Leadership of Steve Jobs

The day he announced a new product, the world cheered. The day he passed away, the world lamented. The time I mention about Apple, you know who I am referring to. Yes, He is Steve Jobs, who imprinted innovation with his name.

Let me ask you a question. What is his most important creation? Your answer probably will be iPod, iPhone or any of his products. But for Steve Jobs, it is nothing among Apple's favorable devices. To everyone's surprise, his answer is Apple, the company. He said, "Making an enduring company was far harder and more important than making a great product." He made it. Thinking he is a great leader, we started to examine his leadership. Here is our result. Hopefully, we could bring up some valuable tips for us to build our own leadership.

1. Steve Jobs' Personality Lessons

(1) Abandon and Focus

"Abandon and focus" which are the two of the most important elements in leadership skills were ingrained in Jobs' personality. A famous conversation between him and Larry Page who was about resume control Google reinforces that notion. Near at the end of his life, jobs gave Larry some advice. "The main thing I stressed is focus," Steve told page. "What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they are dragging your down."

(2) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

The sentence was his title of Harvard speech. Steve said that while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

(3) Striving for perfection:

Steve Jobs, influenced by his father in his childhood. His father taught him to paint perfectly to every corner. The reason is that when we ignore something intentionally, thinking that no one will discover, we, ourselves, know that it is not perfect.

Moreover, the 1970s mixed culture also has an impact on Steve, making him an artist of IT industry. You probably heard about the delay of iPad production. The only reason was that, Jobs was slightly not satisfied with the shape. Actually, same thing happened to iPhone, Macintosh and Pixar. Before his product met his "perfect" satisfaction, he would not put it to massive production.

2. Steve Jobs' Communication Lessons

Weaknesses:

(1) Marginal listener

To be honest, Steve Jobs was not a good listener. One of his co-worker complained that "when told of a new idea, he will immediately attack it" and if it was a good one, "he will soon be telling people about it as though it was his own". Steve's relentless quest for perfection, domineering presence and obsessive need to control fostered as much as fear within the Apple culture.

(2) Lack of patience

Job's pursuit for perfection was not only about product but also about people around him as well. Driven by demon, he could drive those around him to fury and despair. The environment under Jobs was not good. There are multiple accounts of his temper flaring and causing him to fire random employees for minor reasons, terminate important business relationships, and cause executives to resign after altercations that include personal attacks.

The Times evaluated him that the great accomplishment of Jobs' life is how effectively he put his idiosyncrasies--his petulance, his narcissism, and his rudeness--in the service of perfection.

Strengths:

(1) Engage Face