Steve Job's Leadership Traits
1.0 Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to analyze a leader by using leadership trait approach. The leader chosen for this purpose is Steve Jobs who is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. The leader will be analyzed to identify some of his traits that contribute to his effective leadership.
Firstly, I will describe the background of Steve Jobs and stage of his leadership development. Next, a leadership trait theory is selected and briefly reviewed. Then, Steve Jobs’ leadership traits are identified and examined based on the theory. Finally, weaknesses of Steve Jobs are pinpointed and suggestions for improvement are discussed.
2.0 Overview of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco. He graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, and enrolled in Reed College in Portland. One semester later he had dropped (All about Steve, n.d.). At age of 19, Jobs took up a job at video-game manufacturer Atari and struck a friendship with fellow designer Steve Wozniak in the workplace (All about Steve, n.d.).
When twenty year old Jobs discovered the Wozniak’s design of a very compact personal computer, he persuaded Wozniak to start a company with him to market the computer. In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer (Wikipedia, 2008). By 1980, Apple had already released three improved versions of the personal computer and successfully became an important player in the nascent personal computer industry. In December 1980, Apple Computer went public, making Jobs a multimillionaire (Chandy, 2005).
In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple’s CEO to manage Apple’s expansion. However, as the Macintosh took off in sales in the following year, Sculley felt Jobs was hurting the company and persuaded the board to strip him of power. Therefore, in May 1985, the board dismissed Jobs from the post of the head of Macintosh division (ICMR, 2002).
Determined to create great new hardware products,
The purpose of this essay is to analyze a leader by using leadership trait approach. The leader chosen for this purpose is Steve Jobs who is the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. The leader will be analyzed to identify some of his traits that contribute to his effective leadership.
Firstly, I will describe the background of Steve Jobs and stage of his leadership development. Next, a leadership trait theory is selected and briefly reviewed. Then, Steve Jobs’ leadership traits are identified and examined based on the theory. Finally, weaknesses of Steve Jobs are pinpointed and suggestions for improvement are discussed.
2.0 Overview of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco. He graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, and enrolled in Reed College in Portland. One semester later he had dropped (All about Steve, n.d.). At age of 19, Jobs took up a job at video-game manufacturer Atari and struck a friendship with fellow designer Steve Wozniak in the workplace (All about Steve, n.d.).
When twenty year old Jobs discovered the Wozniak’s design of a very compact personal computer, he persuaded Wozniak to start a company with him to market the computer. In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer (Wikipedia, 2008). By 1980, Apple had already released three improved versions of the personal computer and successfully became an important player in the nascent personal computer industry. In December 1980, Apple Computer went public, making Jobs a multimillionaire (Chandy, 2005).
In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple’s CEO to manage Apple’s expansion. However, as the Macintosh took off in sales in the following year, Sculley felt Jobs was hurting the company and persuaded the board to strip him of power. Therefore, in May 1985, the board dismissed Jobs from the post of the head of Macintosh division (ICMR, 2002).
Determined to create great new hardware products,