Table of Contents
Introduction
The success of business organizations directly depend on the competencies of the leadership of the company. The leader is in charge of setting the vision and mission of the organization, and determining the overall direction of the company in achieving its strategic goals. An effective leader is critical in allocating resources and motivating the staff to work towards achieving the desired outcomes of the organization. The leader is responsible for planning and adopting effective systems and innovations that enhance the process of achieving the strategic goals of the enterprise. The paper discusses the exceptional competencies or characteristics of the leader of one of the most competitive multinational corporations. Steve Paul Jobs is one exceptional leader who was instrumental in founding Apple, Inc. The company is the world largest telecommunication business in terms of revenues. The leadership practice of Steve Jobs is effective because it transformed an Information Technology start-up business into the most valuable company in the world.
Organization background
Apple Inc. was formed in 1976. The main objective of the company was to design, develop, and supply computer products and offer Information technology solutions. The headquarters of the multinational corporation is in Cupertino, California. The company has been instrumental in introducing innovative products and services in the information technology market. The hardware products made by the company include the iPhone smartphone, the iPod media player, and the Mac computer. The software produced by the company includes the Safari web browser, the MacOS, and the iWork productivity suites. The internet services offered by Apple Inc. are the iCloud and the iTunes store. The company is the largest in terms of revenue globally. In 2016 the revenue was US$215.639 billion. It is the first American company to exceed the US$700 billion value in 2015. Apple Inc. has a global workforce of more than 116,000 staff. The company has 498 stores in at least 22 countries (Arocha, 2017).
Leader traits, motives and characteristics
Steve Jobs was successful as a leader of Apple Inc. because of several leadership abilities. The leadership trait of Steve Jobs is that he was a team player. He valued the contribution of other people when making business decisions. Steve Jobs founded Apple Inc. in partnership with two other individuals. They are Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. The team spirit enabled the three individuals to design products that revolutionized the Information Technology industry (Yoffie & Cusumano, 2015). The leadership motive of Steve Jobs was to develop innovative products that appeal to the interests of the customers in the technology sector. The iPad tablet and the IPod media player are examples of new products that Steve Jobs introduced in the technology industry (Frazan, 2013). The main leadership characteristic of Steve Job is visionary leadership. He had the long-term goal of combining the mobile phone and the computer. This resulted in the development of the tablet product that offers the services of both the mobile phones and the computers.
Leader skills and values
Steve Jobs was a leader with exceptional skills. He had good communication skills. This is because he was able to inform the key stakeholders of Apple Inc. about the vision of the company (Kalla, 2016). The staff, financiers, regulators, and managers, were encouraged to put effort in developing innovative products that have effective functionalities and features. Apple is currently the most valuable company because the communication from Steve Jobs motivated the stakeholders to work towards realizing the mission and vision of the company. The leader portrayed important value by ensuring business ethics. He understood the needs of the customers (Heracleous & Klaering, 2014). Therefore, he developed products that exceed the expectations of the clients. Additionally, he adopted the affordability pricing strategy that ensured that the Apple Inc. products and services are easily accessed by most organizations and individuals. The most important value in business is to realize high customer satisfaction levels by offering high-quality products.
Leader behaviors, attitudes and styles
The behavior, attitude, and style of a leader influence the success level of the company. Steve Jobs portrayed the sense of urgency when engaging in business activities. The urgency behavior motivated him to develop strategies that achieve business goals effectively and efficiently (Abraham, 2014). The sense of urgency enabled him to develop futuristic products. He saw the potential of technology in the future American and global society. Therefore, he developed Information Technology products that assist organizations and individuals to generate solutions. Steve Jobs has a determination attitude. He worked towards achieving his goals regardless of the challenges. As the Chief executive Officer (CEO) of Apple Inc., he sought strategic partnership with investors to provide sufficient financing for the expansion of the company. Jobs adopted a participatory leadership style by involving all the stakeholders in the decision-making process.
The role played by the leader to influence the performance of the organization
Steve Jobs performed various roles to improve the productivity of Apple Inc. He provided vision for the company. He encouraged the employees to work towards achieving the vision of offering futuristic technology products that are innovate in providing solutions to the challenges that business and people experience (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Steve Job enhanced innovations. He designed the iTunes store that enables people to find various entertainment products and burn them on the CD for domestic use. Jobs had sufficient confidence in the products of Apple Inc. He believed that the products were designed to offer solutions at an affordable price. The CEO of Apple Inc. improved the competency of the staff by investing in an effective training program. All the employees were equipped with innovation and customer satisfaction skills through the training program. The leader was also an effective motivator. He included the staff in the decision-making process. The employees were also given competitive remuneration that encouraged them to be loyal to the company (Achieve Iconic, 2017).
Conclusion
The discussion has described how effective leadership is necessary in ensuring the success of a business organization. Steve Jobs managed to build a competitive multinational corporation by being innovative and providing solutions for businesses and individuals. It is also important to motivate employees by giving them proper remuneration and encouraging them to participate in the decision-making processes of the company.
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