Steve Jobs And How He Changed World (Essay Sample)

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Steve Jobs and How He Changed The WorldIntroductionSteve Jobs was an iconic leader and founder of Apple Incorporated until his early death in October, 2012. His management style and personal life has been a subject of extended research and discussion in academic circles, business management practice and, by extension, the general public.   Elliot & Wilson(2010), in a book examining his management style,  describe him as having been extraordinary and changed  the world in three ways: as a technologist, as a corporate leader and finally, as someone who was able to make people love what had previously been impersonal and purely functional gadgets.  Separately, Damon (2011), notes that Steve Jobs' breakthrough in business was an interplay of four major principles: product, talent, organization and marketing. It is these principles which helped him become an iconic business leader of his time. This paper examines ways in which Steve Jobs was extraordinary and how his leading role in the corporate sector had a huge impact in the world in general. A brief biographical note is followed by a detailed examination of the impact Steve Jobs had upon the world in the following fields: corporate management (exemplified in the process of turning around Apple); innovation (typified in the everlasting appeal to the design of his products) and a general look at his personal life (the peculiarity of his persona.)Biographical NoteAccording to Isaacson (2011), Steve Jobs was born on 24th of February, 1955 to Joanne Carole Schieble and  Abdulfattah Jandali who were then two college students in San Francisco. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs immediately after birth. He went to Homestead High School before proceeding to Reed College later. He was forced to drop out of college after only six months; this was because his parents could not afford to meet the expenses of his college education at Reeds; it being an expensive institution. Though no longer being a student at Reeds, he stayed around the college and occasionally attended calligraphy classes. This interest in topography would later prove to be invaluable in the design of the Mac computer. A combination of summer jobs and association with Steve Wozniack as well as the "Homebrew Computer Club" led to the launch of Apple Computer Company in 1976. This marked the beginning of a highly influential career as an entrepreneur in the field of consumer electronic devices that saw him found and manage a series of companies including Pixar, Next and, most notably, Apple. He died on October 5th, 2011 after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.Steve Jobs and How He Changed The WorldPersonal LifeMuch can be said about the non - conformist personality of Steve Jobs. His perfectionist attitude to work and some peculiar obsessions has also been widely discussed and depicted in popular culture (Isaacson, 2011). In all these, it can be seen that although the persona of Steve Jobs cannot be said to have changed the world, one thing that can be confidently said is that a few traits and events in his life were influential to the larger global audience in many ways. These are as follows: one, the most peculiar feature of Steve Jobs' personal life that had an impact on the world was his style of management. This was characterized by dictatorial tendencies which resulted from his highly obsessive personality and hot temper. This was better characterized in his key note addresses about which his former employees talk of having prolonged meetings, holidays and weekends canceled and all other sorts of odd - hour requests to ensure that the addresses ran smoothly (Elliot & Wilson, 2011).  It was at his insistence that the addresses became highly valued performances that reflected the excellent management operations at Apple.  The second one was his peculiar attitude towards food. His insistence to stick to a vegan diet while he was suffering from a rare kind of pancreatic cancer coupled with a  long-standing refusal to go for an operation until the cancer had reached advanced stages was a phenomenon in itself. Isaacson (2011) notes that the early influence of Buddhist faith was responsible for his obstinate nature later in life. The third one involved his private home life. Steve Jobs is said to have had varied degrees of conviviality with his children. Whereas he enjoyed a warm relationship with his first born son, he is said to have been aloof to his two daughters (Isaacson, 2011). More so, he denied his own biological parents for a long time, and even denied the paternity of his own daughter, Lisa, whom he had sired with an old girlfriend (Egelko, 2007).The Transformation of AppleSteve Jobs returned to Apple after being named the interim CEO in July 1997. This was necessitated by a disastrous performance of Apple under the stewardship of Gil Amelio. So disastrous was the performance that the business recorded a $708m dollar loss in the second quarter of 1997 alone. Egelko (2007) notes that it seemed that every computer company except Apple was riding the technology boom of the late 90s. Successive changes and disappointments at CEO level had coupled with a product portfolio that no longer appealed to its core consumers to leave the business completely rudderless after a wasted decade. The business was not only losing money but was facing a beak future also (Norr, 2000).Returning to Apple marked the start of the reinvigoration of the company. This was signaled by a thorough review of every team at Apple. Norr (2000) observes that Steve Jobs endlessly asked every team to justify their significance to the future of Apple; each team was obviously warned that failure to do so would lead to a complete camcelation of their products as well as possible layoffs. This marked the great exercise of cleaning out the stable which had commenced with the installation of executive Next employees into key positions in Apple.  The complete reinvigoration of Apple was marked by three important smart strategic decisions that Jobs and his executive team took towards the close of the 90s and during the beginning of 2000s; these were: the Mac OS, the digital hub strategy and the Apple retail stores.The Mac Operating SystemJob's return to Apple became a period of intense hard work for him; Isaacson (2011) notes that many an evening he returned home too exhausted to speak. This hard work paid off in the introduction of the iMac in May 1998. This personal computer was running on the Mac operating system and was the first truly innovative product by Apple after the original Macintosh of the mid 1980s. The introduction of the iMac marked the resurrection of Apple. Its sleek translucent design coupled with advanced features quickly reestablished Apple as a premier manufacturer of consumer technology gadgets. Sales of the iMac and iBook picked up in three years' time.But running concurrently with the iMac program was the development of a superior operating system meant to bolster the performance of the iMac: the Mac OS X. Under the stewardship of Steve Jobs, extreme hard work saw the development of over six different versions of the operating system every year. Each release showed remarkable improvements in stability, rapidity and other features.  Garlo (2011) notes that the long journey to the Mac OS X was started by developing a Graphic User Interface named Aqua, which was to be used in the operating system. Observers argue that the complete transition from the Next step to Mac OS X was marked by the release of the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Its inbuilt typical features of powerful core technologies coupled with good development tools was a game changer in the PC world.On the contrary, Elliot (2009) observes that the actual transformation of Apple started not with the introduction of the Mac but with the "Think Different" campaign. Under this program, Jobs simplified the product range of Apple and also clarified their message to the world which was to reestablish what an "Apple product was." A perfectionist approach to product design was taken by the company.  For a product to pass the grade, it had to pass key tests as follows: it had to offer something different to the market place and deliver an inspirational aesthetic. New product design focused on what could be added to the user experience as the key vantage point for product development. This was a replication of the original positioning of Apple as leading innovator in the industry.The Digital Hub StrategyCareful planning and an energetic response to customer issues was the hallmark of Steve Jobs' tenure at Apple. After a successful introduction of the Mac, the management, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, embarked on another program which was later to be known as the Digital Hub Strategy. Apple decided to increase the market share of the Mac which was then standing at 5%. The first bet was the idea to develop the iMovie, a digital movie editing software; the idvd was a success. In early 2000, there was a change in perspective: Steve Jobs decided to expand the iMovie idea to encompass consumer digital products that were becoming mainstream during that time. A change in paradigm that saw the birth of the digital hub strategy was born. The idea was to write software for the Mac to enable the user edit and store all the new digital content that consumers created. The applications would be so powerful and delightful to use that they would entice PC users to the Mac. These applications helped change not only the business landscape but also the entire music industry. The iDvd, the iTunes (a digital music juke box introduced in 2001), the iPhoto (unveiled in 2002), the  iWeb ( introduced in 2006) are applications which had  varying degrees of commercial success.Apple Retail StoresThe rationale for the Apple retail s...