Main Qualities of Steve Jobs That Affected the Success in Five Aspects of His Life - Essay Example

Student’s Name Instructor Course Date Introduction In the modern world, there are key figures whose actions shape the behaviors of the society. These people occupy influential positions, and therefore, many people look upon them for guidance. As a result, they are held responsible if they use their positions to mislead the community or society. This means that to be in such a position, a person is required to be of high moral standards, be a good listener, be of high integrity and be wise. People in such positions may include the elected political leaders, religious leaders, and business people whose organizations are largely depended on by the community. This means that the products and services they offer to a region and the world at large should be of high standards to meet and exceed the expectations of the clients. This paper will look into Apple’s former Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs who is credited with turning around the company from a loss making company to a profit making organization. Steve Jobs was the most successful corporate CEO, even though he was never been taught Business. He was also the most adept consumer psychologist and human sociologist. He was a charismatic technologist, even though he was self-taught. He was a visionary, a trend-setter, as well as an agent who advocated for change. He had been regarded as a disruptive force in the system and an artist who was a fountain of ideas. For the few years, Steve Jobs had been behind some of the greatest advances technology has ever made: calligraphic computer fronts, the iPhone, the iTunes store, the Mac, the iPod ,the iPad, micropayments, aesthetics in products, and simplicity of user interfaces. Steve Jobs had managed to make everyday devices interesting, beautiful, intuitive, simple to use and yet powerful. He transformed lives through his products, but also introduced a paradigm shift for business and leadership, and he has earned his reputation as being one of the best leaders to have lived. Biography and historical analysis that explain the origins and significance events of Steve Jobs Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco California in 1955 to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandal who later gave him for adoption to Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs. He grew up and taught himself how to program and interact with the predecessors of personal computers. It is said that he left the college after only six months although he continued to take classes for the next two and a half years. It was during his legendary commencement address to Stanford in 2005, where he talked about taking a class on the calligraphy after he had left the college; thanks to this class, he would, 10 years later create the beautiful fonts used in modern computing. In 1976, together with Steve Wozniack they built Apple in his garage and soon they had revolutionized the world of personal computers by creating the Apple and the Apple 2. The firm’s products were an instant hit, and in 1984, they introduced Macintosh, after a groundbreaking Orwell-themed super bowl ad. However, in 1985, after a company power struggle with Steve Wozniack, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple Company although he had regarded himself as a co founder. During that time of devastation in retrospect, he has described this unfortunate occurence as the greatest thing that could have ever happened to him, because he managed to be free of heavy workload success and was free to venture into other business. He went on and founded Pixar, which changed the movie animation industry by way of coming up with Toy Story, which was the world’s first computer-generated movie. However, after a few years into operation, Pixar was bought by Disney, a situation that made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney. In addition, Jobs also created NeXT Computer, which was technologically state-of-the-art device and software that brought in, modern web browsers, object-oriented programming, rich-content email and some of the fundamental building blocks of OSX. While Steve Job’s ventures were on an upward rise, Apple was on a downward spiral due to mismanagement, lack of direction, failure and, ultimately, bankruptcy. As a result, in 1996, it bought NeXT for about $430m and Steve Jobs was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Apple for the second time. With exceptional discipline, leadership and vision, he worked hard to reinstate the gone corporate culture, sense of pride and above all said that Apple was in dire need of innovating its way out of economic failure. And true to his words, Apple was re-innovated itself until it was out of insolvency and turned into one of the most lucrative companies in the 21st century. Steve Jobs had succeeded to fulfill yet another task, that of bringing to life a dying organization into a landmark of modern entrepreneurship. In 2001, Apple brought to market the iPod, which made it a monopoly in the production of music devices. At the same time introduction of iTunes music store completely transformed the way music is bought. In 2007, Apple Company introduced the iPhone, it entered yet another seemingly saturated market, the cellular phone business, and where under the guidance of Steve Jobs established the concept of micropayments with the App Store. This created a new flourishing market for mobile applications. The last product to be introduced in the market was in, in 2010, where it introduced the iPad. In less than one year, Apple earned the majority of market share in the tablet PC market. The most important factor is that Steve Jobs had managed what many had failed to achieve by introducing products in saturated markets and becoming the leader in that field. It is said that this was achieved by understanding the consumer needs and preferences and then using the available resources and re arranging them so that they can suit