without having completed all of your readings. You must apply your assigned readings to subsequent questions.

First, let’s start with a question based on your experiences:

1. Identify a boss you have currently/or have had previously (without giving names!) and identify whether you think that person is/was either a leader or a manager and explain why.

Now applying what you’ve learned from the readings, and the Forbes article, let’s go through the rest of the discussion together, one question at a time.

2. Identify one area where leaders and managers differ and provide an example of how this may be demonstrated.

3. Select one of Mr. Job’s leadership tips and compare how this trait would contrast to a manager. Try to choose one that has not already been selected by another classmate.

4. Apply one of Mr. Job’s leadership tips to the health care industry and compare the differences and similarities.

Explanation / Answer

1.      My current manager at my organization is more of a Manager than a leader. He certainly is very result oriented and always has a set of deliverables to meet. As a manager, he spends a lot of time in planning, staffing, organizing and controlling the outcomes of all the tasks assigned to his reportees. In contrast, I believe leaders spend more time on relationship building, listening, networking and motivating others. As a manager, he looks more into the technical details where I feel a Leader is involved more with the peoples’ skill. He is good at setting up a structure and delegate responsibility but leaders are meant to share a common goal or vision for all to see and work towards.

2.      When it comes to a leader, it is he who initiates a strategic goal in order to create a competitive advantage for the company in the industry. A manager can be the same leader but would be keener on setting up the process and the structure for the entire team to work towards the strategic goal. In a prime example, Steve Jobs himself was a visionary leader who had a path in mind for Apple and when it came to Steve Wozniack, he was the more technical guy more concerned about the processes and technicalities going into product development and the final offering.

3.      Steve Jobs believed in Following Excellence and not money. Jobs never confined his efforts into making huge money, but instead always wanted exciting ideas and innovations. A manager’s role strongly contrasts with this as one of the top objectives of a manager is to meet the desired targets which on most occasions is a revenue or profitability number. Managers right from the CEO is evaluated on the company’s growth especially in terms of revenue and profit.

4.      Jobs believed in never to aim below Perfection. He never compromised on quality, he would never launch a product which he did not believe was high on quality or rather perfect. Similarly, in the healthcare industry it is very important to come up with the products and services of upmost quality. Any compromise here could cost millions of lives let alone the loss to the company in monetary terms. The difference in comparison to any other industry is the ethical aspect where precious lives are dependent on the products made by these companies. In any other industry, the loss would be in terms of money and brand value which can be worked upon and improved in the future.

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