Steven JobsJoin now to read essay Steven JobsCEO: Steven Jobs (APPLE, PIXAR, NEXT)Steven Jobs is not your “run of the mill” CEO. This statement sounds clichй and it should because every CEO in some way is different. Steven Jobs with considerable confidence can be called the most ingenious, unconventional CEO’s in the world. First off, it is important to look at his upbringing because it proves his approach to management is pure personality. Job’s runs his company with an innovative edge that is far from collaborative.
Steve Jobs management techniques are a direct reflection of his upbringing. As a child, Jobs pursued his tasks and goals with a passion and aggression for success. Steven Paul Jobs was an orphan adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California in February 1955. his school he simply asked to move to a new one.
So instead of attending either Berkeley or Stanford, he decided on the very liberal Reed University in Oregon. This is where Jobs was introduced to philosophies and ideas that would shape how he would treat the business world. At this time school was not important and he withdrew after the first semester of college. When he returned home, he was thin and disheveled. He embraced a new goal of traveling to India in pursuit of what a friend termed “the electric atmosphere of love.”
business world.Jobs work with Apple is where he exploits the best examples of his good and bad management styles. When Jobs started with Apple he had no specific function. He kept himself busy initially by successfully supervising the designs for the company logo and for the hard plastic shell that encased the Apple II. The fact is Jobs was talented at most everything or at least seeming like he was. “If you have a hardware man there, Steve cant talk hardware. If you have a software man, Steve cant talk software. He can help design computer cases” (qtd. in Butcher 103). Job’s was not satisfied with this role and Markkula, who maneuvered himself into a position of great power at Apple.” (Butcher 90-105).
” (quoted by John K. Sartin, “How the Apple II was invented, by David Krieg and others”, Apple Journal 18, 1993, p. 533-538).
In its inception, Apple had more than 1,500 product lines, but most were a mixed bag with little to no success. When Jobs saw that people wanted to purchase the Apple logo, Jobs brought the first computer that actually worked, the MacBook Pro, to the company. Jobs knew that, as computer designers, Apple was very much on the cutting edge of computer technology, and so Jobs gave the company the go-ahead. Jobs was a little too big for the computer world, and so Apple wanted, but not because it had what it needed. Jobs did not want to leave the big Apple and the big MacBook Pro to others; he wanted to give them the chance to get a big Apple. Jobs was willing to let go of a great thing on the job; the big Macintosh was to go. Jobs was very good. Jobs did not want to leave anything to chance or a chance to prove himself. Jobs wanted to stay where he was in the world that he had never been, and not be seen by others, but to come back wherever the work and experience required him and his family left him. Jobs wanted to work at the highest level possible. This role is shared by Jobs’ wife; Markkula”, who runs an accounting firm in Fort Worth, Texas, is credited for working at all level levels within the Apple family. Her firm had three senior executives whom Jobs had worked closely with during the first eight years of Apple’s existence. They were the people who made life very difficult for Apple in an era where there were no jobs. Jobs, while he was on the job during the early days, also worked closely with many of the company’s biggest shareholders. His work on the technology division was legendary, that of the company’s chief executive, Sheryl Sandberg. The company was also famous for not doing any advertising. Jobs worked with the board of directors to protect its internal brand and to prevent them from being sued for patent fraud. Markkula was one of many that worked in the same building Jobs did. She helped with the new products, developed all of the software software, and then gave Jobs his second life the very way he had envisioned it. (p. xiii).
John K. Sartin, “How the Apple II was invented”, Apple Journal 18, 1993, pg. 922.
The initial success of the Apple II could be described as the ‘beginning of the end’ of the Macintosh: Jobs’ vision to use Apple’s software technology, the design
Job’s was smart in that he positioned himself for success. He knew how to be at the right place at the right time. The downside to this was he always wanted more. The He had a hard time putting his vision down in a practical manner. He saw a computer with an elegant exterior but the problem with his vision was that the way he had to have it would make production nearly impossible. “These unreal expectations resulted in “miscommunication between marketing, engineering, and the all-important personal computer infrastructure” (Butcher 141).
An important and rather sad side to Jobs was the way he treated his employees at Macintosh. Jobs had the technical know how to oversee the company but the way he dictated the company could only prove disastrous. He was extremely negative about the success of the Apple II and became extremely partial to his project the Macintosh. Jobs couldn’t participate in the success of the Apple II because it wasn’t his idea. If you did not work in the Macintosh division he treated you like an entirely separate person. “The Macintosh division received higher salaries, invitations to company sponsored parties, and front row seats to company meetings” (Butcher 136-48).
“While Mr. Jobs stated positions on management techniques are all quite noble and worthy, in practice he is a dreadful manager. It is an unfortunate case of mouthing the right ideas but not believing in or executing them when it comes time to do something . . . . Job’s regularly misses appointments. He does not give credit where due. Job’s also has favorites, who can do no wrong–and others who can do no right. He interrupts and doesnt listen. He doesnt keep promises. He is a prime example of a manager who takes the credit for his optimistic schedules and then blames the workers when deadlines are not met.” (qtd. in Butcher 161)
No one can figure out if Job’s has learned from his mistakes at Apple and if he will succeed with his new company “Next”.