Steve Jobs, the then CEO and chairman of Apple, changed the technology industry. He is famous as one of the pioneers of microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. He was an excellent entrepreneur, industrial designer, a business magnate but more importantly a master salesperson. He was one of the youngest people to make it in the Forbes list of America’s richest people. And one of the handful ones to have done with without inherited wealth (Young, 2011). Jobs revolutionized industries such as animated movies, digital publishing, music, personal computers, phones and tablet computing in his lifetime (Issacson, 2011)
In an era, when people had to buy entire albums to listen to their favorite song, Jobs introduced the world to iPod and iTunes where one could buy a song for less than a dollar. Jobs announced iPod as a device that put “1000 songs in your pocket” (Lowendmac, 2011).
What did he do well?
Steve Jobs considered himself as an artist. He was an amazing salesperson and a master marketer. John Sculley described Jobs as,” the visionary, founder and the leader of the cult” (Clare O’Connor, Forbes, 2017). He had a futuristic mind and inspired his staff to follow his vision. Even at the launch of the Macintosh, he believed that the sales projection would be a billion in the first ninety days and twenty thousand units each month after that (Boyle, 2015). He continuously pushed his staffs to bring innovation in the product. Even though he was not completely involved in the engineering and technical side of the original Apple Computers, he later made use of his CEO position to get involved directly with the product design (Dickey, 2013).He didn’t just want any random products but the best ones; that would bring revolution in the tech industry.
What could he have improved about himself and why?
Steve Jobs was a master innovator. However, he was often regarded as one of the meanest person. He would intimidate his employees and shout at them. Jobs had quite a short temper. He would fire people if he thought that they were not working in alignment of his vision (Stern, 2013). He could have worked on his anger management issues. His failure in the mac division led him to be fired from the very company he founded. He just repeated what he wanted to say and not listen to others’ opinions. Due to the losses, Apple had to incur from the failure of Mac, Apple’s BOD instructed Sculley to limit his ability to launch expensive forays into untested products. But rather than listening to Sculley, Jobs attempted to oust Sculley which in turn got Jobs fired from his duties at Apple (Hormby, 2006) . He inspired his staff members but simply fired them when they didn’t understand the work rather than guiding them (Sanders, 2012).
References
Boyle, D. (Director). (2015). Steve Jobs [Motion Picture].
Sanders, B. (2012). 8 Unforgivable Leadership Mistakes Steve Jobs Made . Retrieved from Sanders Consulting Group: sandersconsulting.com/8-unforgivab...
Stern, J. M. (Director). (2013). Jobs [Motion Picture].
Young, J. S. (2011). Steve Jobs: The Journey Is the Reward. Amazon Digital Services.
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Steve Jobs, the then CEO and chairman of Apple, changed the technology industry. He is famous as one of the pioneers of microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. He was an excellent entrepreneur, industrial designer, a business magnate but more importantly a master salesperson. He was one of the youngest people to make it in the Forbes list of America’s richest people. And one of the handful ones to have done with without inherited wealth (Young, 2011). Jobs revolutionized industries such as animated movies, digital publishing, music, personal computers, phones and tablet computing in his lifetime (Issacson, 2011)
In an era, when people had to buy entire albums to listen to their favorite song, Jobs introduced the world to iPod and iTunes where one could buy a song for less than a dollar. Jobs announced iPod as a device that put “1000 songs in your pocket” (Lowendmac, 2011).
What did he do well?
Steve Jobs considered himself as an artist. He was an amazing salesperson and a master marketer. John Sculley described Jobs as,” the visionary, founder and the leader of the cult” (Clare O’Connor, Forbes, 2017). He had a futuristic mind and inspired his staff to follow his vision. Even at the launch of the Macintosh, he believed that the sales projection would be a billion in the first ninety days and twenty thousand units each month after that (Boyle, 2015). He continuously pushed his staffs to bring innovation in the product. Even though he was not completely involved in the engineering and technical side of the original Apple Computers, he later made use of his CEO position to get involved directly with the product design (Dickey, 2013).He didn’t just want any random products but the best ones; that would bring revolution in the tech industry.
What could he have improved about himself and why?
Steve Jobs was a master innovator. However, he was often regarded as one of the meanest person. He would intimidate his employees and shout at them. Jobs had quite a short temper. He would fire people if he thought that they were not working in alignment of his vision (Stern, 2013). He could have worked on his anger management issues. His failure in the mac division led him to be fired from the very company he founded. He just repeated what he wanted to say and not listen to others’ opinions. Due to the losses, Apple had to incur from the failure of Mac, Apple’s BOD instructed Sculley to limit his ability to launch expensive forays into untested products. But rather than listening to Sculley, Jobs attempted to oust Sculley which in turn got Jobs fired from his duties at Apple (Hormby, 2006) . He inspired his staff members but simply fired them when they didn’t understand the work rather than guiding them (Sanders, 2012).
References
Boyle, D. (Director). (2015). Steve Jobs [Motion Picture].
Clare O’Connor, Forbes. (2017, 10 07). forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2017.... Retrieved from forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2017... forbes.com/
Dickey, M. R. (2013, 01 23). businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-tol.... Retrieved from businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-tol... businessinsider.com/
Hormby, T. (2006, 02 22). lowendmac.com/2006/growing-apple-w... . Retrieved from lowendmac.com/2006/growing-apple-w... lowendmac.com/
Issacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc.
Lowendmac. (2011, 08 15). Lowendmac . Retrieved from lowendmac.com/2013/ipod-history-or... lowendmac.com
Sanders, B. (2012). 8 Unforgivable Leadership Mistakes Steve Jobs Made . Retrieved from Sanders Consulting Group: sandersconsulting.com/8-unforgivab...
Stern, J. M. (Director). (2013). Jobs [Motion Picture].
Young, J. S. (2011). Steve Jobs: The Journey Is the Reward. Amazon Digital Services.