The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs: Summary

Cotina Mills

The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs: Summary

Steve Jobs is the cofounder of Apple. Although he was pushed out of the company in 1985, he went back in 1997 to save the company from bankruptcy. According to Walter Isaacson, Jobs was very instrumental in building Apple into "the world's most valuable company."

In this article Isaacson shares some leadership lessons of Jobs. One of the most important lessons is focus. In 1997, Jobs saved the company by having his team narrow their focus to perfecting four great products. Jobs told Isaacson, "Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do." Another lesson is to simplify. Jobs did not like gadgets and clutter. He opted for items that cost less and didn't need an operator manual to work it. Jobs other lesson is, when behind...leapfrog. When the iMac was built it was good but it was behind when dealing with music. To not only catch up but get ahead, Jobs invented the iPod, iTunes and the iTunes Store. In order to stay ahead and compete with the mobile phone industry was to create the iPhone. Jobs said, "If we don't cannibalize ourselves, someone else will." Another lesson learned is to put products before profits. When the original Macintosh was designed Jobs wanted his team to concentrate on what the computer could perform, not how much it cost. This is what caused him to be pushed out of the company in 1985. Jobs wanted to focus on making the great product and believed the profits would follow. Apple declined after the leadership focus was on making profits and not products. Marketing and sales departments focus on the profits and the product department is left out of the loop.

Article by Walter Isaacson