4 I’s Study Essay
Is Steve Jobs a Leader or a Manager? John Sculley former CEO of both PepsiCo ;amp; Apple states that the differences between leadership and management is; “Leadership is often confused with other things, specifically management. Management requires an entirely different set of skills.As Sculley sees it, leadership revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation…One can’t lead unless he can leverage more than his own capabilities… You have to be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist-which is what management is and not leadership. There’s no doubt that Steve Jobs will go down as one of the most creative, visionary, and high-impact leaders of his generation — or any generation for that matter.How many corporate executives can make a legitimate claim to have reshaped not just one industry but four: computing (the Mac), music (the iPod), mobile communications (the iPhone), and movies (Pixar).
How many CEOs can make the legitimate claim that they achieved their wealth and power by making tens of millions of people so unbelievably happy that they worship the company and its products with near-religious devotion? The answer is most likely zero.After reading an exclusive interview from CNN money Steve Jobs highlighted a lot of the questions that many people have about his company; “Steve has built a very deep bench of managers, including the leadership of Tim Cook, who clearly understands Steve’s vision, goals and direction,” said Mr. Bajarin, who has followed Apple for 30 years.
Others were not so sure. “You could make the case that Steve has injected so much of his DNA into Apple that Apple will continue,” said Guy Kawasaki, who was an Apple executive in the late 1980s. “Or you can make the case that without Steve, Apple will flounder.But you cannot make the case that Apple without Steve Jobs will be better. Hard to conceive of that. ” When asked if Apple could live without Jobs he was quoted saying this; “We’ve got really capable people at Apple.
I made Tim [Cook] COO and gave him the Mac division and he’s done brilliantly. I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble. ‘ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple. And the board would have some good choices about who to pick as CEO.My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do. ” On his demanding reputation: “My job is to not be easy on people.
My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be. ” According to Jobs, his management style is based on the fact that Apple has 25,000 people.About 10,000 of them are in the stores. Jobs job is to work with the top 100 people, that’s what I do. That doesn’t mean they’re all vice presidents. Some of them are just key individual contributors.
So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.When Apple is in the hiring process it is always hard to find good talent. Jobs states, “When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself. They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else.
“Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack.We do it ourselves and we spend a lot of time at it. I’ve participated in the hiring of maybe 5,000-plus people in my life. So I take it very seriously.
You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? Why are they here? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here? ‘ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for.
It’s the meta-data. ” No less an authority than Jack Welch has called Jobs “the most successful CEO today. Jobs, at age 53, has even become a global cultural guru, shaping what entertainment we watch, how we listen to music, and what sort of objects we use to work and play. He has changed the game for entire industries. Jobs is also among the most controversial figures in business.
He oozes smug superiority, lacing his public comments with ridicule of Apple’s rivals, which he casts as mediocre, evil, and – worst of all – lacking taste. No CEO is more willful, or more brazen, at making his own rules, in ways both good and bad.No CEO is more personally identified with – and controlling of – the day-to-day affairs of his business. Even now, Jobs views himself less as a mogul than as an artist, “Apple’s creator-in-chief.
” He has listed himself as “co-inventor” on 103 separate Apple patents, everything from the user interface for the iPod to the support system for the glass staircase used in Apple’s dazzling retail stores. The question still remains if Steve Jobs is more efficient as a manager or as a leader and based on everything that was read Jobs was more of a manager.Jobs took it upon himself to develop a super-team of managers and directors. Jobs calls these folks his top 100. Jobs credits a lot of Apples’ success to his own ideas. Jobs credits himself with the invention of the Apple IPod, IPad, IPhone, and Macbook Air – 4 of Apples most prominent and successful items to date.
In the readings completed over and over every reading suggest Steve Jobs is a one-of-a-kind CEO and a natural leader, but testament was found that shows a disagreement on all fronts. Being a leader is about establishing a want for your team to achieve.A team follows a leader because they want to achieve greatness and show they are a great team.
Jobs doesn’t have the same connection many great leaders have had with their pupils. For instance Jack Welch seemed to forge an incredible bond with his employees because he knew each of them had something to offer and made it a point to send each employee through the training facility of GE all 288,000 of them in the 1980’s ;amp; 90’s. Jobs states that his only connections are to his “top 100”. Jobs suffers most from the “smartest guy in the room syndrome” as it pertains to management at the CEO level.
Humility is not part of the Steve Jobs leadership repertoire — and that’s worked out fine for him,” adding that fellow CEOs would be wise not to emulate Jobs’ example. “Don’t think you’ll do better as a leader by acting more like Apple’s leader,” Taylor writes. “Trust the art, not the artist. ” Another relevant argument is Jobs’ lack of declaration to his liver transplant. This certainly complicates relations with Apple’s board of directors. That is one more example of Jobs’ reported attitude that “regular rules need not apply. Yet CEOs are supposed to be the face of the company, and such actions no doubt reflect poorly on the organization. BIBLIOGRAPHY Elkind, Peter.
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