Was Steve Jobs conventional or unconventional?
Steve Job’s tenure at Apple Inc. and even before he joined the company was remarkable. By far and large, he was a perfectionist both in terms of his management style and personal choice. His management tactic was unconventional and that is why he stood out among other managers of blue-chip companies. The success attained at Apple Inc. was clear proof that Steve Jobs did not use traditional or conventional styles of management to meet the goals of the company. On several occasions, he was described as an individual with a demanding and aggressive character. For example, he closed down the deal between Apple Inc. and John Wiley & Sons Publishers because the latter failed to obtain authorization from individual book authors before using their information on biography. Even though this malpractice had nothing to do with the performance or profitability of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs considered it to be unfair doing business with dishonest partners. If he were to go the conventional way, the publisher would have preceded working with Apple Inc.
When it comes to design and coding, it is understood that Steve Jobs had no academic background in any of these fields of profession. Nonetheless, it did not hinder him from making significant steps ahead in terms of designing Apple’s products and also coding them during the process of software development. His irrefutable management skills and personal choice led to the production of masterpiece Apple products. As much as conventional wisdom would have pulled him toward doing things the traditional way, Steve Jobs approached every aspect from an independent point of view. He was truly unconventional.
As a leader, what are you going to believe or change to be different from others in achieving your goals and objectives? What are the things that you will work on?
To be different from others, there are quite a several things that I need to work on, change, or even believe. To begin with, I will begin by being honest with myself and the type of work I do. I have come to realize that lack of honesty at a personal level affects the overall performance, especially when charged with certain roles and responsibilities. Honesty brings about strong faith in achieving specific endeavors in life. In a leadership position, those who are being led will most likely be productive if their leader is honest enough.
Secondly, I strongly believe that my management skill should be shrewd and motivating to those whom I lead. For example, a democratic style of leadership is fruitful since it allows members of a group to work with the least tension. They are also able to share ideas without fear of being intimidated by the immediate leader. I plan to be democratic in my leadership style bearing in mind that it will enhance creativity and optimum participation of group members when assigned a particular task.
Finally, I need to re-evaluate myself as a leader regularly. I may certainly be overlooking certain weaknesses in my leadership style as much as I need to correct them. Self-evaluation is an integral part of building viable leadership skills. This should also go hand in hand with the performance appraisal of all employees so that each one of us is in a position to appreciate individual strengths and weaknesses. On the same note, I need to work on innovativeness instead of fully relying on the old and conventional leadership theories that any other leader is using.