Was Steve Jobs really a leader?

As I read the eulogies for Steve Jobs over the past week, I’ve been particularly observing what my friends and colleagues praised about him. I was most puzzled by the word ‘leader’ that was used in so many articles lauding his contributions to the world this week.

I deeply admire Steve’s message and contribution to the world. He reminds me to follow my inner guidance and live each day to the fullest.

Many blogs and articles from my peers cited his uncanny vision, his Stanford 2005 speech to ‘stay hungry and foolish’ and his leadership and perseverance to ‘accomplish the unthinkable.’ I agree with all these sentiments. Jobs’s presence encourages Gen Yers to move forward and act on our desires, rather than be paralyzed by fear and anxiety.  He reminds us that we have nothing to lose, except the opportunity offered in the present moment.

At the same time, I wonder: How exactly is Generation Y defining leadership and praising Steve Jobs as a leader? When I talk to those who knew Steve and read old articles about him, I’ve heard another story.

“He was completely ruthless, hard-nosed, unwilling to listen to others, and was used to get what he wanted to get done” said one Apple employee. Others who have worked at Apple thought he was also extremely top-down and unfair. He was described as a brutal micromanager who didn’t source wisdom from his employees. Instead he used his inspirational force to guide people towards a vision he led.

On October 6, Mike Daisey wrote a NYTimes op-ed entitled Against Nostalgia which said “We can admire the design perfection and business acumen while acknowledging the truth: with Apple’s immense resources at his command he could have revolutionized the industry to make devices more humanely and more openly, and chose not to.”

To what extent is this top-down approach a healthy leadership model for Generation Y? To what extent is it not?

We tend the praise leaders who were ruthless about their creativity and vision and inspired a pack of followers. While I do believe Jobs was an inspirational genius, I am left wondering if we are also lauding a ‘leader’ who was in some ways a dictator who only listened to his own intuition. Most leadership books read that CEOs must listen to others as well as be creative and brilliant. Is Steve just an outlier to these rules?

I admire Jobs’ genius, yet I want to be wary of how we interpret this period of tributes. Being true to yourself as a leader doesn’t mean you have to be exactly like Steve Jobs. You can be an inspirational genius and you don’t have to be top-down, stop listening to others in your community, or ruthless.

Comments

  1. Brilliant prospect to look at…..thanks for the article, it made real sense ….

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