Introduction

What is leadership?

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. –
Professor Warren G. Bennis
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because
he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The word "leadership" can bring to mind a variety of images. For example:

• An army officer, leading an assault on an enemy position.

• An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his party to follow.

• And executive, developing her company's strategy to beat the competition.

Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an
inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where
you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and
inspiring.

Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide
their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way.

Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different
things in different situations. For example, it could relate to community leadership,
religious leadership, political leadership, and leadership of campaigning groups.
This article focuses on the Western model of individual leadership, and discusses
leadership in the workplace rather than in other areas.

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Leadership: A Definition

According to the idea of transformational leadership, an effective leader is a person

who does the following:

1. Creates an inspiring vision of the future.

2. Motivates and inspires people to engage with that vision.

3. Manages delivery of the vision.

4. Coaches and builds a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision.

Principals of Leadership
• Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you
have to understand your to be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-
improvement means continually strengthening your attributes.

• Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a
solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.

• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for
ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong,
they always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation,
take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.

• Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision
making, and planning tools.

• Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not
only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the
change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi

• Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature
and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

• Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only
them, but also seniors and other key people.

• Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good

character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.

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 • Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished -
Communication is the key to this responsibility.

• Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization,

department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a
group of people doing their jobs.

• Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit,

you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its
fullest capabilities.

Leadership brings together the skills needed to do these things. We'll look at each
element in more detail.

1. Creating an Inspiring Vision of the Future

In business, a vision is a realistic, convincing and attractive depiction of where you

want to be in the future. Vision provides direction, sets priorities, and provides a
marker, so that you can tell that you've achieved what you wanted to achieve.

To create a vision, leaders focus on an organization's strengths by using tools such as

Porter's Five Forces, PEST Analysis, USP Analysis, Core Competence Analysis   and
SWOT Analysis   to analyze their current situation. They think about how their
industry is likely to evolve, and how their competitors are likely to behave. They look
at how they can innovate successfully, and shape their businesses and their strategies
to succeed in future marketplaces. And they test their visions with appropriate market
research, and by assessing key risks using techniques such as Scenario Analysis

Therefore, leadership is proactive, problem solving, looking ahead, and not being
satisfied with things as they are.

Once they have developed their visions, leaders must make them compelling and
convincing. A compelling vision   is one that people can see, feel, understand, and
embrace. Effective leaders provide a rich picture of what the future will look like
when their visions have been realized. They tell inspiring stories  , and explain their
visions in ways that everyone can relate to.

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Here, leadership combines the analytical side of vision creation with the passion of
shared values, creating something really meaningful to the people being led.

2. Motivating and Inspiring People

A compelling vision provides the foundation for leadership. But its leaders' ability to
motivate and inspire people that help them deliver that vision.

For example, when you start a new project, you will probably have lots of enthusiasm
for it, so it's often easy to win support for the project at the beginning. However, it can
be difficult to find ways to keep your vision inspiring after the initial enthusiasm
fades, especially if the team or organization needs to make significant changes in the
way that they do things. Leaders recognize this, and they work hard throughout the
project to connect their vision with people's individual needs, goals, and aspirations.

One of the key ways they do this is through Expectancy Theory. Effective leaders link
together two different expectations:

• The expectation that hard work leads to good results.

• The expectation that good results lead to attractive rewards or incentives.

This motivates people to work hard to achieve success, because they expect to enjoy
rewards – both intrinsic and extrinsic – as a result.

Other approaches include restating the vision in terms of the benefits it will bring to
the team's customers, and taking frequent opportunities to communicate the vision in
an attractive and engaging way.

What's particularly helpful here is where leaders have expert power  . People admire
and believe in these leaders because they are expert in what they do. They have
credibility, and they've earned the right to ask people to listen to them and follow
them. This makes it much easier for these leaders to motivate and inspire the people
they lead.

Leaders can also motivate and influence people through their natural charisma and
appeal, and through other sources of power, such as the power to pay bonuses or
assign tasks to people. However, good leaders don't rely too much on these types of
power to motivate and inspire others.

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3. Managing Delivery of the Vision

This is the area of leadership that relates to management. According to the Hersey-
Blanchard Situational Leadership Model, there is a time to tell, a time to sell, a time to
participate, and a time to delegate. Knowing which approach you need to use, and
when you need it, is key to effective leadership.

Leaders must ensure that the work needed to deliver the vision is properly managed
either by themselves, or by a dedicated manager or team of managers to whom the
leader delegates this responsibility and they need to ensure that their vision is
delivered successfully.

To do this, team members need performance goals that are linked to the team's overall
vision. Our article on Performance Management and KPIs (Key Performance
Indicators) explains one way of doing this, and our Project Management section
explains another. And, for day-to-day management of delivering the vision, the
Management by Wandering around (MBWA) approach helps to ensure that what
should happen, really happens.

Leaders also need to make sure they manage change effectively. This helps to ensure
that the changes needed to deliver the vision are implemented smoothly and
thoroughly, with the support and backing of the people affected.

