Leadership of Steve Jobs: Connecting theory into practice - Part 2

..continued from Part 1

Leadership in practice :

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Inc, formerly Apple Computers in 1976 (Investor Relations, 2012). Much of Apple's success has been due to the leadership of Steve Jobs. Creativity, visionary leadership, charismatic leadership and ability to adapt to change marks Apple's success under Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs thus has all the necessary attributes and characteristics to be considered as an exceptional leader.

Steve Jobs and Trait Theory :

Steve Jobs easily fits with the “great man” theory of trait leadership. He possessed distinguishable personality characteristics that made him an effective leader. Some of the personality traits that make him unique are;

• Self-confidence: Steve Jobs always believed that he was making a difference. He had commented that “People don't know what they want”, and relied on his intuition rather than focus groups or market research (Isaacson 2012). He is known for standing by his decision in the face of opposition.

• Intelligence : Steve Jobs was regarded as a genius (Isaacson 2012). Apple's innovative products are examples of his intelligence coupled with visionary and self-confidence characteristics.

• Drive : Jobs was a very driven man. When Jobs got fired from Apple in 1985, he could have easily retired as he was a multi-millionaire back then, but instead went on to create two new, very successful companies in “Pixar” & “NeXT”. It is his drive and sense of responsibility that pushed him to live up to what he promised. At the same time Steve Job's drive can be described as entrepreneurial. An entrepreneur is characterized as someone with high degree of enthusiasm, visionary and a risk taker (Nahavandi, 2006).

• Enthusiasm: Steve Jobs was very energetic and passionate on what he did, as he said “I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life” (Jobs, 2005). His speeches always indicated a large degree of enthusiasm. One of the last speeches he gave in March 2011 for the “ipad2” launch, just a few months before his death was full of enthusiasm for that new product.

Steve Jobs as Transformational leader:

Steve Jobs is the only CEO of this generation who has successfully transformed four different industries: computing (the Mac), music (the iPod and itunes), mobile phone (the iPhone), and movies (Pixar). In this sense he is an example of transformational leader. Jobs was perceived as charismatic with a clear vision, ability to inspire others and passion for Apple, Inc. These qualities are prerequisites of transformational leaders (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010, p.618).

• Visionary leader;
  Apple Inc, led by Steve Jobs has proven itself at giving customers what they want before they know they want it. (Kahney, 2008). He had an uncanny ability to communicate his visions which led to incredible first-of-a-kind products like itunes, ipod, iphone, ipad. Job's vision of Apple products as more than productivity tools turned into a world phenomenon opening the eyes of industry and general population alike.

• Charismatic leader;
  Steve Jobs is extremely charismatic. He is known for his ability to captivate the audience’ attention during his speeches. He is seen as an idol and role model in the eyes of many people (Elkind, 2008). His charisma enabled him to motivate his employees to achieve more by transcending their own self-interest for the sake of Apple. His vision, and his ability to communicate it are the main attributes that makes Jobs to be perceived as charismatic.

However, he does lack the “Individualized consideration” attribute of a transformational leader. Steve Jobs is well-known to be arrogant and difficult to work with (Elkind, 2008 ; Kahney, 2008;Taylor ,2009). Especially in team meetings, Jobs leadership style tended towards screaming and humiliating employees who disagreed with his ideas. He made them work 90 hours weeks, and brutalized when they do not accomplish a huge task on a small deadline (Allen, 2011). He probably believed in being a belligerent leader as he acknowledges ”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.”(Issacson, 2012)

Steve Jobs as Transactional leader :

Even-though, Steve Jobs had plenty of transformational leadership attributes, he was also known for his task oriented style.

His behavior in meetings can be perceived as authoritative. He was a micromanager and according to Elkind (2008), he maintained close control of the day-to-day affairs of his business. Jobs admits that he had up to 100 individuals reporting directly to him which is rare for any CEO (Isaacson,2012). He did not seem to trust all of his employees. Apple is well known to be very secretive when dealing with the outside world, but it is equally secretive within. Apple employee's electronic security badges are programmed to restrict access to different areas of the campus (Kahney, 2008). The employees often have no insight on what their own company's various departments were up to.

It is these traits in Jobs, the micromanagement, control, and lack of trust in his employees that characterize him as a transactional leader.

Jobs’ leadership is difficult to categorize because his patterns and behaviors fit many of the leadership theory. He definitely possessed a unique combination of special traits and inherent leadership characteristics. The power of his personality makes him an ideal candidate for the trait theory model implying that leaders are born and leadership is art, not science. However, Steve Jobs was also a composite leader in a way, that he has shown that his leadership is situational as his leadership behavior  varied depending on circumstances. Steve Jobs faced a lot of different market situations during his career as the CEO and he has succeeded in all by adapting his organization based on contingent factors. He was both a transactional and a transformational leader. He might lack the trait of being sensitive toward the employee's emotional needs but Jobs’s rudeness and tyranny behavior were accompanied by an ability to be inspirational (Allen, 2011; Kahney, 2008).

Conclusion :

In summary, we have seen how early research on leadership searched for special traits and inherent characteristics to identify naturally born leaders. Subsequent research looked at leadership from the complex situational and contingency factors and how leaders emerged in these contexts. Leadership theories progressed from static to dynamic considerations and from viewing leadership as art to leadership as science .

Looking at Steve Jobs leadership legacy, we can recognize that none of the four ‘generations’ of leadership theory can be considered as mutually exclusive alternatives. Leadership may be something of an art; but it definitely requires the application of specific techniques to be effective. Steve Jobs has pursued all four theories in a balanced manner and I believe his leadership style was a key factor in Apple’s success.

References :

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