what a client needs. By the time he died in October 2011, Steve Jobs had managed to build his name as one of the best Chief Executive Officer of the 21st century. Main qualities of Steve Jobs that affected the success in five aspects of his life He was very creative and sensitive to products produced When he took over the helms of Apple for the second time as the Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs perceived Apple as a company that was at the cross roads of Liberal Arts and technology. During this time, the market was flooded with traditional personal computers that were very slow in processing documents. As a result, he thought of making products that were both attractive before the customers as well as high gadgets that had high processors. The other idea he had was to reduce the size of these gadgets. He thought if the gadgets had chips and other products packed well within the gadget boards, then making thinner, more energy efficient, faster service and high-tech devices was possible. According to Molinaro, Steve Jobs brought in a philosophy by which Apple products should entail. He has observed that the products had to have a visual appeal to customers. Steve Jobs was quoted saying that the buttons of their products have to be made beautiful so that a customer might even be tempted to lick them off the screen (23-26). This is an act of how creative he wanted the company employees to be in order to compete with other established and profit making companies. On the same note, the company was to employ the latest available technology to produce hi-tech products at a low cost to compete well with other companies such as Samsung and SONY. The second philosophy was to make sure that their products were the easiest to use in the market and be the most beautiful. He has noted that beautiful products attract customers first even before their performance is put to the test. It is for this reason that Steve Jobs wanted the company to have the most beautiful products in the market to continue their domination of the market for many years. Thirdly, Steve Jobs wanted customers to feel the value of their money every time they bought any of the company’s products. Through his creativity and sensitivity of the company’s products, he was able to transform Apple from a loss making company to a leading electronics goods company in the world today. For example, iPods, iPhones and the iPads have become an instant hit in the market because of their simplicity, high quality and low cost compared to the devices produced by other companies. The middle class in many countries across the world use iPads as their personal computers other than laptops which are heavy. The beauty about iPad is that it doubles up as a personal computer as well as a mobile phone. Good Listener of consumer needs One of the basic principles of the Jobs philosophy was his deep understanding of the clients. The consumer does not know what he needs. For example, Snyder points out that prior to the introduction of the iPhone, nobody really needed one; today, however, a lot of people cannot operate without an iPhone (11-14). According to him, once presented with a product, customers can create a need for it, if it is better than the product he or she is currently using. He points out that there are many good things that keep on attracting a huge number of people to iPhones: some of the features are their simplicity, their intuitiveness, their beauty, their power. He argues that, before the iPhone, there were numerous different models of phones, that could do everything the iPhone could do and more. The main question that lingers in many people’s mind is what made millions of people worldwide switch to the iPhone. He has observed that it was ultimately, Jobs’ genius and his ability to understand the psychology of the consumer that led to the creation of a revolutionary phone by way of putting together components that were already in the market. He claims that understanding the consumer needs is what has made Apple products successful. According to him, the company under Steve Jobs did not base their decision-making on figures. Steve Jobs driving principle was to keep the consumers happy in order to get the company’s products close to the public. The Apple Company has brought changes to retail stores, by creating an efficient environment where clients can mingle with the products, ask questions, and purchase. In addition, even after the purchase, the client has a familiar environment where he or she can come back for customer service and education. Through Steve Jobs ability to listen to consumer needs, Apple Company has the highest customer satisfaction ratings among all the companies of its size. According to Snyder under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple Company has been conducting market research to establish the missing links between the customer demands and what is already available in the market (56-58). As a result, the company is able to know what kind of products to produce. This is one of the reasons why Apple has been transformed from its death bed to a profit making organization by Steve Jobs. This illustrates that when a company puts the interest of the clients first, it will be bound to greater success in all aspects of its operations. He was a good negotiator and a persuasive individual Although Apple has been in competition with other companies such as the Microsoft and other electronic goods manufacturers like Samsung, Steve Jobs was able to enter into agreements with these companies for the provision of certain services in Apple. According to Elliot, one of the bold decisions that Steve Jobs took upon returning to Apple was to reach out to Microsoft Corporation and had it create Office software that would have suited Mac (22-26). Through the iTunes store, Steve Jobs have in many instances reached out to the music industry to change specific policies, making all music sold nowadays DRM-free. In addition, when it was time to add movies and TV shows to iTunes, he reached out