Steve Jobs

By in Business Leaders

“Consumers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.” – Steve Jobs


A visionary, an entrepreneur, a leader, the father of Apple, many people see Steve Jobs as these, not only for how or what he did to raise Apple from the ground but for his accomplishments. His accomplishments improved technology as well as consumers everyday lives from the Ipod to the Iphone to the Ipad. He is criticized as being an entrepreneur that did not care for his family but only for his business as well as the entrepreneur that ended the music CD business. But through his simplicity and confidence and through his leadership methods which allowed him to connect with consumers and employees alike, letting him succeed in the business world like few else.


Steven Jobs’s background:

Born out of wedlock, his mother, Joanne Schieble, a German/Swiss Catholic, under pressure from both her parents who were afraid that the relationship she was having with Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim, was going to turn into a scandal. Joanne was so terrified of what people might have thought of her since both Joanne and Abdulfattah were of such different backgrounds. Joanne escaped the relationship moving to San Francisco to have the baby she was carrying in private so no one, nor her parents or Abdulfattah would know.Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955. His birth parents at the time were not married and gave up Steve for adoption to a Paul and Clara Jobs. Paul and Clara Jobs were only allowed to keep the baby if they promised to send Steve to college later on in life. Although his adoption parents did not have a lot of money he was still sent to Reed College in Oregon. Steve soon after that dropped out of college and only began taking calligraphy classes which spurred his growth in the love of making things look simple yet beautiful. Steve met Steve Wozniak which was close to the Jobs house and began fooling around making electronics in his families garage. That garage is now famously known as where the Apple computer was theoretically created.


 

Accomplishment(M): Pixar 1986, Itunes 2003

Pixar: Hit family films.

Pixar: Hit family films.

 

 

 

 

Jobs invested $5 million dollars in Pixar in 1986, This was when Jobs was no longer aligned with Apple inc. Some believe he only invested in Pixar to try and get back at Apple. As Pixar kept going down hill Jobs threw more and more money into the company. After about four to five years Jobs owned 100% of Pixar. He soon signed a contract with Disney; with which Jobs began producing hit family films with a wide variety of team animators. All of the films were computer animated and the first hit film was Toy Story in 1995, A Bug’s Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters Inc. in 2001, Finding Nemo 2003, The Incredibles in 2004, and Cars in 2006 .In 2006 Jobs sold Pixar to Disney for $7.5 billion in stock. It was evident that what Jobs and the Disney teams have created was nothing less but extraordinary and changed the course of film making forever.

Jobs had transformed the film producing industry forever. The fact that all these family hit films were computer animated, audiences were amazed, as they never had seen something like this before. The computer animation business took off and the electronic business boomed. Pixar initially helped propel the computer animation business into popularity. Currently the Pixar company has settled in Emeryville, California and holds over 2,000 employees.

Itunes

Itunes

 

 

 

 

Throughout Steve Jobs’s life, creating a personal computer was a big part of it. Creating Itunes in 2003 never made a computer, hand held music device more personal than how it would be with Itunes. With Itunes you could finally own your own songs for a cheap price. Sir Richard Branson, an entrepreneur, stated “Itunes is what pretty much killed off the music stores.” With Itunes consumers can buy songs for a cheaper price, as well as music videos and make podcasts, which are short interviews with people. Steve Jobs said it best when he first introduced Itunes in 2006, “people want to buy downloads they don’t want to rent their music.” The first month Itunes was released, half a million songs were being downloaded daily.

Songs were now available to anyone who owned a computer, ipod, iphone, or ipad. Itunes might have ruined the music store business but it has created new jobs for people through itunes, online and without having to own a store to sell music. On itunes not only can you buy songs but you could also buy movies, and music videos. As well as pod casts, which are little clips that people can record for a specific purpose.

Accomplishments(J):

App Store(2008), Ipad(2010)

The app store is one of the many fields that not only Apple created but many other entrepreneurs such as everyday consumers of Apple products. Gamer entrepreneurs can create games in the form of Apps; which can be sold on the App store, electronically. Apple has many restrictions on the Apps that can be created in the App store, they have to pass certain tests by Apple before it can be published and sold. All apps are subject to a review by Apple staff when submitted and can be rejected if they do not pass Apple’s technological and content guidelines. Additionally, Apple takes a 30% commission on revenues for paid apps sold through the store.

The ease of access and affordability that the app store provides allowed every person with an apple product to easily and intuitively customize the applications on their device, with anything from maps to games to word processors and internet browsers. The other side of this creation is the ease of development, thousands of developers can easily sell their application to millions, providing users with a vast array of applications.