4. Coaching and Building a Team to Achieve the Vision

Individual and team development are important activities carried out by

transformational leaders. To develop a team, leaders must first understand team
dynamics. Several well-established and popular models describe this, such as Belbin's
Team Roles approach, and Bruce Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming, and
Performing theory  

A leader will then ensure that team members have the necessary skills and abilities to
do their job and achieve the vision. They do this by giving and receiving feedback
regularly, and by training and coaching   people to improve individual and team
performance.

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Leadership also includes looking for leadership potential in others. By developing
leadership skills within your team, you create an environment where you can continue
success in the long term. And that's a true measure of great leadership.

The words "leader" and "leadership" are often used incorrectly to describe people who
are actually managing. These individuals may be highly skilled, good at their jobs,
and valuable to their organizations – but that just makes them excellent managers, not
leaders.
So, be careful how you use the terms, and don't assume that people with "leader" in
their job titles, people who describe themselves as "leaders," or even groups called
"leadership teams," are actually creating and delivering transformational change.
A particular danger in these situations is that people or organizations that are being
managed by such an individual or group think they're being led; but they're not. There
may actually be no leadership at all, with no one setting a vision and no one being
inspired. This can cause serious problems in the long term.
Leadership can be hard to define and it means different things to different people.

The Process of great leadership

The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful
leaders:
• Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved
the most.

• Inspire a shared vision - Next, share your vision in words that can be understood
by your followers.

• Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.

• Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells
others what to do, a leader shows that it can be done.

• Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' hearts, while keeping
the pains within your own.

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In the transformational leadership model, leaders set direction and help themselves
and others to do the right thing to move forward. To do this they create an inspiring
vision, and then motivate and inspire others to reach that vision. They also manage
delivery of the vision, either directly or indirectly, and build and coach their teams to
make them ever stronger.
Effective leadership is about all of this – and it's exciting to be part of this journey!

You've just finished training the newest member of your team.

Now that he's ready to start working, you give him the data he needs to enter into the
company's database, and you hurry off to a meeting.

When you return later that afternoon, you find that he hasn't done anything. He didn't
know what to do, and he didn't have the confidence to ask for help. As a result, hours
have been lost, and you have to rush to enter the data on time. Although you may
want to blame the worker, the truth is that you're as much to blame as he is.

How can you avoid situations like this?

Management experts Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard argue that these things happen
because leaders don't match their style of leadership to the maturity of the people
they're leading. When style and maturity aren't matched, failure is the result.

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, and will explain how it's used in
different leadership situations.

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Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory was created by Dr. Paul Hersey,
a professor and author of "The Situational Leader," and Ken Blanchard, author of the
best selling "One-Minute Manager," among others.

The theory states that instead of using just one style, successful leaders should change
their leadership styles based on the maturity of the people they're leading and the
details of the task. Using this theory, leaders should be able to place more or less
emphasis on the task, and more or less emphasis on the relationships with the people
they're leading, depending on what's needed to get the job done successfully.

Leadership Styles

According to Hersey and Blanchard, there are four main leadership styles:

• Telling (S1) – Leaders tell their people what to do and how to do it.

• Selling (S2) – Leaders provide information and direction, but there's more
communication with followers. Leaders "sell" their message to get people on
board.

• Participating (S3) – Leaders focus more on the relationship and less on direction.
The leader works with the team, and shares decision-making responsibilities.

• Delegating (S4) – Leaders pass most of the responsibility onto the follower or
group. The leaders still monitor progress, but they're less involved in
decisions.

As you can see, styles S1 and S2 are focused on getting the task done. Styles S3 and
S4 are more concerned with developing team members' abilities to work
independently.

Maturity Levels

According to Hersey and Blanchard, knowing when to use each style is largely
dependent on the maturity of the person or group you're leading. They break maturity
down into four different levels:

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 M1 – People at this level of maturity are at the bottom level of the scale. They lack
the knowledge, skills, or confidence to work on their own, and they often need
to be pushed to take the task on.
 M2 – at this level, followers might be willing to work on the task, but they still
don't have the skills to complete it successfully.
 M3 – Here, followers are ready and willing to help with the task. They have more
skills than the M2 group, but they're still not confident in their abilities.
 M4 – These followers are able to work on their own. They have high confidence
and strong skills, and they're committed to the task.

Maturity Level Most Appropriate Leadership Style

M1: Low maturity S1: Telling/directing

M2: Medium maturity, limited skills S2: Selling/coaching

M3: Medium maturity, higher skills S3: Participating/supporting

but lacking confidence

M4: High maturity S4: Delegating

Qualities of a good Leader

Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step
in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare
enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers
from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon
as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a
powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant
success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and
thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the
leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good
leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

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1. Honesty

Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a team of
people, it’s important to raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees
are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value,
your team will follow suit.