to all the major studios in the United States of America and when it was time to add a bookstore to the iPad, he received massive support from the biggest and the finest publishing houses in the globe. He points out that maintaining an environment of collaboration amongst various companies has been critical to bringing in the best from every area into a product, and Steve Jobs has successfully leveraged that to Apple’s success in the recent times. Steve Jobs was very keen to details According to Elliot Steve Jobs’ product development cycle was very closely associated with that of Deming-Shewhart Plan-Do Study-Act cycle (28-29). He has pointed out that, under this cycle, things and other issues moves very fast, and therefore, rather than putting all their hopes on one iteration, Steve Jobs and Apple depend on multiple iterations of the Deming cycle. This means that, even prior to its announcement, a product can undergo numerous cycles before it is finalized. Engineers are made to spend a lot of time brainstorming, creating prototypes, as well as analyzing competitor devices and looking elsewhere for inspiration. After getting a version of a design they are interested in, they show it to test groups who are tasked to study it and give their feedback in a very careful way. It is from the feedback that the technical team receives that they then act based on that feedback and repeat the cycle once or twice to be guaranteed of its performance. He says that Apple has managed to outsmart other competitors by always analyzing the feedback they get from the products’ users. According to him, the long history of listening to the opinion of their clients has made these clients confident that Apple will take note to their feedback and address their needs in the near future, and therefore, remain devoted to Apple. Establishing Strong Culture According to Elliot one of Steve Jobs’ most important talent was his ability to build a strong corporate culture that filter through the products that were produced by his company the buildings and even the stores (78-81). Below are some of the core issues that Steve Jobs believed were key to the success of Apple and its products; At first he believed in excellence. Steve Jobs was known for hiring placing employee’s willingness and dedication first when hiring. He therefore, looked for people with the zeal to work in the firm. In addition, he was a perfectionist. According to Snyder, Steve Job was of the view that Apple products should not have flaws. They were to be the best in what they did, and no incomplete solutions were to be accepted. Steve Job was a team player. He had managed to put in place strong team spirit to promote ideas through working together as a team (23-25). He has observed that, through Steve Jobs initiatives, Apple was run in a very flat structure, which gave room for effective communication between teams and their respective managers Imagination & Creativity in which he expected all the team members spend most of their time to brainstorming, think, fool around and explore. Steve Jobs allowed his employees to dress in a way they felt it was comfortable with them. It is for this reason that you would find employees putting on jeans and sneakers to feel more comfortable and appreciate their company. Furthermore, Steve Jobs had managed to establish pride amongst Apple employees by making them feel proud of their work, and take personal undertaking to quality. Snyder points out that it is via this culture of excellence, perfection; teamwork, creativity and pride that Steve Jobs managed to motivate his employees to work on very tight deadlines, where they managed to sort out problems in innovative ways and develop the products of the future (88-93). Leadership style of Steve Paul Jobs Steve Jobs has been regarded as the engine behind the success of Apple and its products in the modern day world. As earlier stated, Steve Jobs was a very effective and efficient leader who wanted things to be done to perfection. He believed that the company had all it takes to produce perfect products that would be easily accepted in the market. True to his ideas, Apple products have become an instant hit especially the iPhones and the iPads. This section will analyze the leadership style of Steve Jobs that helped him achieve a lot where very few if any can dare. 1. Simplicity According to Nigel Steve Jobs used Zen ideas of simplicity. He believed that a product had to be perfect yet simple to use. He never believed that customers should spend a lot of their time going through the products features because they could not trace certain features (66-69). For instance in the iPod case, Steve Jobs did away with the on/off button on the iPod. Instead he introduced a concept whereby the iPod gradually powered down and turned off, and then it flashed on again with just a swipe. He points out that Job had to develop a complex and elaborate software that pushed the limits of processing power to handle all the instructions that made the user interface seem simple. In addition, this genius performed well in the designing of products that did away with computer needs. He has noted that Apple products such as the iPod can operate on itself as well as work while connected with Mac that has a connection to iTunes store. Through this application pioneered by Steve Jobs, he suggests that Apple can handle huge amounts of workload via division of labour among its operating systems. A good example of this is the illustrated when Mac controlled system administration while iTunes looked for contents from cloud storage thereby freeing the device to dwell on playing the music. In the mobile phone sector, Steve Jobs did a study on other company’s devices that helped him make his product better and simpler to use compared to other companies models. For instance, when the first iPhone was produced, it was regarded as a mini computer. This is because the products had features similar to those in the computers. As a result, he used the ideas on the iPhone to be the platform of launching the iPad that became an instant hit in the market. Therefore, his believe in simplicity has helped Apple become one of the best electronic manufacturers in the world. 