Steve jobs free essay sample

Every person faces challenges, but it’s how we respond to them defines who we are. Challenges help a person see a side of them that they never thought they would see. I believe in Horace idea that adversity in our lives helps draw out the talents of our own selves that would have been inactive if there weren’t any challenges. Challenges create new experiences; new experiences draw out new talents. There are so many great examples of people who had to overcome obstacles in their life in order to find their own talent, but one of my favorite examples is Steve Jobs. Jobs was a college student who did not want to conform to the social norms of going to college. Steve Jobs wanted to find out who he really is, and eventually ended up in a major problem where he was in a financial strain and had no idea where he was going with his life. We will write a custom essay sample on Steve jobs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Without a proper education and money he fell into a great amount of stress. What eventually drew out his true talent was when he and Steve Wozniak created their own company. He learned that the secret to his success was his ability to trust people. His trust allowed him to continue to Wozniak with the creation of Apple and expanding it into a company that would make billions of dollars. If it weren’t for him being in a stressful situation, he wouldn’t have learned that he was a trusting person. It was his ability to trust himself and others around him that allowed for him to continue his pursuit of advancing computer technology. If Steve Jobs was always successful in life, and always had things done the way he wanted it to happen, then there would be no need for him being a trusting person. He wouldn’t need to rely on others for his fate. If it weren’t for the obstacles he faced in life, Steve Jobs would have never been the same person was. Another person that learned about his talents was Beethoven. Beethoven faced probably one of the hardest adversities on a lover of music, deafness. Beethoven always loved to listen to music, but had a significant hearing problem. He had begun to lose his hearing very rapidly until he finally couldn’t hear anymore. It was hard for him to explain to people that he was deaf, which made him look weird in society. This caused Beethoven to become very depressed. He came out of depression by expressing his emotions and feeling through music. He began to write music that described how he felt at that moment. He realized that he was an excellent music writer, and eventually began to become very famous for his writings. This is shown as people of this generation, whether old or young, know who Beethoven is and what he did. If Beethoven hadn’t been deaf, then he would have not needed to express his depression through the use of writing music. Beethoven faced challenges, but it was how he responded to those challenges that exposed him to his hidden talents. Although both Steve Jobs and Beethoven are famous examples of how adversity brings about hidden talents, everyone has adversity, and everyone finds hidden talents about themselves one way or another. My friend Alexis never imagined that she would play lacrosse. She only thought of playing it just a couple of moths ago, and only practiced for a couple of months. She came to tryout and realized that she was a very good player and was picked to play on the Varsity team for Blake High School. She was shocked that she was really good at it. But she had to face challenges in order to realize that she could play that good. She was in a strain, as she wanted to find an extracurricular activity in order to impress colleges, as throughout her high school years she had done no extra curricular activities. It was her junior year, so she had to find something quick. If it weren’t her stress to find a sport to play she wouldn’t have ever come to the idea of paying lacrosse. She not only was able to play it, but also was one of the best players on the team. Although, not everyone can become a big hit such as Steve Jobs and Beethoven, everybody has hidden talents in them that can only be found when in times of adversity. Everyone faces challenges, and it is the challenge that exposes us to our hidden challenges. If we were perfect, then there would be nothing to find. But since we face challenges, we have to face those challenges that bring about a side to us that we probably have never seen. It’s the experience that allows us to find our hidden talents. That is why I believe that adversity brings about a persons hidden talent, while if we were perfect they would have been inactive. Steve Jobs free essay sample In this ever growing, rapid developing world as we can see today, there are many different successful leaders. As we know it, leaders are humans just like everyone else. How did they manage to stand out from the crowd? What did they do to achieve great success for an organization? As of all the successful leaders in the world, Steve Jobs is one of the successful leaders that managed to achieve great success for an organization. Therefore, Steve Jobs is the leader that I personally admire and would like to emulate. According to Gallo (2011, p. 4), Jobs was named the best-performing CEO in the world by the Harvard Business Review. Jobs was given the title as he delivered â€Å"a whopping 3188% industry adjusted return (34% compounded annually) after he rejoined Apple. †(Gallo 2011, p. 4). The key traits that made Jobs an aspiring leader was that he was able to think out of the box and he was also willing to try new challenges thus, taking risks. We will write a custom essay sample on Steve Jobs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is said because as said by Gallo (2011, p. 5), Jobs originated the development of some of the sexiest Apple products yet such as the iMacs, iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and not forgetting the iPods. Jobs took the risk of not knowing whether it would make or break the company, but he did it anyway. In the end, as we all know the result, Jobs succeeded. As quoted by Arrington (cited in Gallo 2011, p. 5), â€Å"your world would look a lot different had Jobs not been in it: We’d likely still be in mobile phone hell. † â€Å"Without Steve Jobs, the world would be a less colourful place† (Arrington cited in Gallo 2011, p. 5). Therefore, I personally admire and look up to Steve Jobs as he contributed change to the world in