 

The idea of the Ipad was seen in science fiction long before Apple pulled it into reality. Tablet computers were only possible with recent miniaturization technologies, and the beginning of this new front in computers was lead by the ipad. The idea is a tablet much like an Iphone which one can hold on their lap or palm and do much of the same things that could be done on an Iphone. When the Ipad was first released consumers waited on line for days across many streets to buy it. Many observers did not believe the ipad could take off as other Apple products did, but as he always did, Jobs convinced consumers that the balance of the processing power of a computer without sacrificing size or weight was well worth their money.

Currently told the Ipad Mini Air exists which is a Ipad that is lighter and smaller but yet still bigger than an iphone. The Ipad mini air is about as big as a novel. The Ipad has also revolutionized the way people read books. As now you could read books by buying them online and reading them right from your Ipad. A simple, lighter and environmentally friendly way of reading books. Environmentally friendly by the fact that trees do not have to be brought down to make pages for the books, but instead can have millions of pages that never need paper.

 

Accomplishments(R):

 

Ipod(2001), Iphone(2007)

Introducing the Ipod

Introducing an Apple product

The iPod was the device that revolutionized how we listed to our music on an everyday basis. Before the iPod, most people had either Walkmans or large radio players. With the iPod Steve jobs was able to put 1000 songs in your pocket. The iPod has become a must have for music lovers (just about everyone in the world) everywhere. Probably the most iconic part about the iPod that everyone recognizes are the all white earbuds; this is due largely to the fact that the marketing campaign for the iPod featured these white buds as people were dancing to music on their new decides. Thanks to the iPod I don’t think I can name a mobile device that does not have MP3 playing capabilities… Though the apple wasn’t the first to create a portable MP3 player, they did it right.

 

The iPhone was the first smartphone that was easy to use. This smartphone was just that, SMART. It could hold thousands of songs, photos and videos, and also have the “real internet” rather than some other “watered down” versions of the internet, which phones usually had. Steve Jobs was able to create a device that wasn’t obstructed by a large keyboard leaving the rest of the space for a beautiful screen. A button was installed that was called the “Home” button. With a certain amount of clicks on this button, different operations would be achieved.

The photos and videos taken on this phone could be shared through other apple products through the air called iCloud. As well as shared with other contacts on your phone with just a simple touch of a button. After an Iphone is created and sold a new version s created and the oldest version is sold for a very cheap price, as Apples way of introducing Apple products through a vast array of consumers, part of their “Everything Apple” theory. The iPhone would and still continues to influence the mobile phone market.


Map:

Apple Store Floor plans

Apple Store Floor plan

 

 

 

 

An innovative floor plan for Apple Stores that lets consumers learn how to use products, ask questions to employees as well as ask questions at the Genius bar.

Apple Store

Apple Store

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Apple Store from the outside.


Relating to the American Dream:

Steve Jobs during his time at Apple displayed leadership in a way that is very desirable but difficult to emulate. He brought the company back to profitability after years of struggle. With his simplicity first mentality he was able to make products easy to use, while still performing at peak condition with an aesthetically pleasing form. Though he may not have had the best charisma with his fellow employees, Steve Jobs was able to hone in on his public speaking and personality while speaking in front of large crowds. This paired with his love for design and product first mentality helped him create an insanely profitable company.


Leadership skills:

Simplicity.

                Steve Jobs had vast lessons in leadership that the world can learn from, but the essence of his leadership is finding essence itself. Steve jobs had the ability to see through the unnecessary parts of his work, and focus all of his remarkable energies on the vital parts of any given project. His focus gave him the ability to lead with exceptional efficiency, preferring quality over quantity of his products.

               When Jobs rejoined Apple, he turned the company around in weeks. He watched the company working, creating dozens of products, but selling few. His solution was simple, he drew a grid with four boxes, labeling the columns”Consumer” and “Pro” and the rows “Desktop” and “laptop”. Then he told all the employees to stop their current work, and focus only on four projects, the corners of his grid. These four boxes saved Apple, in a business stratagem almost artistic in its efficiency.

Confidence.

               Utter confidence would appear to be the mantra of Steve Jobs, as he brought is with him everywhere. His exceptional confidence would emanate from him and compel those around him to follow suit. This aura of productivity was nicknamed the Reality Distortion Field, referring to a Star Trek episode in which willpower is all that is needed to alter reality. A fitting comparison, Jobs constantly succeeded in impossible tasks, just by refusing to allow failure. Employees would estimate a project would take years, Jobs would ensure, they would be done in under a week. He would not threaten or give approximations, he would only say it could, and would be done. For many this would be considered arrogance, but Steve jobs had the results to prove that his confidence was completely legitimately earned. This refusal to accept a loss that didn’t have to be allowed him to create products that others didn’t believe could even exist in the first place.