2. Control the Experience Secondly, Steve Jobs and Apple were to take full responsibility for the product from end-to-end. In order to make sure that no part of the product was deficient, every aspect of the hardware and the software was analyzed carefully by engineers, from each component to the overall look. Furthermore, Jobs regarded the user experience as very important in every line of code and each of his employees in the Apple stores. According to Howell, Jobs’ was a perfectionist who never entertained excuses from his employees. He made sure that the company provided anything everything that his employees wanted to make the product a success in the market. He employed his powerful and influential personality to motivate his employees from the senior most to the juniors. He has observed that Apple’s model of a closed and proprietary system was consistent with his controlling personality and set Apple apart from open-source competitors. (43-46). 3. Innovativeness According to Nigel it is the role of the leaders to bring about changes in their organizations. Such leaders can change the rules of the game to reinvent industries. It is for this reason that Steve Jobs realized that people were burning CDs on their computers from content that they had downloaded from the internet (89-91). Although he regarded this as a lost opportunity, he went ahead and developed the iTunes that have revolutionized the music and entertainment industry in the contemporary world. He made it simple and easier to purchase and manage music from one website and store it on an iPod or computer. After the success of the iPod, Jobs thought of how he would add wireless voice and hence came up with the iPhone. All Apple products have performed well in spite of stiff competition from well funded companies such as Samsung, Nokia and LG. 4. Confidence When Steve Jobs took the iPhone on a trial run, Jobs found the plastic display scratched easily, so he decided the front needed to be glass. As a result, he placed an order from Gorilla glass for delivery within the shortest time possible. However, the contracted company could not deliver because it had stopped the production of glasses. Although this was a major setback to Jobs and Apple as a whole, Jobs took the initiative of calling the Chief Executive Officer of Gorilla Glass Company to make him believe that he could still make to produce such glasses in spite of shutting down the operations years earlier. The Confidence Jobs had paid off because, after six months, the company managed to deliver the ordered pieces of glasses. This became a major opportunity for the Gorilla Company because it became the sole supplier of glasses to Apple for different products. This is a major lesson to all senior executives that they should be confident of all the policies they have set to achieve. Although some may not materialize immediately, there is the likelihood that later on, they will be achieved. Although Jobs did not have another source of glasses, he was confident that Gorilla Company would deliver, even though the production of similar glasses had been halted earlier. 5. Rethink Designs Prior to its release to the markets, iPhone for example, went through several phases before the engineers decided that they had managed to get the right design. The company came up with a mobile handset that was comparable to no other device in the market by then. However, this phone had one disadvantage in terms of operations; they had created it with an aluminum cover on top which resulted in only a small area available for display. As a result of this, the signal processors could not function appropriately because the radio waves were being blocked by the aluminum cover. In order to improve the performance of the signal processors, it was agreed that the aluminum cover should be removed and replaced with a glass cover in order to improve the signal quality. In an attempt to improve the image of the iPhone in the display, a cover box was also designed that contributed to a greater extent the sales of this device. The box was very unique compared to the packaging available in the market for other phone models. In doing this, Steve Jobs managed to set the aspirations of the employees and the customers high because, for instance, Apple’s employees had gathered confidence that they could achieve anything they aspired to have. iPhone had been described as an ideal phone for a person who is not in a position to move around with computers. With this regard, a person who needs to have constant access to the internet for instance, iPhone is a must have because it will sort out many issues that would otherwise be done by a computer. 6. Collaborate Steve Jobs was a very collaborative person. Although some of his close associates worked for different companies, he would outsource some of the goods and services from them to make his company and objectives a success. For instance, Steve Jobs was able to enter into agreements with these companies for the provision of certain services in Apple. According to Snyder one of the bold decisions that Steve Jobs took upon returning to Apple was to reach out to Microsoft Corporation and had it create Office software that would have suited Mac (45-48). Through the iTunes store, Steve Jobs have in many instances reached out to the music industry to change specific policies, making all music sold nowadays DRM-free. In addition, when it was time to add movies and TV shows to iTunes, he reached out to all the major studios in the United States of America and when it was time to add a bookstore to the iPad, he received massive support from the biggest and the finest publishing houses in the globe. He points out that maintaining an environment of collaboration amongst various companies has been critical to bringing in the best from every area into a product, and Steve Jobs has successfully leveraged that to Apple’s success in the recent times. Through these collaborations, Apple became a world leader in the provision and manufacturer of electronic goods such as mobile phones and personal computers. 