2. Ability to Delegate

Finessing your brand vision is essential to creating an organized and efficient

business, but if you don’t learn to trust your team with that vision, you might never
progress to the next stage. It’s important to remember that trusting your team with
your idea is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate
departments is one of the most important skills you can develop as your business
grows.
The emails and tasks will begin to pile up, and the more you stretch yourself thin, the
lower the quality of your work will become, and the less you will produce. The key to
delegation is identifying the strengths of your team, and capitalizing on them. Find
out what each team member enjoys doing most. Chances are if they find that task
more enjoyable, they will likely put more thought and effort behind it. This will not
only prove to your team that you trust and believe in them, but will also free up your
time to focus on the higher level tasks, that should not be delegated. It’s a fine
balance, but one that will have a huge impact on the productivity of your business.

3. Communication

Knowing what you want accomplished may seem clear in your head, but if you try to
explain it to someone else and are met with a blank expression, you know there is a
problem. If this has been your experience, then you may want to focus on honing your

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communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want
done is extremely important. If you can’t relate your vision to your team, you won’t all
be working towards the same goal.

Training new members and creating a productive work environment all depend on
healthy lines of communication. Whether that stems from an open door policy to your
office, or making it a point to talk to your staff on a daily basis, making yourself
available to discuss interoffice issues is vital. Your team will learn to trust and depend
on you, and will be less hesitant to work harder.

4. Sense of Humor

If your website crashes, you lose that major client, or your funding dries up, guiding
your team through the process without panicking is as challenging as it is important.
Morale is linked to productivity, and it’s your job as the team leader to instill a
positive energy. That’s where your sense of humor will finally pay off. Encourage
your team to laugh at the mistakes instead of crying. If you are constantly learning to
find the humor in the struggles, your work environment will become a happy and
healthy space, where your employees look forward to working in, rather than dreading
it. Make it a point to crack jokes with your team and encourage personal discussions
of weekend plans and trips. It’s these short breaks from the task at hand that help keep
productivity levels high and morale even higher.

5. Confidence

There may be days where the future of your brand is worrisome and things aren’t
going according to plan. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most
important thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and
maintain the team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that
setbacks are natural and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal. As the
leader, by staying calm and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same.
Remember, your team will take cues from you, so if you exude a level of calm
damage control, your team will pick up on that feeling. The key objective is to keep
everyone working and moving ahead.

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6. Commitment

If you expect your team to work hard and produce quality content, you’re going to
need to lead by example. There is no greater motivation than seeing the boss down in
the trenches working alongside everyone else, showing that hard work is being done
on every level.

By proving your commitment to the brand and your role, you will not only earn the
respect of your team, but will also instill that same hardworking energy among your
staff. It’s important to show your commitment not only to the work at hand, but also
to your promises. If you pledged to host a holiday party, or uphold summer Fridays,
keep your word. You want to create a reputation for not just working hard, but also be
known as a fair leader. Once you have gained the respect of your team, they are more
likely to deliver the peak amount of quality work possible.

7. Positive Attitude

You want to keep your team motivated towards the continued success of the
company, and keep the energy levels up. Whether that means providing snacks,
coffee, relationship advice, or even just an occasional beer in the office, remember
that everyone on your team is a person. Keep the office mood a fine balance between
productivity and playfulness. If your team is feeling happy and upbeat, chances are
they won’t mind staying that extra hour to finish a report, or devoting their best work
to the brand.

8. Creativity

Some decisions will not always be so clear-cut. You may be forced at times to deviate
from your set course and make an on the fly decision. This is where your creativity
will prove to be vital. It is during these critical situations that your team will look to

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you for guidance and you may be forced to make a quick decision. As a leader, its
important to learn to think outside the box and to choose which of two bad choices is
the best option.
Don’t immediately choose the first or easiest possibility; sometimes its best to give
these issues some thought, and even turn to your team for guidance. By utilizing all
possible options before making a rash decision, you can typically reach the end
conclusion you were aiming for.

9. Intuition

When leading a team through uncharted waters, there is no roadmap on what to do.
Everything is uncertain, and the higher the risk, the higher the pressure. That is where
your natural intuition has to kick in. Guiding your team through the process of your
day-to-day tasks can be honed down to a science. But when something unexpected
occurs, or you are thrown into a new scenario, your team will look to you for
guidance. Drawing on past experience is a good reflex, as is reaching out to your
mentors for support. Eventually though, the tough decisions will be up to you to
decide and you will need to depend on your gut instinct for answers. Learning to trust
yourself is as important as your team learning to trust you.

10. Ability to inspire

Creating a business often involves a bit of forecasting. Especially in the beginning

stages of a startup, inspiring your team to see the vision of the successes to come is
vital. Make your team feel invested in the accomplishments of the company. Whether
everyone owns a piece of equity, or you operate on a bonus system, generating
enthusiasm for the hard work you are all putting in is so important. Being able to
inspire your team is great for focusing on the future goals, but it is also important for
the current issues. When you are all mired deep in work, morale is low, and energy
levels are fading, recognize that everyone needs a break now and then. Acknowledge
the work that everyone has dedicated and commend the team on each of his or her
efforts. It is your job to keep spirits up, and that begins with an appreciation for the
hard work.

