STEVE JOBS: Universal Characteristics in His Leadership - Introduction

This Albert Einstein quote came at the end of World War II.  A key challenge was facing leaders at that time.  Ideas such as nationalism, imperialism, and militarism – having contributed to two world wars – had the potential to lead to a third one, possibly threatening the survival of humankind.

Today, Albert Einstein’s quote is relevant to uncovering how leaders lead, because, despite a plethora of leadership theories, focused on how leaders lead, the largest number of corporate scandals in the history of American business marred the years 2001 and 2002.  In addition, a financial crisis emerged in 2007, which, in 2009, destroyed $34.4 trillion of the total market value of publicly traded companies—more than the combined 2008 annual gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States, the European Union, and Japan.  Were the annual real GDP of the United States, the European Union, and Japan to grow at mid-single digit rates, this destruction of wealth would take at least a decade to replenish.  In the United States, this lost wealth would take over 10 years to replenish, were GDP to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5%.  Moreover, a November 13, 2013 Congressional Report stated that poverty in the United States increased markedly from 2007 through 2010.  In 2012, 46.5 million people were counted as poor in the United States—the largest recorded number in this measure’s 54-year history.

Examining how universal characteristics the GLOBE project identified apply to leadership—and specifically the leadership of Steve Jobs—promises a level of thinking likely to uncover an answer to how leaders lead.  Two of the six universal attributes of effective leadership the GLOBE project identified are linked to charismatic leadership—vision and inspiration.  Societies in such countries as Germany, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Iraq, and many of those in the former Soviet Union where charismatic dictators dominated view charismatic leadership as undesirable.  The distaste for charismatic leadership is likely the result of historic association with despotic charismatic leaders to whom these nations were subjected.  Therefore, this essay will focus on universal characteristics of effective leadership without a link to charismatic leadership—integrity, including a commitment to ethics and a connection to a spiritual foundation, diplomacy, incorporating effective bargaining and win-win problem solving, an orientation toward performance and excellence, focusing on self-development, and a collaborative team integration, specifically a sensitivity to organizational culture.

Steve Jobs’s leadership merits study.  As CEO of Apple, NeXT, and Pixar, he made a significant impact on the computer, music, and film industries.  On April 25, 2014, a CNBC panel recognized him as a leader for transforming commerce, finance, markets, human behavior and global culture over the past 25 years.

Source Notes

…in 2009, destroyed $34.4 trillion of the total market value of publicly traded companies:  Liu, H. CK (April 13, 2010). Global Post-Crisis Economic Outlook, Part 1:  The crisis of Wealth destruction. Asia Times. Retrieved from http://atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LD13Dj05.html

…a November 13, 2013 Congressional Report:  Gabe, T. (2013). Poverty in the United States:  2012. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33069.pdf

…the GLOBE project identified:  Dorfman, P.W., Gupta, V., Hanges, P.J., House, R.J., and Mansour, J. (Eds). (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc.

…where charismatic dictators dominated view autocratic leadership as undesirable:  Dorfman, P.W., Gupta, V., Hanges, P.J., House, R.J., and Mansour, J. (Eds). (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc.

…the result of historic association:  Dorfman, P.W., Gupta, V., Hanges, P.J., House, R.J., and Mansour, J. (Eds). (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks, California:  Sage Publications, Inc.

…a commitment to ethics:  Fraser, M. (2008). Leading Beyond Self:  An Interpretive Biographical Case Study of Ethical and Integral Leadership (Doctoral dissertation, Fielding Graduate University). Retrieved from Proquest (UMI No. 3308628)

…a CNBC panel recognized:  Stake, R.E. (2006). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York, New York: The Guilford Press The List: CNBC First 25 Rebels, Icons and Leaders (2014) [online forum]. Retrieved from  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101577066

Excerpt from:  Universal Characteristics in The Leadership of Steve Jobs

Available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B081J113NT

STEVE JOBS: Universal Characteristics in His Leadership - Epigraph

“The world we have made, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking at which we created them.”

From Des MacHale (2002) Wisdom

Excerpt from:  Universal Characteristics in The Leadership of Steve Jobs

Available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B081J113NT

STEVE JOBS: Universal Characteristics in His Leadership - Preface

        For as long as I can remember, I have been intrigued with how leaders lead. While earning a BA and MIA at Columbia University, an MBA at New York University, and a DM at Colorado Technical University, I read the autobiographies and biographies of numerous leaders in politics and business. As a research associate at PaineWebber (now part of UBS) and Hambrecht & Quist (now part of JP Morgan Chase) and Brundage, Story & Rose (now part of Bessemer Trust) and a financial analyst at IBM, I explored firsthand how leaders led in the technology industry. As an associate professor at Colorado Technical University, I studied the shortcomings of leadership during the financial crisis of 2008. This book evolved from those experiences and my doctoral dissertation on the characteristics of leadership.

        This book is directed toward practitioners, scholars, consultants, and students and its top-level views are likely to be suitable for them. Containing relevant examples, it also can be used as a textbook, supplemented or as a supplement to other material to stimulate additional thinking and emphasize differing views.

        The first section of this book contains an examination of the degree to which each characteristic is displayed in Steve Jobs’s leadership. This section also contains sources where evidence can be found related to these characteristics in Steve Jobs’s leadership. The second section of this book contains questions that were considered in developing evidence for the degree to which these characteristics are exhibited in Steve Jobs’s leadership. Sources are provided from which these questions were developed.

Excerpt from:  Universal Characteristics in The Leadership of Steve Jobs

Available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B081J113NT