According to Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. (1982), Leadership is the ability of an individual to guide others and have the guided follow the leader's vision. Leadership is usually confused with management. However, leadership differs slightly with management. Unlike management that seeks to answer the question of guidance, management often focuses on having work done through the help of others. A good and efficient leader must have both elements of leadership and management. Steve Job is an example of an effective leader and what it takes for such a leader is discussed below.
Secondly, effective leaders are fearless and inspirational. An effective leader must be able to make tough calls and be ready to take responsibility for their decisions. In as much as active leaders’ value collaboration with employees, some decisions that are tough and could affect the life of the company are made by the leaders on their own (Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. 2000).When Steve Jobs started the Apple Incorporation, he understood that the decision to make just a few products was his responsibility and sure enough, he took the decision and bared the responsibility. However, the effective leader should be inspirational that is; the employees should authentically find themselves involved in the mission of the organization even if some decisions are made individually by the head.
Thirdly, according to Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. (2000), it takes creativity for one to become an effective leader. Creativity is important because of the evolving economic conditions and growing stiff competitions in the market. An effective leader should, therefore, be in a position to innovate new ideas that will make the organization a par or better than the competitors. Steve Jobs seemed to understand this concept. He created Apple with features that make the products very competitive in the market and also co-founded the Google Company. In Jobs’s famous quotes, he said that innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Vision is another trait that makes an effective leader. It takes a leader to fathom that everyone in the company understands that right now is the right moment to influence the future. The leader must be in a position to do an entirely different thing from what is already in the market and at the same time keep up with the computer. Unlike many leaders who were satisfied with the use of smartphones and a computer. Steve Jobs went ahead and created the iPad that stole the hearts of consumers and further revolutionized the operations in the business world. Today, most meetings are attended and notes taken with iPads, thanks to the vision of Steve Jobs.
Adaptability is yet another outstanding quality that makes a leader effective (Lawler III, E. E. 1986). An effective leader can interact with employees from a different setting and a different mindset. Steve Jobs had emotional intelligence and the ability to avoid internalizing the annoyance into his job. He was humorous and stress-free at work, and this made it easy for him to adapt with the employees. Secondly, Steve Jobs was so open to criticism that any employee could give his or her idea as regards the products of Apple Incorporation.
Sixth vital characteristic of an effective leader is a sense of control. An effective leader should have a good sense of controlled urgency and grad opportunities in the market as and when they appear. The feature of controlled urgency is what made Steve Jobs become an exceptionally effective leader. Steve Jobs often created products before the customers identified that they needed the same. Taking an instance of the iPad, no one ever thought of the necessity of something other than the smartphones and the computers not until Steve Jobs invented the iPads. Ironically, the product is almost the most owned in the market.
The seventh characteristic that makes one an effective leader is the ability to bend reality. Steve Jobs had the capacity to push people to try the impossible and this enabled him to achieve a lot. Steve Jobs usually told the employees that they can do the impossible if they do not realize it was impossible. For instance, Steve Jobs asked one employee, Steve Wozniak, to create a game called Breakout which according to Wozniak could take a month (Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. 1982). On the contrary, Steve Jobs insisted that the creation of the game could take a maximum of four days and so it was.
The ability of a leader to engage face to face makes them efficient. Face to face interaction is applicable both to the consumers and the employees. A leader should be able to meet customers and get first-hand information about it. On the other hand, the manager should make arrangements for meeting the employees so as to get feedback on their views as regards the products of the organization. Steve Jobs was a fanatic of random meetings as he described them as the source of productive ideas. Jobs had a Pixar building just to support the casual meetings with employees and see whatever they were doing without relying on ichat (Norris, S. L., Engelgau, M. M., & Narayan, K. V. 2001).
According to Norris, S. L., Engelgau, M. M., & Narayan, K. V. (2001), an effective leader should take responsibility end to end. Most organizations that make products do not make follow ups on the consumer experience. Steve Jobs knew the secret of becoming extraordinarily active. The whole system of customer experience reflected tight collaboration. To increase the efficiency of iPad, Steve Jobs decided to include few features and buttons and not the complexities of a computer.
Finally, an effective leader should be able to simplify issues in the organization. When there is sophistication in the company, and everyone seems to be stranded, it takes an effective leader to make the situation simpler and manageable. Steve Jobs had the intention of coming up with products that could not challenge the employees but instead make them feel relaxed. For instance, when Jobs went to Xerox's company and found out that the firm had three button mouse costing three hundred dollars, he devised a simpler one button mouse that was easier and friendlier to users. Throughout the career of Steve Jobs, he had the intention to conquer complexity by coming up with the easier product (Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. 1988).
In conclusion, the elements of what it takes to be an effective leader are but not limited to the ones discussed above. However, effective leaders, just like other leaders, have failures, but their achievements outdo the failures (Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. 1988). It is vital for a leader to be innovative, have focus, bend reality, be confident, take responsibility end to end and finally make face to face engagements.
References.
Lawler III, E. E. (1986). High-Involvement Management. Participative Strategies for Improving Organizational Performance. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Norris, S. L., Engelgau, M. M., & Narayan, K. V. (2001). The effectiveness of self-management training in type 2 diabetes a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Diabetes care, 24(3), 561-587.
Smircich, L., & Morgan, G. (1982). Leadership: The management of meaning. Journal of applied behavioral science, 18(3), 257-273.
Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. (1988). The new leadership: Managing participation in organizations. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. (2000). Generations at work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters in your workplace (p. 280). New York, NY: Amacom.