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 Leadership of Apple’s Steve Jobs

About Steve Jobs-

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs, was an American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor,
who was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he is
widely recognized as a charismatic and design-driven pioneer of the personal
computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer
electronics fields, transforming "one industry after another, from computers and
smartphones to music and movies." Jobs also co-founded and served as chief
executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors
of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. Jobs was among
the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical
user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, a year later, the
Macintosh. He also played a role in introducing the LaserWriter, one of the first
widely available laser printers, to the market.

After a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and
founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the
higher-education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics
division of Lucasfilm, which was spun off as Pixar. He was credited in Toy Story
(1995) as an executive producer.

He served as CEO and majority shareholder until Disney's purchase of Pixar in 2006.
In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operating system, Copland, Gil Amelio
turned to NeXT Computer, and the NeXT STEP platform became the foundation for
the Mac OS X. Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor, and took control of the company
as an interim CEO. Jobs brought Apple from near bankruptcy to profitability by 1998.

As the new CEO of the company, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes,
iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side, the company's Apple Retail Stores,
iTunes Store and the App Store. The success of these products and services provided

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several years of stable financial returns, and propelled Apple to become the world's
most valuable publicly traded company in 2011. The reinvigoration of the company is
regarded by many commentators as one of the greatest turnarounds in business
history.

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was
initially treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in
2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined. On medical leave for
most of 2011, Jobs resigned in August that year, and was elected Chairman of the
Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to the tumor on October 5, 2011.

Steve Jobs - The Entrepreneur

Despite the lack of resources, Steve and Wozniak designed the first computer and
made its prototype in Steve's garage. Upon completion, Steve showed the system to a
local electronics equipment retailer. Impressed by the design, he ordered 25 systems.
Steve's friend, a retired CEO from Intel, helped him develop marketing strategies for
selling their new product.

Enthused by the success of their invention, Steve and Wozniak set up a company in
1975 to produce and sell small computers. To get the required capital, they sold some
of their most valuable possessions: Wozniak sold his HP calculator and Steve sold his
Volkswagen van. Together they raised $ 1300.

From Apple to Macintosh

Apple III's second innings proved to be very fruitful; the product became very popular
with computer professionals. The company grew at a very healthy rate for the next
couple of years. Apple's sales amounted to $ 583,000,000 in 1982, a 74% increase
from 1981. Also, the company's net earnings stood at $ 1.06 per share in 1982, which
was up 55% from the previous year.

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Leadership of Steve Jobs-

Steve Jobs was an unconventional leader. His management style wasn't the stuff of
university textbooks - he wasn't known for his consultative or consensus building
approach.

Steve was regarded as a source of motivation and inspiration by his employees. He

described the Macintosh development team as 'souls who were well grounded in the
philosophical traditions of the last 100 years and the sociological traditions of the
1960s.' Steve emphasized constancy of aim and effort. As a result, the Macintosh
team pursued their dream through grueling hours of work and against formidable
odds. A reporter who interviewed the Macintosh team once said, "The machine's
development was traumatic, joyful, grueling, lunatic, rewarding and ultimately the
major event in the lives of almost everyone involved

He was a "high-maintenance co-worker" who demanded excellence from his staff and
was known for his blunt delivery of criticism.

But it was his sheer genius combined with his ability to articulate his vision and bring
staff, investors and customers along on the journey - plus the lessons learned in a
major career setback - that made it work. The results: indisputable.

A 'visionary' is how he is most often described in relation to Apple, the company he

founded with high school buddy Steve Wozniak in 1976, was effectively fired from in
1985, and then returned to in 1997 with a renewed sense of purpose.

And what a triumphant return it was. According the LA Times, the market value of
Apple's shares has grown from about $US5 billion in 2000 to $US351 billion today
making it one of the biggest publicly listed companies in the US, up there with the
likes of Exxon Mobil.

Jobs’ strategic leadership and management style made Apple an iconic brand. He was
widely credited with having saved a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy

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during the 1990s and for having played a key role in the development of many
innovative products.

According to experts, Jobs was a creative genius who revolutionized the technology
industry by creating some path-breaking products such as the Macintosh (Mac)
(1984), the iPod (2001), the iPhone (2007), and the iPad (2010). Jobs was seen as the
source of Apple's innovation as it was he who inspired the employees to come out
with unconventional products by thinking differently. The way he marketed and sold
products helped turn the company into a pop-culture phenomenon. Under Jobs’
leadership, Apple's market value grew from about US$ 5 billion in 2000 to US$ 351
billion in 2011.

"He taught all of us how to transform technology into magic," said John Sculley
(Sculley), former CEO of Apple.

