Leadership Qualities – Traits, Skills, and Style of Steve Jobs

He had many ups and downs from the beginning of his life but still, he turned around and became one of the influential leaders in the world. He was born in San Francisco in the year 1955. Steve Wozniak and him first made the Apple Inc public in 1980 and later co-founded it in 1997. Jobs left Apple in the middle and first developed Pixar, an animation producer and then founded NeXT to create high-end computers. In the late 1990s, he rejoined Apple and spent the rest of his life with the company.

Leadership Qualities – Traits, Skills, and Style of Steve Jobs

His leadership qualities can be found through his works and anyone can learn from his work and fame. Few astounding leadership qualities of Steve Jobs are being discussed here.

Have a Clear Vision: Steve Jobs had a totally different thinking level than other leaders. He was a visionary leader and he had the quality to find out the customers’ demands. In an interview with Campbell, Jobs told him what personal computers will be going to look like and how personal computers will change the world. After interviewing him, Campbell said, vision was the thing that made Steve Jobs unique from others.

Adaptability: Adaptability is Steve Job’s one of the most important qualities and used it in many situations to keep himself mentally strong. Jobs was fired from Apple at the age of 30 because of lacking empathy and other leadership skills. Then in the next 12 years, he adapted his skills and leadership style to make himself fit better according to the needs of the company. He struggled with his criticism & flaws for a long time but he had the ability to adapt those and wouldn’t he be a better leader without this quality.

Hire and Develop the Best: One of his greatest qualities is hiring the suitable person for the job. Steve Jobs said, “There is no need to hire smart people and tell them what to do rather hire smart people so that they can tell us what to do”. In one of his interviews, he told the greatest people are self-managing and they don’t need to be managed. So, it’s better to hire and develop the best and once they know how to do it, they go and do it. All they need is a common idea.

Focus: Steve Jobs was determined to make his upcoming products exciting & unique. This leadership quality made his products most successful among the customers. He was always focused to provide quality products and spend his energy on perfecting that product. His ability to stay focused on the production rather than making money turned his business into a well-known brand.

Have Confidence: Steve Jobs showed us with his works, how important it is to have confidence in oneself. Steve Jobs broke all the barriers with the confidence he had and he presented us with the most innovative objects of technology. Once he was looking for a special type of glass for iPhone and he wanted it quickly. When an employee said it was impossible to get the glass within a short time, Steve Jobs confidently said “Yes you can do it. You can deliver, don’t be afraid.”. This type of confidence gave his team members the boost to believe in themselves.

Leadership Style of Steve Jobs

According to different narratives, it is understandable that Steve Jobs’ leadership style belongs to an autocratic leader. He hardly listens to his staff’s opinion and makes decisions without taking any insights from them. He would not consult with anyone prior to a decision and he always wanted everyone to obey his commands. He was ousted from Apple because of his directive leadership behavior but still he set up rules for his employees when he came back. He always knew what his plan is and how would it work. Apple’s customers of specific target markets now realize his directive leadership and perfectionism when their life has become more interesting by using comfortable laptops, iPads, or multi-touch screen cellphones in public places with complete satisfaction.

Leadership Traits of Steve Jobs

Leadership traits are god gifted that few people possess and Steve Jobs is one of them. He had the magic of attracting people and taking himself in a prestigious position. Some of his leadership traits have been mentioned below.

Self-Managing: Steve Jobs was able to manage himself from his childhood when his parents abandoned him. He was becoming more dependable of himself and tend to make decisions by himself. He was able to prioritize his goals when his family left him near Silicon Valley where many electronic masters used to work and he couldn’t help himself out and attracted to this sector. In this way, he accomplished his childhood by joining HP with the help of his neighbor and started his journey in the technology sector.

Risk Taker: A perfection in producing products and serving the customers is much needed for Steve Jobs. As a result, he often took risks to make his goal fulfilled and he never compromised on perfection. He trusted his judgments in taking risks and he knew what people needed most. Even before he launched the iPod, Jobs went for the headphone jacks to get them replaced. This is a clear example of how determined he was to take such risks for better outcomes.

Passionate: Passion made Steve Jobs one of the outstanding leaders in world history. He had the greatest motivation to do his work which he loved the most. Jobs did not get any money from Apple for the first three years when he came back for the company. Still, he continued to work in Apple and it was his passion & dedication to make astonishing unique products and change the perspective for customers. He never gave up his dedication to working for Apple even when he caught cancer.

Besides these, his other leadership traits are –

• An Effective Communicator
• Learning Agility
• Social Leader
• Positive Leader etc.

Leadership Skills of Steve Jobs

When Steve Jobs started his career in Apple and was looking for moving up, his leadership skills became his most valuable assets. Few of his astonishing leadership skills are being presented here.

Creativity: Steve Jobs always used to think out of the box and as a creative leader, he never chose a safe & conventional path. He noticed that people burned CDs on their personal computers from online. The Mac could not record CDs even though it managed videos and photos and Jobs found he was missing an opportunity here. He redesigned the concept and innovated an ecosystem that transmuted the entertainment industry with iTunes software and iTunes store. Steve Jobs was successful making it simple to buy and manage music from websites and store it on iPod or pc.

Strategic Thinking: Redesigning needs a strategic thinker who will lead the product to success. Apple’s iPhone went through several trials before Jobs’ team came up with a pleasing & functional design. Initially, the iPhone had an aluminum case that covered most of the front side of the phone which left a small area for the display and blocked radio waves from reaching the signal processors. Then Jobs and his electrical engineers developed a new version with their strategic thinking where the front side was glass and it improved the signal quality.

Psychological Skill: Steve Jobs’ psychological skill helped him to control his fellow employees and to maintain dominance in the company. Sometimes Jobs used to be rude in the first place to destroy the person’s confidence who tried to go against his thoughts. Then he built a parent image to guide that person and convince him to grant Jobs’ proposal.

Presentation Skill: He had very high presentation skill and he applied a few techniques in his presentation which inspired his audience all the time. With his presentation skill, he motivated his customers, investors, and employees. He always used to sell dreams, not his products to the audience. When iPod appeared in the market in the year 2001, he said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place”. Steve Jobs accepted the iPod as a tool to enrich people’s lives whereas most people saw it as a music player.

Conclusion

Steve Jobs’ leadership attributes set him apart from the other leaders in the world and allowed him to be one of the greatest leaders of all time. When we look at Apple, the way it revolutionized the technological industry, would have not been possible without the phenomenal qualities and skills of Steve Jobs.

Reference(s)

• https://medium.com/@vishalnoel7/top-6-attributes-of-steve-jobs-that-make-him-a-great-leader-1175eba08e0c
• https://aboutleaders.com/6-leadership-lessons-steve-jobs/#gs.bm41po
• https://achieveiconic.com/leadership/leadership-qualities-of-steve-jobs
• https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/outstanding-leadership-traits-of-steve-jobs-media-essay.php
• http://www.centerforworklife.com/the-leadership-qualities-of-steve-jobs/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/susankalla/2012/04/02/10-leadership-tips-from-steve-jobs/#784d2dd0667f