Criticism:

Steve Jobs was obviously an amazing entrepreneur although, Jobs had trouble with relationships between family and friends. He was known to “use people” for what he needed at that specific time. When he needed you he was known to be your best friend but once you helped him get what he needed he’d ignore you till he needed you again. Even though Jobs had trouble with relationships, He was an amazing person to talk to when you needed help with a project or a job you were suppose to do. Jobs had a way of getting people to do work that was above and beyond even when you yourself thought you couldn’t do it.

With the creation of itunes in 2003, where consumers started buying thousands and soon millions of songs a day was also the time when the CD music business died. This criticism is given to Steve Jobs by many people. As people had an easier and cheaper price at buying songs rather than only renting them for a short amount of time and going to the CD music store and buying them for a greater amount of money.


 

 

An interview with Steve Jobs and Mossberg. While still fighting cancer, Jobs still has charisma. Speaks humbly about his accomplishments and justifies everything he has done. Jobs still has this entrepreneur personality and innovative eye for product. Describes how “you can save yourself an enormous amount of work versus doing everything, you can really put energy into making new emerging technologies being great on your platform rather than just being ok because your spreading yourself too thin.” Never talks about bringing Windows down or  Apple being better than Windows but instead just simply mtalking about “building the best computers they knew how.” Amazing views on business and extremely loyal to the opponents of Apple.

 

 

 

 

 


Even though Steve Jobs has unorthodox leadership methods, his leadership is evident even when he is gone. The love he had for his work with the thought of simplicity, and the fact that he preferred quality over quantity, made Apple products soar. He believed that if his products were beautiful profit would sooner or later follow, and his theory worked! Apple is currently a really powerful company and its products are used by a vast majority of the population. Apple products are considered a prestigious electronic product and stands for a sign of wealth for who ever uses them.

About The Author:

My name is Milot. My leadership will never be compared to the leadership of Steve Jobs but I too believe I am a leader in some ways that Jobs may not have been. I volunteer a lot in my community, in alliance with the United Nations, Staten Island University Hospital, Richmond Carmel Nursing Home, Key Club, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and many environmental clean up volunteers. I am eighteen years old and have already begun my dream of being in the medical field, I am an EMT in the State of New York. I help my community and my patients and it’s not that, that makes me a leader but it is the people that I help, that make me a leader. Without them I’d be nothing.

My name is Rashad. One of the leadership experiences I’ve had in my life was being the Senior Captain of my High School Basketball team. My school was not known for its athletics nor was it good at athletics, which for me, was disappointing because I love sports. After an abysmal start to the season losing 10 games in a row I was able to instill the will to win into my teammates and we went on to win the next 8 consecutive games and even make it to the semifinals of the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. I currently aspire to play for the NFL, and am a athlete at a division one athletics department at Wagner College. I always strive to be the best I can be in anything that comes my way.

My name is Jasper. I am a current student at Wagner College. I was a member of my High school track team in Penn. Through out races I helped members of my team focus on running faster and better, mostly through better training skills. I don’t consider my self a leader, but after taking Leadership class my Freshman year at Wagner, I learned a lot about how to be a leader, that it’s not just in what you know or how much you know but it’s how you carry yourself, in that professional manner that makes a big difference to other people. I will carry those lessons for the rest of my life.


 

Bibliography:

Isaacson, Walter. “iSteve: The Book of Jobs” (New York: Simon & Schuster, October 24, 2011), 23, 40, 60, 62, 71, 200.

Isaacson, Walter.2012. “The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs: six months after Jobs’s death, the author of his best-selling biography identifies the practices that every CEO can try to emulate.(Company overview).”Harvard Business Review no. 4:92. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed October 22,2013).

Streeter, Thomas. 2012. “Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview Steve Jobs-One Last Thing.” Journal Of American History 99, no. 3: 1015-1018. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 2,2013)

2012. “Steve Jobs Very Much an Engineer.” Communications Of The ACM 55, no. 3:6. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 22, 2013).

“Overcoming complexity. (CENTURY marks)(Steve Jobs’ success)(Bried article)(Brief biography).” The Christian Century no. 18 (2012): 8. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed OCtober 22, 2013).