Was Steve Jobs an Effective Leader?

I personally believe that Steve Jobs was a very effective leader, based on the amazing results produced by the company, the unimaginable products created by the company and many more. He was able to manage his employee’s very well, and he was able to push them way beyond they dreamed of. From this statement, I can deduce that he was a leader who had excellent motivational skills, and using these skills of his, managed to motivate so many people all around the world, including those who don’t work for him. Even though he was pretty harsh with his staff, they all still produced the results, and still continued working with him, meaning that his style of leadership worked on all of them. To sum up, I would say that Steve Jobs was an amazing leader, which is why Apple did so well and is still doing very well, as well as because many companies use his techniques and leadership method.

One of the best moments in Steve Jobs life would be the release of the iPod, which was the beginning of Apple’s main resurgence. This would be because it was the first product to be launched after a long time. It would have been of the best moments in Steve Jobs life because it marks the point where the company is recovering and developing again. 

What is a Good Leader?

Based on my opinion, I would say that a good leader is defined as a leader who is able to lead his team well to achieve the goal, vision and target of the company, and at the same time, be able to motivate staff to complete the given. I personally do not believe that a good leader is a leader that is excellent at producing good results for the company. Achieving the target and goal is only one small portion of being a leader. A good leader is someone who has the skills and ability to work with his team of employees, by treating them well, motivating them, and portraying the abilities and strength of someone who can make something unimaginable a reality, not only in the company, but also among the staff and himself. 

Leadership Style

Steve Jobs practiced an autocratic leadership style when he led Apple. He strongly believed in this leadership style because he wanted the products created by the company to be effective and something that consumers would expect and want. He was very strong with his decisions and expectations and his staff were well aware of this. “According to the American author Andrew Keen’s best seller, called The Cult of the Amateur, there is not a single time where democracy was practised at Apple” ⁽¹⁾. It was all along the traditional leadership style which was the autocratic leadership style. Based on my opinion, the reason why Steve Jobs believed in autocratic leadership would be because in this case, output and innovation has to occur rapidly, and if he were to lead his company democratically, decision making would be slow, causing the innovation to occur less rapidly. “It is the way he led his team that made Apple go so far.”⁽¹⁾ In my opinion, I believe that in a company, in which products have to be created and developed fast enough, it has to be autocratic leadership. This would be because the staff has no choice but to follow the strict instructions of the leader, which means that the chances of the job being completed by the deadline would be higher, as compared to other leadership styles, in which the dictation and authority of the leader is a little lesser than that of an autocratic leader. 

Motivation Techniques

Steve Jobs is known as one of those leaders who really know how to motivate his staff, which is also one of the reasons to why apple is well known, and is always in the market among consumers. “He is one who does not mention about profit or sales, when he motivates his staff, and instead motivates them by saying that they have to come up with amazing, unimaginable products” ⁽²⁾. By doing so, he removes the monetary perspective in them. Based on my opinion, I believe that as employees, when you are motivated by your leader without mentioning about profit, it would make you feel more valued in the company/position. This would be because you will have that sense of satisfaction when you know that the only reason you are in that specific company doing the job is because you produce good sales, and it is because your effort and knowledge is appreciated by your leader. In addition, Steve Jobs are one of the people who came up with s many motivational and inspirational quotes, that are commonly used in today’s world. One quote that Jobs came up with which is something I believe would have motivated his employees would be that “I want to put a ding in the universe” ⁽³⁾. Out of the many quotes he wrote, I believe this is something that will drive employees. This would be because, when you are motivated, by saying that you should make a difference to the world, who would not want to do so. His staff would have strived, looking at how he made so much of difference to the world, to make a difference themselves. Therefore, I would say that the key motivation that he used was the way he delivered his message to his staff, in a way that it’ll make them work very hard in order to achieve their personal goal, more than just achieving the company’s goal only. 

Communication Techniques

Communication is very important in every company, for the matter of fact that if communication is not effective, the jobs and tasks will not be done and delivered well, according to the expectations and targets. What Steve Jobs practiced in Apple was that every employee, from the top managers to every junior staff has a “crystal clear understanding of the goals and visions for the future” ⁽⁴⁾. “The employees also know exactly how their contributions would affect the company” ⁽⁴⁾. This therefore shows that the communication method used by Steve Jobs to deliver his message was spot on. He believed that in order for the staff to be able to produce good results, they have to know head and tail on what is going on in the company, and what the company wants in the future. In addition, “Steve Jobs also had meetings on a regular basis, in which he met with his executive management team to discuss on progress on projects, any problems and etc” ⁽⁴⁾ . This way, the employees are always able to communicate well with his entire team and I also believe that problems will be solved faster this way, since meetings are held regularly. “The message delivered by Steve Jobs, regardless of whether it is to customers or his staff, is always positive” ⁽⁴⁾. When one delivers a message positively, there is a high chance of the response being positive as well. This works in every scenario, even in a school. If the teacher teaches the class with a depressing and negative tone of voice, her students will also be as negative as she is. 

Recruitment Process in Apple (MODEL)

Apple is one of those companies who are particular when it comes to hiring. They do not hire anyone, and look into many aspects, such as qualification, experience, attitude and many more, just like some other multinational companies. As normal, candidates will have to go through interviews before being accepted by the company. “ The candidates usually have to be interviewed 4 times, in which it will be 4-5 people being interviewed at the same time” ⁽⁵⁾.  According to another source, “the candidates will have to deliver a presentation and do some on the spot exercises during the interview”⁽⁶⁾. The interviewers would be those of the higher ranks in the company, such as the senior managers, executive team leaders and etc. The company looks for candidates who have great records in technology, and who are committed to pursue personal growth and development. 

Corporate Culture practiced in Apple Inc.

The corporate culture practiced in Apple by Steve Jobs would be the aggressive culture, which would be something that is expected by a leader who practices autocratic leadership. As mentioned in the earlier sections, he pushes his employees real hard, to the limit. He makes sure all of gives their best to every single piece of work. Its’ not only in written work that quality is very important, but he is very particular about how his staff answer questions as well. “He once sacked one of his employees for not being able to answer his question, “What have you done for Apple lately?” well enough”⁽⁸⁾. Steve Job is very obsessed over details. Many of us may think that no one will want to work in a company that practices this kind of culture, however, it is not true when it comes to Apple, because “it is one of the most successful companies in the world” ⁽⁸⁾.