But Jobs’ rise to the top was hardly textbook perfect. A university dropout, he worked
at Atari and travelled through India before seeing a commercial opportunity in the
computer (the original Apple I) Wozniak had built to impress some friends.

They started the company with an investment of $US1300 of their own money,
making it into the Fortune 500 list by 1983. That year Jobs recruited former Pepsi
executive John Sculley to take the chief executive position, only to be stripped of all
his power by him in 1985. According to author Steven Levy, this was prompted by
the Macintosh computer not selling as well as expected, as well as Jobs's demanding
management style.

As Harry McCracken writes in Time magazine: “Jobs may have been inspiring, but
he was also a high-maintenance co-worker” who labelled people who didn't impress
him as “bozos”.

“We have an environment where excellence is really expected,” Jobs told Levy in an
interview in 1983.

“What's really great is to be open when [the work] is not great. My best contribution
is not settling for anything but really good stuff, in all the details. That's my job, to

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make sure everything is great.”

Known as the 'wonder kid' of the Silicon Valley, Steve was known for pulling off
seemingly impossible feats. He was one of the few entrepreneurs who were reported
to be 'as famous as a 1970s rock star'.

All through the late-1970's, Apple was always in the news.

In 2000, the College of Journalism and Communications honored him with the
'Millennium Award' in recognition of his 'singular professional leadership, vision and
creative achievement.' Steve was a celebrated leader for thousands of people who
used Apple products. The story of how Steve built the Apple empire, how and why he
was thrown out of it, how he created a few more successful businesses and the reasons
behind his return to Apple is essentially the story of an entrepreneur and as a business
leader.

Hard lessons

In the time he was away from Apple, Jobs took on new challenges. He bought Pixar,
transforming it from a tiny animation house to an industry leader responsible for films
such as Toy Story. He also started up computing firm NeXT which was later bought
by Apple.

Editor of Mac the Magazine Matthew Powell says starting from scratch in 1985
taught Jobs discipline and patience.

“At NeXT and Pixar he was the guy in charge, didn't answer to anybody, and success
or failure rested very heavily on his decisions,” Powell says.” I think that was a
significant part of it. At Apple he'd been constantly kicking against partners or
superiors to get what he wanted, often blaming others when things didn't work out and
occasionally wrapping himself in glory that rightly belonged to others.”

Dr Croker believes it also gave him that extra push to succeed at Apple the second
time around. “Anyone who has been kicked out of the ring forms the attitude 'right,
I'm going to show them',” he said. “They get much focused – if anything it did him
some good. It was an extremely strong motivator for success in later years.”

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Control of the big and little

Jobs exerted his control over every aspect of the business in the quest for perfection.
The New York Times reports that over the course of a year he threw out two
prototypes of the iPhone before accepting the third. Toy Story took four years to
make, but retained the support of Jobs despite the company struggling financially.

An investigation into the workplace culture of Apple published in May by Fortune

magazine found that Jobs's control even extended as far as the design of the company
bus and the food served at the cafeteria.

In its interviews with former employees Fortune found that Jobs encouraged a culture
of strict accountability at all levels of the organisation by meeting each Monday with
executives to set the tone for the week. Run by a strict agenda, these meetings
reviewed every single product under development.

“Eighty per cent is the same as it was the last week, and we just walk down it every
single week,” Jobs said in an interview with Fortune in 2008.

“We don't have a lot of process at Apple, but that's one of the few things we do just to
all stay on the same page."

Employees were recruited into the company as specialists and put into roles that made
the most of their specific strengths and abilities. Turnover was low despite the
demanding corporate culture - Jobs was a passionate advocate for his vision and
incredibly effective at communicating this to shareholders, customers and staff.

The future

Jobs resigned from the Apple chief executive position in August for medical reasons,
battling the pancreatic cancer that would later take his life. His absence was missed at
the launch of the latest iPhone, held the day before he died – such is the
interdependence between him and the brand he co-founded.

Six Leadership lessons learned from Steve Jobs

#1 Foster Greatness

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“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” Jobs muttered
this quote under his breath after he made one of the most controversial decisions in
the movie. He denied three of the six original Apple employees (and former friends)
stock when the company went public in 1981, as he believed they were no longer
critical assets to the prospering company’s success.

Appearing in our ebook, 50 Leaders’ Inspirational Quotes on How Corporate Culture

Drives Business Success, this quote sums up Jobs’ leadership style to a T. Every
move he made, no matter how heartless it seemed, was for the betterment of his
employees, betterment of his products, and betterment of his company.

#2 Follow Your Passion

“If you don’t love something, you’re not going to go the extra mile, work the extra
weekend, and challenge the status quo as much.” Jobs believed passion was a critical
component of success. Since work would fill a large part of people’s lives, he urged
everyone to do what they love. Because the only way to be truly satisfied was to do
great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. It was his
fearless pursuit of passion that co-founded Apple in 1976, and it was that same
fearless pursuit that kept him motivated after he was fired 10 years later.

