Somebody may become surprised to know that Jobs has not graduated any college (hestarted his education but never finished it), devoting all his lifetime to new technologies and innovations in this sphere. Thus, it appears that leadership is the feature which is natural, and not acquired? Probably this right, however, Jobs also proves that being a leader is a complex of various aspects and visions. The fact that he founded his Apple computer in 1976 and by the year 2005 the company already had around 15,000 employers is the evidence of the successful leadership features which Jobs was able to use in his career making both him and his company successful.
Steve jobs characteristics
A charismatic leader:
Known as the ‘Wonder kid’ of the Silicon Valley, Steve was known for pulling off seemingly impossible achievement. He was one of the few entrepreneurs who were reported to be as famous as a 1970s rock star. All through the late 1970s, Apple was always in the news.
Curious:
Steve had a sense of curiosity since childhood. He always wanted to discover the world and wanted to introduce his dreams through innovation of technological gadgets.
Entrepreneur:
Despite the lack of resources Steve designed the first computer. Upon completion Steve showed the system to local electronics equipment retailer. Impressed by the design, he ordered 25 systems. Steve invented many other ventures like Pixar animation, Disney, Next step and software like Macintosh etc.
The leader:
Steve was regarded as a source of motivation and inspiration by his employees. He described Macintosh development team as ‘souls who were well grounded in the philosophical traditions of the last 100 years and the sociological traditions of 1960s. Steve emphasized constancy of aim and effort. As a result, the Macintosh team pursued their dream through demanding hours of effort and against difficult odds.
Negotiation skills:
In late 1996, Apple’s CEO Gil Amelio proposed to buy ‘Next’ and asked Steve to sign a contract to work at apple for a certain period of rime, which Steve rejected because he stated that he did not want to disappoint anybody at ‘Next’. By rejecting the deal he proved that Gil wanted the deal more than Steve did. Due to his great negotiation skills he was appointed informal advisor at Apple with no contractual commitments.
GAPS
- Steve gave the world its first personal computer. Steve’s research on the Macintosh resulted in the creation of the windows interface and the mouse technology, which went on to become standards in the software industry.
- Steve also established successful entrepreneurial ventures like ‘Pixar Animation Studio’ and ‘Next’, Pixar, the creator of award winning films. Tiny toy and Toy story was known as the number one animation studio in the US.
- In the autumn of 1974, Steve attended meetings of Wozniak’s ‘Homebrew computer club’. Like most of the club members, Wozniak was comfortable with creating electronic gadgets and Steve persuaded him to him to build a PC which would revolutionize the hardware industry and the way computers would be used by common people.
- Steve introduced the iMac which was called the internet Macintosh. It was cheaper and faster than the Macintosh and had faster processor and more features which revolutionized the software industry and earned Apple a great deal of profits.
- At the time of launch of Macintosh, it was accompanied by an advertisement campaign that went on to become one of the most memorable ones in the US. The advertisement launched on Super bowl. The advantage was that Super bowl refers to the final game in a football tournament in the US, which is extremely popular in the people and because it is the most watched event is the US Steve chose to advertize as to get the opportunity to increase its market.
- At the time of release of Apple II, Steve invited independent programmers to write applications for the system. In response, Apple got library of 16,000 software applications that could be run on its system.
Conclusion
The present work has been designed for the discussion of the relevant leadership ideas to be applicable to the hospitality business, the example of the Apple’s CEO SteveJobs, who is supposed to be one of the most prominent leaders in the US business circles. It has become clear, that despite the fact that the leadership style of Jobs is sometimesconsidered to be too authoritative and his company to be personality-centered, it is obvious that he was able to achieve success and to make his company profitable.
