I admire Steve Jobs as a leader and there are several reasons why I do so; he is an innovative and genius person who everyone knows resurrected the company from ashes to become the most loved organization of all times. But there is more than merely his being a genius which sets him apart from non-leaders; these are his traits as a leader. First trait is adaptability; he had always welcomed criticism in his life and work because he admitted his flaws, realized where the problem was and then struggled to remove those. He was determined to become a better leader and was always adaptable towards change. Second trait is focus; the ability to remain focused is very important in this world which is full of opportunities (Isaacson, 2012). He had the ability to set a goal and then stayed fully committed until it turned into a success. Next trait is urgency; he always had a sense of urgency and considered time as the scarcest resource and the greatest tools which could make life a success; this is why he stayed ahead of the customers and built the products which would become the need soon. He was a visionary leader and never looked for replication; he wanted to build a life and not to love a life build by others. And the best thing was that not only vision was provided by him, he also ensured communicating this vision and aligning it with the employees and the customer’s needs (Sharma and Grant, 2011). He was an honest leader who would admit his mistake and demonstrated integrity by apologizing if required. As a person he was self-confident and emotionally stable; his success and innovation shows that he had job-relevant knowledge too. The traits in the trait theory are mostly the same as I have identified in Steve Jobs; he was a risk-taker; his vision and energy was his drive for building his own world for other people to live in; he had the knowledge of business; self-confident and honesty was his trait definitely; leadership motivation was also present in him. So, from the trait theory perspective, it can be concluded that Steve Jobs was undoubtedly a great leader and this was what made him a success.
References
Isaacson, W. (2012). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard Business Review, 90 (4), pp. 92--102.
Sharma, A. and Grant, D. (2011). Narrative, drama and charismatic leadership: The case of Apple’s Steve Jobs. Leadership, 7 (1), pp. 3--26.
