Everyone talks about Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his leadership skills, but what are they exactly? People write about his charisma, his rock-star image, his personality, but seldom do they talk about what really makes him a great leader, writes Samuel B. Bacharach, professor at Cornell University's Institute for Workplace Studies, on The Bacharach Blog today.
Bacharach says, “If we put his real world successes on one side and his amazed audiences on another -- one thing becomes apparent: Jobs has the ability to get things done. It’s his best leadership skill. He has the power to mobilize people around his agenda and bring it into reality.”
Bacharach adds that personality alone is not “responsible for turning his innovative computer company into a household name.” Jobs needed to know something about the “political terrain,” figure out who in the company could get things done and observe and learn from them, organize his priorities and figure out how to produce the products.
Bacharach says that involves nuts-and-bolts skills that are often ignored in evaluating leadership skills. “Leaders aren’t always captivating public speakers,” he writes. “They don’t always pack over-sized personalities. They are simply the people who can have an idea and get it done.”
Email
ShareThis