“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, did the work, and give orders. Instead teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea” (Saint-Exupéry, 1948). This perfectly describes Steve Jobs. He was a leader with passion and clear vision who directed his people and got extraordinary achievements. While many believed him to be a transformational leader, others see him as a toxic leader. Although, it is true that he was very strict and set a very high standard but would it be possible without his firm determination? Furthermore, the way he uses his power to influence people in Apple Inc. to reach zenith is very different because nobody could predict his thoughts and behavior. In addition to this, the way he uses his …show more content…
From the mainstream perspective, he has shown different types of leadership. It also includes several theories like trait, skill, behavior, contingency and transformational. Trait theory states that the personality of a person would determine if he or she will be able to lead. In case of Steve Jobs, his personality was radiant and flamboyant. He was confident, committed and charismatic to take any leap or risk with the support of his team and customers to pursue his aspiration (Katzenbach, 2012). While this may be true but another theory, skill theory states that leaders can be made with the help of training and hard work. The three main skill of this theory includes conceptual skill, human skill, and technical skill. Since Jobs was a genius from his childhood, he possessed all those skills and it was obviously only a matter of time that his skills would develop even further. Without possessing these skills, he wouldn't be able to produce such revolutionary products like iPhone, iPad, MacBook and Macintosh PC. Another theory which is behavior theory states that there is two type of leaders. One is task oriented and another is people oriented. Steve Jobs is seen to be task oriented because he uses his employees for the benefit of the organization and to achieve a certain goal. The most compelling evidence for this was when Jobs made the whole iPhone team to work hard and redesign the product before it launched in the market (Elliot, 2011). His leadership style was more of autocratic and participative than laissez-faire because he was in control of his Macintosh team and he encouraged his team members to speak up their mind for new ideas and innovations. Next theory which is contingency theory states that leaders surface according to the situation. To clarify this, we can use the example of Lisa (Mac History, 2017). Since the staff and their leader who were working on the upgraded Apple II,