Was Steve jobs a technocrat?
Pitcher as cited by Kippenberger (2002) argues that a technocrat is a leader who is hardheaded, not open to suggestion, instills fear in his followers, detail oriented, intense, and who focuses on finding the right way of getting things done. Steve jobs leadership fits neatly the description of a technocrat. Steve was obsessed with control, and was generally very hard to work with. Mike Evangelist describes Apple as a place where “Everything had to be just right . No not ‘just right,’ it had to be great.” Steve would demand very high levels of performance from those who worked for him. Rubenstein puts working for Steve succinctly “With Steve pushing me I (could) achieve things I would not be able to do on my own.
Steve was always obsessed with excellence in everything he set out to do. Steve believed that software and hardware should seamlessly integrate, anything short of that was unacceptable. Steve was stubborn, temperamental and irascible (Gourlay, 2011). For instance, when Steve came back to Apple he eliminated the floppy disc drive from the iMacs, something that made the iMacs unpopular with a generation that was obsessed with sharing of music and CD burning. However, when Steve realized how important music was to that generation, he embarked on developing the iPod.
What was the nature of Steve Jobs?
Steve was a man obsessed with greatness and control. Steve was impulsively critical, for instance, during the development of the iPod, Jobs repeatedly plugged and unplugged the headphones before ordering the engineer to find a way to fix the headphones by the next day. Steve was creative and had a knack for great designs. For instance, when Steve jobs made his come back to Apple, he commissioned the production of translucent colorful iMacs. Steve hired Jonathan Ive to be part of his design team. Ive was part of a ‘heavenly design team’ and he had already won the London Design Museum’s designer of the Year award twice. Steve was an innovative and creative person and always aimed at remaining ahead of the curve by developing products that would change the industry. For instance, Steve led the introduction of Personal Computer in the 1980’s and revolutionized the music industry by introducing the iPod in the late 2001.
Steve was also a great negotiator and was able to secure favorable deals for Apple. For instance, when Apple introduced the iTunes, he was able to convince Warner to sign a content-licensing agreement on where customers would pay 99cents per track, Warner would receive 77 cents, and Apple would receive 22 cents. Sony and universal records signed up shortly thereafter. iTunes was to grow to become the largest online music seller in the world.
Strategist and leadership profile of Steve Jobs?
Steve biographer Isaacson (2012) highlights Steve jobs keys to success to include:
Focus – when Steve returned, he found Apple chaotic having several teams working on different products. He ordered the company to only focus on four products two notebooks, and two desktops one of each product aimed at the consumer and professional market (Isaacson, 2012).
Simplify – Steve believed that the company should eliminate non-value adding features on products and instead enhance the main attributes (Isaacson, 2012).
Take responsibility end-to-end - Steve believed in the seamless integration of hardware and software (Isaacson, 2012).
Bending reality- Steve believed that if you worked hard at something you can bend reality to accomplish the impossible, for this reason he pushed his team to accomplish what was thought impossible (Katzenbach, 2012).
When behind, leapfrog - When Steve realized that they had almost missed an opportunity to capture music lovers, he leapfrogged by developing the iPod to stay ahead of competition.
Put products before profits – When Steve returned to Apple, he declared that Apple would not produce another Dell or Compaq, but instead would produce premium products that they can sell at a premium.
Push for perfection – Steve pushed his team to achieve greatness and made them achieve what they could not possibly achieve on their own.
Tolerate only A-players – Steve only hired the best. Steve had a team of only A-players.
Know the big picture and the details – Steve was good both at articulating the vision as well as small details. For instance, Steve developed the vision of making music be portable and developed the iPod, and at the same time was obsessed with ensuring the headphone jacks for the iPod are perfect.
How does Apple use the 3P’s?
Apple uses the 3ps in its strategy as follows:
Practitioners - Apple’s strategy was formulated by the top 100 team that included the 100 most influential employees who would meet annually to discuss the main strategic issues relating to the present and the future of Apple (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013). The attendance of the meeting did not depend on the rank but the ideas an employee had to contribute (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013).
Practices – Apple organization is designed around small teams that enable Apple to have agility and focus (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013). For instance, it is claimed only two engineers were involved in writing the code for converting the Safari browser to iPad (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013).
Praxis – Apple held meetings and presentations on a regular basis. For instance, on Mondays, Apple would have meetings for reviewing the whole business, on Wednesday there would be a meeting for marketing and communications (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013). In the meetings, members make their presentations or demonstrate their prototypes, and at the end of each meeting, they would agree what needs to be done and who is responsible for the actions (Paroutis, Heracleous and Angwin, 2013).
Reference list
Gourlay, R. (2011). Strategy: How Steve Jobs changed the world. [online] BusinessZone.
Available at: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/community-voice/blogs/richard-gourlay/strategy-how-steve-jobs-changed-the-world [Accessed 13 Mar. 2016].
Isaacson, W. (2012). The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs. [online] Harvard Business
Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs [Accessed 13 Mar. 2016].
Katzenbach, J. (2012). The Steve Jobs Way. [online] strategy+business. Available at:
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00109?gko=d331b [Accessed 13 Mar. 2016].
Kippenberger, T. (2002). Leadership styles. Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub.
Paroutis, S., Heracleous, L. and Angwin, D. (2013). Practicing strategy. Los Angeles: SAGE.