#3 Stay True to Your Vision

“If you don’t share our vision…then GET OUT!” If there was one thing Jobs did not
tolerate, it was an employee that didn’t share his vision. After Apple’s best
programmer told Jobs that his requests for the newest Apple II computer could not be
done, the co-founder fired him on the spot without hesitation.
Jobs stayed focused on the vision he had for Apple and made sure the company and
every employee were constantly headed toward that vision. Because of this, he will
always be remembered as one of the greatest visionary legends of all time.

#4 Hire Creativity
“Here’s to the crazy ones — the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs
in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…the ones that change
things.” The Apple slogan, “Think Different,” was also Jobs’ mentality behind his
hiring process. He didn’t just hire highly qualified technical engineers. Instead, he
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hired “musicians, and poets, and artists, and zoologists, and historians who also
happened to be computer scientists.”

In his to Stanford, Jobs finished the quote, “While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius. Because the people who think they are crazy enough to change the
world, are the ones that does.” 

#5 Risk Failure
“The greatest artists like Dylan, Picasso and Newton risked failure. And if we want to
be great, we’ve got to risk it too.” What separates the people who do things from the
ones who just dream about them? The bravery to take risks. It’s no secret that Jobs
didn’t hesitate when it came to taking risks. He often said that Apple raised the bar for
personal computing and if they wanted to stay there, they would have to risk
everything. It was his risk-everything mentality that took a small startup in his
parent’s garage and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company.

#6 Serve a Purpose
“If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you
focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.” “Make it great,”
was one of Jobs’ many signature catch phrases and the foundation of his consumer-
focused vision. He often asked himself, “Is this as great as it could be?” because he
believed his customers deserved nothing less. He wouldn’t just make it; he’d make it
great. Great products would satisfy customers, and in turn, produce great profits. 
Leadership 101 teaches us that great leaders are consultative, democratic, and willing
to change their course. While I believe that these are attributes of a great leader, I also
believe we can learn invaluable leadership lessons from the demanding and
tyrannical, Steve Jobs. Behind his critical and narcissistic exterior, Steve Jobs has
taught leaders worldwide to foster greatness, follow their passion, stay true to their
vision, hire creativity, risk failure, and serve a purpose.

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 Leadership of Microsoft’s Bill Gates

About Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business
magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor. Gates is the
former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-
computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen.

He is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people and was
the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009—excluding 2008, when he was ranked third;
in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the world's second wealthiest person.
[ According to the Bloomberg Billionaires List, Gates became the world's richest
person again in May 2013, a position that he last held on the list in 2007. He held the
position until Carlos Slim reclaimed it in July 2014. As of September 2014, he is the
second richest person in the world.

During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software
architect, he was also the largest individual shareholder up until May 2014. He has
also authored and co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-
competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by judicial courts.[12]
[13] In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic
endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and
scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He

remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself.
In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at
Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates

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Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect,
and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates's last full-time day at
Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February
2014, taking on a new post as technology advisor to support newly appointed CEO
Satya Nadella.

Gates and Allen set up their own software company in April 1975, when Gates
dropped out of Harvard and founded Microsoft. In 1977, Microsoft sold $500,000
worth of software. By this time, the BASIC program was being used in many
computers.

Gates and Allen were assisted by a staff of six, which included four programmers. In
late 1977, Gates released a version of FORTRAN language for microcomputers. In
1978, Gates and Allen introduced a version of COBOL. Around this time, Microsoft
emerged as the market leader in microcomputer languages with sales exceeding $1
million. In 1979, Microsoft developed a new version of BASIC

Leadership of Bill Gates

Growing and learning –

After landing billionaire lists several times, it would be easy for Gates to become
prideful or think he knows it all. But he’s not that way. In fact, a recent Forbes article
highlighted his efforts to improve on his communication and public speaking skills
(Forbes). Gates is also known for his wisdom in seeking council from others. He often
speaks of how much he has learned from Warren Buffett. Gates once commented that
Buffett has a “brilliant way of looking at the world” (BBC). Like a sponge, Gates tries
to soak in lessons learned from his mentor in order to become a better leader.

According to analysts, Gates had played a pivotal role in Microsoft's success. He had
made major contributions to strengthen the product development, human resources
and marketing efforts of the company. 

Appreciating Gates leadership, James Collins, co-author of the book - Built to Last:

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Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, said, "To my mind, Microsoft has never
been a company.

It's a single remarkable individual, Gates, with thousands of the smartest, best-paid
people anywhere helping that individual. It's basically like a big wheel, with Gates at
the hub

Though Gates was highly appreciated for his visionary leadership, he was also
criticized by some analysts. Critics felt that sometimes Gates took things so much to
heart that his emotional feeling overshadowed his rational thinking. They said that
Gates' intense rivalry with some of his competitors made him personalize every battle
and obscured his judgment.

