"There's am old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love, 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' and we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will."- Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has been criticized as America’s roughest, toughest, most intimidating bosses. Colleagues have described him as a brilliant man who can be a great motivator and a charmer. He is an example of the transformational leader who stands for higher order values. He has triggered people to do things they might never have done before. He will only settle for the best in everything. This standard of excellence drives many of his employees mad, but also pushes them to their very best and makes them achieve extraordinary performances.
Based on these characteristics, Jobs’ primary behavior characteristic appears to be as a controller, while his secondary would be promoter. He is strong-willed and determined. He has been known to be persistently thorough, wanting to be involved in all aspects of Apple projects and products. He is eagerly ambitious and does not stop striving to create the next, best product. As a promoter, he is imaginative and creative. He thinks outside the box and tests the limits. He has been known to be out front and forceful. He is known as a charismatic pitchman, having presentations that are inspired demonstration of imaginative storytelling that motivate customers, employees, investors, and the entire computer industry.
After starting Apple in 1976, Jobs was fired in the 1980s, returned in the 1990s, survived two brushes with death, and survived a securities law-scandal. Although he was dealt all these misfortunes, he looks as them as learning curves that have caused him to “think differently’ and play tough.
Jobs’ outlook on life can be summed up in the commencement address has delivered at Stanford University in June of 2005. It involves three stories of his life. The first story deals with connecting the dots, where he states, “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” He discusses his early life and how it paved the path for where he is now.
His second story is about love and loss. In this story he expresses, “You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.”
Finally, his third story is about death. Simply put, Jobs states, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
View his commencement speech:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA
References
Angelelli, L. (1994). Steve Paul Jobs. retrieved February 17, 2010 from http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Jbs.html
Lashinsky, A., & Burke, D. (2009). The DECADE of STEVE. (Cover story). Fortune, 160(10), 92-100. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:30, February 16, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
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Steve Jobs has amazing insight. He has a real human element about him that makes you feel as if he is speaking directly to you. I love his theory about connecting the dots. It is so difficult to trust in the future when you are young but it all fits together eventually.
ReplyDeleteYour post motivated me to follow the youtube link. I watched the Stanford commencement from 2005 and feel that the crowd was a bit hard on him at the beginning. However, his message was so true to life that I sent it to my students.
Thank you for posting this. Steve Jobs is a true motivator and a true leader.