Leading Lessons in Leadership From

Leading

Lessons in Leadership from Steve Jobs

In assessing why Steve Jobs is consistently ranked as one of the most exceptional leaders of his generation, his leadership attributes and styles, personal strengths and perspective on how to make achievement relevant all matter in the analysis. Jobs' innate ability to interlink the personal attributes of the Apple brand with the products' design and the value loyal customers get is exceptional (Beckman, Harris, 2008). As a result, Apple consistently has the highest levels of repeat purchase and customer loyalty of any PC and MP3 manufacturer today, with this loyalty bordering on cult status (Burrows, Grover, Green, 2006).

Functions of Leadership

From the initial Apple Macintosh to the development of the iPhone, iPod and iTouch Series of products, Steve Jobs exemplified the functions of leadership. In fact to gain the cooperation and commitment of talented engineers to produce these products, Jobs had to first communicate clearly and succinctly a vision each of these could find a role to fulfill. This ability to create a compelling vision where each person sees their role clearly and is energized by the thought of contributing is an essential function of leadership (Beckman, Harris, 2008). The vision of a leader and their consistency and commitment to it is also critical for their long-term credibility. Steve Jobs has consistently shown this passionate commitment to a vision. As a result he has earned exceptionally high levels of credibility and respect from those that work for and with him (Beckman, Harris, 2008).

Second, Steve Jobs has been successful in delineating his own leadership style by integrating both transformational and transactional aspects of leadership. Transactional leadership that concentrates on immediate rewards for exceptional effort has been one of the strategies Steve Jobs has used to motivate engineers to work exceptionally hard to attain product development schedules (Beckman, Harris, 2008). He has also been able to bring in the most critical areas of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence, providing those working with and for him with support and guidance. Mr. Jobs is a very intensely driven leader and does expect the same level of passion in others he has for the work or vision he is attempting to achieve (Burrows, Grover, Green, 2006). As a result of this his transformational leadership style is often seen as very demanding with high expectations of complete commitment to the vision being pursued (Beckman, Harris, 2008). Regardless of whether the vision is a new phone as in the iPhone or a new ultra-thin laptop like the MacBook Air, Steve Jobs;' transformational leadership strengths also give those working with and for him a clear sense of what is expected and what level of commitment is necessary to achieve the objectives and goals. Ironically this passion and transformational leadership is what also makes the Apple customer base so incredibly loyal over time and even elitist at times in their commitment to the Apple brand and its products (Burrows, Grover, Green, 2006). All of these factors are directly influenced by Steve Jobs; transformational leadership style.

Third, Steve Jobs is also exceptionally transparent and honest with his employees, and in the case of his commencement address at Stanford University, with the world about his cancer condition. The YouTube video of this speech is worth looking at; it is inspiring to see a transformational leader speak with the conviction and passion he has. This honesty and transparency inspires trust in not only the vision but also the person. Steve Jobs is known for being brutally honest about his assessment of the quality of work done at Apple, and it is this candor that has been part of the innovative strength of the company (Beckman, Harris, 2008). The Apple iPhone product introduction is a case in point, where Steve Jobs was relentless in his assessment of every aspect of the process and execution of the launch (Mickalowski, Mickelson, Keltgen, 2008). Any manager could critique the process yet a leader is essential for defining a vision to put it into context.