Critics claimed that winning was so important to Gates that he would go to any extent
to beat his opponent. James Wallace of Seattle Post-Intelligencer said, "Bill Gates not
only wants to win, but he wants to kill the competition. He wants to bury the
wounded"

Having vision –

Without a doubt, Bill Gates is a man with vision. It was vision that inspired him to
pursue the creation of a graphical interface that became Microsoft software. Looking
back to his interviews about the development of Microsoft, Gates says he always
knew he wanted to have more than a single product. The company wanted to hire in
more software people and develop a full product line. From the beginning, he
recognized potential for growth and opportunity. His ability to envision goals also
reaches into his philanthropic pursuits. It can be seen in the malaria project he is now
pursuing at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal is to eradicate malaria,
and he’s laid out a strategy to get from A to B. His abilities to envision and strategize
make it easy for others to follow him.

Caring about people –

It would be hard to talk about the life of Bill Gates and not discuss philanthropy and

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humanitarianism. Along with Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates were the
founders of the giving pledge, a pledge taken by some of the world’s wealthiest
people to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes or charitable
organizations.  

Gates once said “I hope you will reflect on what you’ve done with your talent and
energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments
alone, but also on how well you work to address the world’s deepest inequities, on
how well you treat people a world away who have nothing in common with you but
their humanity” (Bloomberg Businessweek).

This is the kind of caring and empathy that causes people to stand behind a leader. He
is the type of person who isn’t working toward his own goal of personal gain; he is
working to help others grow. This is a key quality that successful leaders often
embody.

Anyone who wants to inspire or lead can do so. The key is to not lose key qualities
like a humble attitude, vision, or empathy in the process. Great leaders like Bill Gates
are successful in staying grounded which enables success. His qualities and
achievements set a great example for rising leaders.

Gates paid special attention to recruit and retain the best talent in the software
industry. He believed that the recruitment of talented software engineers was one of
the most critical elements in the software industry. Gates looked for a bundle of
attributes in recruits. These included the capacity to grasp new knowledge quickly, the
ability to ask probing questions, and deep familiarity with programming structures.
Though a great number of potential recruits applied for jobs at Microsoft, Gates
assumed that the best talent would never apply directly. Consequently, Microsoft's
HR managers had to hunt for the best talent and offer them a job.

Focus on Product Development-

Gates played an important role in product development activities at Microsoft. Much

of his development efforts were directed towards product simplification. Gates

25
believed that user-friendly computers and easily accessible software could attract
many new customers. He tried to view the entire product portfolio of Microsoft in the
light of future prospects and likely competitor moves. Accordingly, he made strategic
decisions regarding product development.
During the early years of Microsoft, all product development activities were done at
one site. People worked in small teams so that whatever interdependencies existed
could be handled by the concerned individuals immediately.

The Marketing Thrust-

Many analysts felt that one of the most important contributions of Gates to the
company was the development of innovative and aggressive marketing strategies.
Gates spent most of his time meeting a large number of the company's customers. A
master at making deals, he entered into several successful deals with them since the
establishment of Microsoft.

A shrewd judge of the potential of software products, he purchased DOS for only a
few thousand dollars and converted it into one of Microsoft's best-selling products.
Gates successfully predicted future trends and positioned Microsoft's products in such
a way that they soon became best-selling products...

Leadership Lessons learned from Bill Gates

The co-founder of Microsoft has been consistently ranked as one of the richest men in
the world. Gates, on the other hand, has never succumbed to the temptations of his
wealth and has pledged to part with massive amounts of it for charitable causes.

Bill Gates, the creator Windows, the most popular operating system in the world, is
known for being the entrepreneur who revolutionized the computing industry. A
college drop-out, he started Microsoft out of his garage and work hard to build it. The
company is now amongst the biggest corporations on the world. Gates has always
maintained that nothing can replace hard work. People try for shortcuts but all they
taste is temporary success which soon fades out. His leadership mantras are always
overwhelming and managers across the world yearn to learn and get inspired from

26
him.

Bill Gates most insightful leadership mantras:

On Hard Work
People used to wonder that how a college dropout who started the company from a
garage could make it this big. Some used to say that Gates was plain lucky. Little did
they realise that he had substantial experience in programming and had done years
and years of hard work before kicking it off. It was this experience which helped him
build the first software by Microsoft: MS DOS. Gates does not believe in the concept
of overnight success. Hard work is what truly counts in the long the run.

On Following your Passion

Making millions through programming was not his priority; Gates was just following
his heart, his passion. Programming was his obsession and it gave him happiness. He
has always maintained that good entrepreneurs follow their passion rather than
experimenting unnecessarily. That way they only end up losing focus. Rather than just
chasing the rupee sign, managers and entrepreneurs should work hard to chase their
passion. Money will come chasing on its own!

