Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011) : the hungry leader
- Early years: abandonment and salvation through passion
- Main leadership attributes: powerful vision and tenacity
- Avoidance of the superfluous
- Communication skills
- Failures sublimation
- Anticipatory and instinctive vision
- Criticism: from control obsession to manipulation
- When perfectionism leads to obsession
- Manipulation and the reality distortion field
- Excessive temper and emotional volatility
A monumental leader like Steve Jobs required a monumental biography, but one that neither falls into the trap of panegyric or hagiography, nor into that of prosecution or indictment ; which is often how the stories of those who became great leaders of their times is told. To put it simply, since our subject leader was sometimes too honest and too harsh, as is also the biography we chose : the famously posthumous Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (2011).
This memo will constitute an attempt at presenting the most salient leadership and human attributes of Steve Jobs, often recognized as the "charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution". In order to do so, we will discuss Jobs' personal history and career, his major inventions and above all, what made him one of the greatest leaders of his generation.