US management and leadership: Steve Jobs

Résumé du document

The aim of this assignment is to consider the leadership style of the Apple's CEO Steve Jobs through the analysis of the articles and works connected with his business activity. Steve Jobs is the current CEO and co-founder of Apple, Inc. Steve Jobs also was the CEO and majority shareholder of Pixar until the animation studio was acquired by Disney in 2006. However, Jobs is currently on the board of directors at Disney, and is the company's largest individual share holder. Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, and was put up for adoption at birth. His adopted parents named him Steven Paul Jobs, and grew up just south of his birthplace in Cupertino, California. After attending local, Homestead High School, Jobs enrolled Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after only one semester. In 1974, Jobs moved back to California and shortly after went on a spiritual journey to India. Soon after returning home, Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computers.

Extraits

[...] How was Steve Jobs considered by his employees? Steve was regarded as a source of motivation and inspiration by his employees. He described the Macintosh development team as 'souls who were well grounded in the philosophical traditions of the last 100 years and the sociological traditions of the 1960s.' Steve emphasized constancy of aim and effort. As a result, the Macintosh team pursued their dream through gruelling hours of work and against formidable odds. A reporter who interviewed the Macintosh team once said, "The machine's development was traumatic, joyful, gruelling, lunatic, rewarding and ultimately the major event in the lives of almost everyone involved." Steve was reportedly an enigma to many at his office as well as people in business circles. [...]

[...] The ups and downs in Steve's career graph and the way in which he overcame the obstacles are discussed in detail. Steve's departure from Apple and his comeback have been explored in depth. This paper is an attempt to analyze one of the prominent leaders of the present time through the key features, which make him that prominent. The key issues to be analyzed are what personal and business characteristics the leader possesses and should possess to make it stably profitable, recognizable and trusted through the application of the leadership style peculiar of Steve Jobs, the Apple's CEO and the person who has made Apple company one of the key players on the market of advanced technologies. [...]

[...] The true leader in any business has to know how to motivate his employees, use his charisma, deliver his management vision to them and direct them towards realization of the set goals. This will make any company recognizable, trusted, known and successful, with stable market success and high profitability. Steve Jobs' success at Apple came to be seen in the global corporate world as proof of his excellence as a leader and entrepreneur. He was regarded as a tenacious, resilient and driven leader who successfully overcame great setbacks and challenges time and again. Steve did get knocked down many-a- time, but he always rebounded with tremendous determination. [...]

[...] Soon after returning home, Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computers. Steve Jobs and Apple Initially founded as a partnership between Jobs and Wozniak, Apple went public in 1980 with the advent and success of the Apple II. On the heels of Apple's ascent, Jobs hired John Sculley then, top executive at Pepsi. However, in 1984 a sales slump caused a contentious relationship between Scully and Jobs the result of which found Jobs unemployed. Jobs' Other Projects In 1986, Jobs' founded NeXT Computer. [...]

[...] However, Jobs is currently on the board of directors at Disney, and is the company's largest individual share holder. Early Years Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, and was put up for adoption at birth. His adopted parents named him Steven Paul Jobs, and grew up just south of his birthplace in Cupertino, California. After attending local, Homestead High School, Jobs enrolled Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after only one semester. In 1974, Jobs moved back to California and shortly after went on a spiritual journey to India. [...]