technology. Not only that, other quality that made Jobs an inspiring leader is that he never gave up on doing a task even when he faced problems. As stated by Gallo (2011, p. 29), â€Å"inventors are, by definition, failures. They fail far more often than they succeed. † This shows that Jobs, just like every other person has failed many times but he differed from the rest as he was determine and persistent to succeed. He never gave up. Furthermore, there are seven principles that Steve Jobs live by, which made him a successful leader that he was. First of all, principle 1 states â€Å"Do What You Love† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). Jobs did exactly that and went by instinct to follow his heart in what he did. Jobs also never allowed anyone to get in his way of doing what he loves best. (2011, p. 10) Thus, by doing this, Jobs managed to stand out from the crowd. Moving on to principle 2, it stipulates to â€Å"Put a Dent in the Universe† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). The meaning of this principle is to make a stand in the world. Jobs together with all those who support and saw things the same light, helped him make his vision a complete success (2011, p. 10). For the third principle, it says â€Å"Kick-Start Your Brain† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). As this is mentioned, it is said that creativity brings out the best in creating an innovation (2011, p. 10). Jobs refer to creativity as â€Å"the art of connecting things† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). Next, the forth principle is â€Å"Sell Dreams, Not Products† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). Jobs does not consider Apple buyers as consumers (2022, p. 10). Instead, he says they are ones with big hopes and dreams (2011, p. 10). Therefore, he creates products to make their dream come true (2011, p. 10). Principle 5 states â€Å"Say No to 1,000 Things† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). Saying no to 1000 things is meant by Jobs to leave out all the unnecessary so things would be precise (2011, p. 10). In Jobs eyes, the simpler the product is, the more sophisticated it may be (2011, p. 10). The sixth principle that Jobs live by is â€Å"Create Insanely Great Experiences† (Gallo 2011, p. 10). This being said, Jobs established The Apple Store and it has now become the world’s best retail shop (2011, p. 10). It is the best in customer service (2011, p. 10). Last but not least, Principle 7 states â€Å"Master the Message† (Gallo 2011, p. 11). This is meant by Steve Jobs to be able to voice out and present his product to the public well (2011, p. 11). You can have the best idea of all time, but if you fail to convey your idea to the world, it would be a waste (2011, p. 11). Hence, these are the seven principles and the core principles that Jobs lived by to be a successful and inspiring leader. I personally admire Steve Jobs as he is one that does things in a very systematic manner which lead him to his success. Talking about success, in a YouTube video by Jandafrique (2009), it shows Jobs himself explaining the rules of success. In the video, Jobs quoted, â€Å"You got to love it, you got to have passion†. I strongly agree to what Steve Jobs had said because to succeed, you need to be passionate about what you are doing. A given task would not be a burden to one if that particular one loved their job. They would enjoy doing every bit of it if they love doing it, therefore making everything simpler and faster to accomplish. Other than that,†No matter how smart you are, you need a team of great people† (Jobs cited in Jandafrique 2009) was also quoted by Jobs. One cannot open an organization and work alone to be successful. It would almost be impossible. As quoted by John Heywood, â€Å"many hands make light work. † Therefore, this shows the ways and traits in which made Jobs an inspiring man. One of the leadership traits that Jobs go by is his very own saying, â€Å"stay hungry, stay foolish† (Jash, n. d. ). The meanings in which I interpreted from the quote, is that one should always be looking out and have never ending questions to a matter. No question is a stupid question. By questioning, only then one will be able to come up with something even better than what has already existed. Jobs did this and that is what made him an inspiring and successful leader. Some of the personal skills that Jobs was good at as said by Kayney (2009, p. 39) is that he is excellent in product development. This statement can be proven as Jobs invented products from the Apple iPods, iPhones and the Macs (2009, p. 39). This shows that Jobs has the flair in inventing new products (2009, p. 39). Besides that, Jobs is also great at presenting products. As this is one of his key traits, Jobs comes out to the public to present the new product to the world (2009, p. 39). Last by not least, Jobs has the ability to negotiate (2009, p. 39). This is said to be because Jobs was able to influence five major music record labels to market their music on iTunes and also negotiate with Disney to present Pixar movies (2009, p. 39). As we have learnt in this module, from Mitzberg (cited in Robbins S. , DeCenzo D. , Coulter M. 2013, p. 32) being a negotiator is one of the decision making roles that a leader or manager should have. This mentioned, it is proven that Jobs is a successful leader as he attains the qualities of a negotiator. In a nutshell, I personally admire and chose to emulate Steve Jobs as one of the most successful and inspiring leaders because he brought change to the world of technology as well as business. Steve Jobs is one of the many leaders that most people look up to. Not only that, Jobs is also one who is very persistent and he never gave up when he failed. This trait is very important as it shows the endurance level of one. If Jobs were to give up easily, the world would not be what it is today. Moreover, Jobs was an inspiring leader because he lived by the 7 principles that lead him to success. Other than that, Jobs was also always finding new ways to innovate and create new products. He made people’s dreams come true. Besides the fact that he is he was a great leader, Jobs had a plus point where he was really good at negotiating with people. This is a trait that all leaders and managers should have as it is important. Therefore, this shows the key traits in which that are portrayed in Steve Jobs which lead him to be a successful and an inspiring figure to the world.