LEADERSHIP STYLES

Leadership styles of Steve Jobs and Gordon Bethune



Leadership Styles of Steve Jobs and Gordon Bethune

Apples Late Chief Executive and Cofounder Steve Jobs

The manager's eventual success depends on his ability to “getting things done”. Steve Jobs unique character has not been adequately highlighted in the mainstream media. His genius and foresight has been well documented, rather his ability to extract the most out of each employee through a confrontational attitude is still unknown. Steve Jobs was extremely passionate regarding all elements of the work place environment and demanded only the best effort from the employees. Individuals, who did not meet his ethical standards, had often faced with aggressive verbal confrontations (Berka, 2007).

The spirit of innovation was instilled in the company by its co- founder Steve Jobs. The role of Steve Jobs in Apple's pursuit for innovation cannot be ignored. There are only a scarce number of individuals in the world, who can be more closely affiliated with innovation, than the co- founder of Apple. His influence in establishing Apple as a unique brand has been monumental. Starting his company in a room of his parents' house, Jobs was able to pioneer the first personal computer. The company had rough initial years, where the management faced numerous challenges, which are common to a startup business. Perplexed by the financial dilemmas the company management made a hasty decision of firing Steve Jobs. In order to understand the influence of the company's co- founder; in its success as a multinational giant, the analysis of the impact that Jobs made to the company after returning in 1997 is crucial. A company experiencing it's toughest financial challenges and had lost a considerable amount of its market was given an innovative spirit by Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was the genius behind Apple's meteoric rise, as he ushered the lack luster management to an era of innovation and strategic decision making (Kim, & Mauborgne, 2005). Jobs was able to refocus the Apple management's perspective to the core philosophy of the company. He was able to communicate to the company, that the only way Apple can achieve success is by revisiting the vision through which the company was created. Over his period as the CEO of Apple Jobs was able to reinvent the company several times, and was able to achieve success in markets which were already dominated by numerous sizeable competitors. With the exception of a few ventures, Jobs achieved unprecedented success in every venture as the CEO of Apple. In this paper, the significance of Apple's core philosophy of continuous Innovation in its meteoric rise to a global phenomenon will be critically analyzed.

Steve Jobs was an integral part of the Apple revolution, as it emerged as a global phenomenon. The question still remains, whether the company was overly dependent on the charismatic leader. A new CEO would find difficulties in coping with the contemporary US business environment, characterized with the financial recession and a volatile market. The structure of the company was shaped by the ...