On Giving Back
Gates says, “If you want to become a leader that people admire and respect, you must
become a person of significance. People don't follow you because you take from
them; they follow you because you give to them.” Apart from being the tech-czar he
is, Gates is also known all over the world for all the philanthropy he does via his Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation. He believes that giving back to the society is as
important as taking from it. This is what sets a leader apart from others.“Strive to live
out a life that makes a difference in this world; give back more than what you've taken
from society. Your life then will be a true success,” remarks Gates.

On Vision
A leader should have the vision and that too an impeccable one. He should be able to
see what might lie ahead in times to come. Bill Gates could “see” that the future of

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computers was in the software, not in the hardware. This made things easy for him as
he now had well-defined targets to chase. According to Gates, most successful people
have had a vision which has enabled them to make it out big in the world. A leader
sans vision soon loses team and goes out of the race.

On Failures
Gates has always viewed failures as valuable learning lessons. As Windows was
gaining popularity, a good number of people were reporting problems in it every day
and a lot of criticism used to pour in on a routine basis. Bill Gates took all this in a
positive way. These were valuable lessons for him which made him more determined
to improve Windows. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of
learning,” says Bill Gates.

Some of His Best Quotes

1. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

2. I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew
out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.

3. If I had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years
ago?

4. Its fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

5. To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little bit different; it
takes something that's really new and really captures people's imagination -- and the
Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.
(Work Life, MensXP.com)

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Conclusion

Leader refers to person who has a goal in life. And always being a good example to
others. A leader also can be said as a role model to others, an individual who are
always focused towards his dreams. Leader is a strongly motivated individual. As the
say goes a leader is not born with the willpower and full strength there is a leader
inside everyone. A leader should abilities not to give up easily and also hardworking
to achieve his target.

The characteristics of a good leader, firstly the character of the leader is important.
The character refers to being a person with strong confident and having a strong
character. For example by strong character the leader will not go down went he face a
failure but he will take the failure as a stepping stone and get up quickly to move on to
the next step in life.

Communication skills, is an important element. Communication will help the leader

to easily interact with people and his followers. By having good communication skills
with others, the leader can give and get opinion, shares ideas and so on.
Communication is important to avoid miscommunication in an organization. A leader
should have this skill to interact with his client from different language and
background as well. Listening skills also important, a leader should listen to his
followers, and get feedback from them. Feedback from the followers is important by
this way the leader gets to know about the followers better. This help to improve the
job too.

Besides this, a leader should have a clear vision on what he is doing. Vision will gives
the leader a clear mindset on what he is doing. Important to have a vision and working
towards achieving it. For example in an organization without a clear mindset a leader
will not have a proper and clear mindset to get things done. Passion or desires. It

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important to have passion towards the job we are doing .Without passion or desires
we will not fell satisfy with the job we are doing. Passion is the door of achievement.

Positive attitude. A good leader should have a positive attitude and positive thinking.
By being a positive person it gives a lot of inner strength and build confident in a
person life. Positive mindset and attitude always help to understand and gives a good
solution to the problem. A leader has to be a good problem solver as well.

To solve the problem the leader has to be calm and does not blame others for his
mistake. A leader should find the solution to every problem he come across in life. A
leader should not run away from the problem but stand and face it will full confident.

Furthermore, a leader should always be focused on what he is doing to achieve his

goals. Focused and always work closely to achieve his mission and vision in life. By
being focused in life it will be easy to achieve their dreams. A leader should be a good
example to others. In other words be a set of example to others by having a strong
character and also able to lead his followers. Be an example by having a good and
pleasant personality, be a confident and etc.

A leader should be a risk taker. Risk taker in what he is doing. For example bring in
new product or giving a solution to the problems. By being a risk taker it will
motivate to be a good leader in future. A leader should not be scared to try something
new but a leader should accept to the changes in the organization. A leader should
also be tolerant and always remain calm. A leader should be patience and calm at all
the time, especially went making a decision. A leader has to have a control of
emotions too. A leader cannot bring his family problem to the office. A leader should
always show a professional attitude.

Innovative, determined and genius are just some descriptions commonly attached to
the legacy of Steve Jobs. This is a man who helped resurrect one of the now most
loved companies on earth from the ashes. He is a man from whom much can be
learned. However, the richest lessons of his life are not visible in his products and
fame, but in his journey. Below are a couple astounding leadership qualities of Steve
Jobs.

Bill Gates is the type of person who isn’t working toward his own goal of personal
gain; he is working to help others grow. This is a key quality that successful leaders

30
often embody. Anyone who wants to inspire or lead can do so. The key is to not lose
key qualities like a humble attitude, vision, or empathy in the process. Great leaders
like Bill Gates are successful in staying grounded which enables success. His qualities
and achievements set a great example for rising leaders.

Bibliography
1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-
make-a-great-leader/
2. http://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs/
3. http://www.mensxp.com/work-life/corporate-skills/5828-leadership-lessons-
from-bill-gates.html
4. http://www.quantumworkplace.com/steve-jobs-leadership/

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