7. Vision + Details Steve Jobs was a visionary leader who was ready to venture in any business as long as he had confidence it could work. It is for this reason that he applied his passion to both large and small issues. For example in 2000, he designed a system whereby one device could be used remotely to control others in the system. This application became a success that some other companies refined the technology to make it work in their systems. With this hub in place, Steve jobs was able to set up servers where people would upload and download contents; iTunes. 8. Rebel Ever since he was a small boy, Steve Jobs was known to be a person who did what others regarded as impossible for his age. For example, when he joined forces with teve Wozniack to form Apple, many people were of the opinion that their company would fall on the way. However, his determination and level of belief has made Apple to be where it is today. It is for this reason that he told the senior class at Stanford University to follow what they believed they could achieve. They were asked not to let challenges distract them in pursuit of their objectives. Effective leadership behaviors of Steve Jobs Task-Oriented Behaviors According to Howell task oriented leadership tends to focus on the main activity that ought to be carried out in order to meet set goals and objectives (56-59). He has observed that leaders who employ this leadership style are concerned with work facilitation. In addition, these leaders zeroes in on different people roles and tasks expected from them. This means that they expect high and positive results from their employees in all departments. Employees are also required to be go getters in their work and are also required to follow set guidelines in their operations. In the application of the task oriented behaviors, Steve Jobs is a clear example of a leader who had applied this concept during his time in Apple. At first Jobs is seen as an active member of the company. He was actively involved in the designing and brainstorming of how company’s products ought to be like. As earlier stated Steve Jobs hired the best to work in his organization. Therefore, he made sure that they prioritized on what was regarded as a pilot project of the company. In other words, Steve Jobs never expected excuses for failure from his employees. He believed that everything and anything conceptualized could be achieved, and therefore, put a lot of pressure on his engineers and other employees to produce the best that Apple could manage. Relations-Oriented Behaviors In the relations oriented behaviors, Bligh suggests that a lot of emphasis has been placed on how well people interact in the organization or an institution (156-158). He points out that relationship and the motivation of the employees are given a deep consideration. In this type of leadership, positive relationship amongst employees and clients is given a lot of emphasis. In addition, employees are required by their leaders to work in a harmonized way to promote unity in the company. Communication is also stressed amongst co-workers. This is meant to help people their grievances and opinion touching on matters related to the company. Steve Jobs became a good enforcer of this model. For example, he had given his employees the lee way to dress in a way that they felt they were comfortable. This act motivated them to work hard to realize the objectives of the company. Change-Oriented Behaviors According to Jay, change oriented leadership revolves around allocating roles to different managers in a company, so that they can put in place measures that will ensure that the company is prepared to face the uncertainties brought about by economic conditions (23-24). This means that a leader has to be very effective and efficient to be prepared for such eventualities. Therefore, Steve Jobs vested some of his responsibilities upon various managers to implement the company’s policies. He believed that the company had to be always ahead of its competitors in order to maintain its foothold in the market. Conclusion The success of organizations in the modern business environment strongly depends on managerial leadership of the Chief Executive Officer. Strategic leadership requires that the Chief Executive Officer embraces and implement change. In so doing, the leader must; clarify strategic intent by setting a clear vision, build a strong organization that is, come up with a common mission that drives both management and employees and also shape organizational culture by building values and believes that shape the organization positively. Steve Jobs has remained a key figure to the success of Apple. It is important for leaders to know what their employees are doing in order for them to provide good leadership. Steve Jobs was always involved in every step of production, in his company. As a result, the company grew to become the leading manufacturer of Smartphone and personal computers. Works cited Bligh, Michelle. Exploring Distance in Leader-Follower Relationships: When Near is Far and far is near. New York: 2013. Routledge. Print. Elliot, Jay. Leading Apple with Steve Jobs: Management Lessons From a Controversial Genius. New York. 2013. Rotledge. Print. Howell, Jon. Snapshots of Great Leadership. New York: 2013. Routledge. Print. Jay, Elliot. The Steve Jobs Way: Ileadership for a New Generation. New York: 2012. Vanguard Press. Print. Molinaro, Vince. The Leadership Contract: The Fine Print to Becoming a Great Leader. New York: 2012. Vanguard Press. Print. Nigel, Nicholson. The I of Leadership: Strategies for Seeing, Being and Doing. Boston: 2013. John Wiley & Sons. Print. Snyder, Steven. Leadership and the Art of Struggle: How Great Leaders Grow through Challenge. San Francisco. 2010. Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc. Print. Read More