Management
Management
Steve Jobs is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential leaders. Certainly, the way Steve Jobs became the driving force behind Apple Inc's success, and with it, impacted the technological world, does not have any equal. While it would be fair to say that the leadership style that Steve Jobs adopted was not, perhaps, to everybody's liking, there is little doubting the fact that without Steve, the world would be much worse off.
Born on the 24th of February 1955 in Los Altos California, Steve Jobs had an eye for technology ever since he was a teenager. In a famous event that has gone down in history, Steve Jobs once called the president of Hewlitt-Packard, William Hewlett, and asked him for parts for a school project that Steve had. The bold step that Steve took impressed William Hewlett to such an extent that not only he gave Steve the parts, but also offered him a summer internship at the company. Steve Jobs' time at Hewlitt-Packard was perhaps the defining moment of his early career. Here, Steve met his future partner and Apple Co-Founder, Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was five years senior to Steve, but like Steve, he also had an eye for technology. Steve Jobs then graduated from high school, but never completed college, dropping out after just one semester. Steve then went on to work for Atari, and went on a trip India to study Eastern Culture. Steve then returned to the United States, and this was the time where his partnership with Steve Wozniak went up a notch. At the time, Wozniak was developing a computer. However, for Wozniak, the computer was barely a hobby, and he never had any serious plans about taking into the commercial markets. For Steve Jobs though, the computer that his partner was developing was something that had huge potential. Always the visionary, Steve Jobs convinced his partner to go into business, and in 1975, the then 20 year old Steve set up Apple in his own garage. The pair then went on to work on the computer dubbed Apple 1. The Apple 1 turned out to be a success mainly with hobbyists, but sold in enough numbers for Jobs and Wozniak to move ahead. The pair then went on to develop the Apple II, and this was the first proper computer that the company made. The Apple II went on to become a major success, with first year sales going up to 3 million dollars. Only two years later, sales topped 200 million dollars. (Bort, 2013)
However, Apple could not continue with the kind of success it had managed to achieve during its early years, and the follow up to the Apple II, the LISA, met with failure. In fact, things got so bad for Steve Jobs that in 1983, he was ousted from Apple, the company he so lovingly founded. For most people, having to face such a disaster would be more than enough to bog them down. For Steve though, failure was a mere obstacle that he had to overcome in order to find success. While Steve Jobs had to face more failure with the NeXT computer, his investment in Pixar paid off. Pixar then co-developed Toy Story with Disney, and the movie was a smash hit, prompting Steve to take Pixar Public. Once again, Steve Jobs created his own success, and impressed with his antics, Apple appointed him as the CEO of the company once again. Steve's re-appointment as the CEO was what changed Apple Inc forever.
Steve's immense eye for innovation and relentless urge to move ahead led to the creation of legendary status products such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. His creations made Steve an almost mythical figure amongst technology enthusiasts, and even general consumers. The world stood up and took notice when Steve spoke, his every word being followed closely as if whatever he said was worth in gold.
Perhaps the most significant moment of Steve Jobs' career was how he impacted Apple when he was appointed interim CEO. At the time, Apple was in decline; the company's share prices kept going down, and competitors such as Microsoft and IBM were becoming stronger by the day. Such was Apple's plight that its CEO at the time that Gil Amelio famously lost his way during a speech at MacWorld.. While Jobs had only become interim CEO then, he immediately got to work, striking a deal with arch rival Microsoft over patent issues. Steve worked relentlessly hard to get the company back on track. He called each and every Apple product in the company's conference room, and analyzed it. Steve was of the belief that unless a product was vital to Apple's strategy, it would not be produced any more. Steve then killed the Mac clone business, and created Apple's online store, which was a novelty at the time. Then, only after 11 months when he was made interim CEO, Steve powered Apple and the company created two great products, the PowerBook, and Power Mac. Churning product after product, Steve then announced the arrival of the iMac. The iMac changed the way the world thought about computers, and the consumer desktop market was changed forever. The iMac was a successor to the Macintosh, and both computers, it would be safe to say, saved Apple Inc. Steve Jobs instilled a sense of confidence into Apple; something that company was lacking badly. He wanted to create innovators, artists that would make products with the maximum detail.
After Steve Jobs death on October 5th 2011, Apple Inc appointed Tim Cook as the company's CEO. Succeeding Steve was undoubtedly a tough task for the new CEO, and is evident from the company's current position. Apple's stock prices have gone down from what they used to be once, and the company has not been quite living up to its 'innovator' billing. The job for Tim Cook and his staff is to not change Apple Inc, but to continue the success that Steve Jobs brought to the company. However, it would be unfair to say that Apple is struggling. Although stock prices have gone down, Apple continues to make smash hit products. It's latest, the iPad mini, has been a huge success. Moreover, if rumors are anything to go by, Apple is in the process of developing yet another innovative product, dubbed the iWatch. It is as if Steve Jobs has made everyone at Apple an innovator, and the company has that trait built into its core.
References
Business & Money. (n.d.). Business Money Two Years After Steve Jobs Death Is Apple a Different Company Comments. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://business.time.com/2013/10/04/two-years-after-steve-jobs-death-is-apple-a-different-company/
Steve Jobs: An Extraordinary Career. (n.d.). Entrepreneur. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/19753
Apple's Mac turns 30: How Steve Jobs' baby took its first steps. (n.d.). • The Register. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/24/thirty_years_of_the_apple_macintosh_p1/
Bort, J. (2013, September 9). Former Apple CEO John Sculley Speaks Out About Ousting Steve Jobs: 'I Blame The Board'. Business Insider. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://www.businessinsider.com/sculley-talks-about-ousting-steve-jobs-2013-9
