Steve Jobs, the man who made Apple into one of the largest tech companies today, is renowned as one of the greatest tech leaders in the business. While many consider him a tough leader, there are great lessons to learn from him.
Discover Your Passion
If you aren’t passionate about your pursuits, how will you turn fantasy into reality? If you don’t love what you’re doing, you won’t dedicate yourself and the necessary time and resources required to succeed. If you aren’t passionate about your business, how do you expect your staff to be passionate?
Find Your Vision
If you don’t have a vision, where are you going? Where is your business going? Without a clear vision, it will be difficult to determine what direction to take. Think about Apple. Where would the company be without Steve Jobs’ expert leadership? You should always be planning for the long-term and thinking about the future.
Inspire and Empower
This might go without saying, but you need to inspire and empower your employees. Push them to be the best they can be. Challenge them and push their boundaries. Steve Jobs was great at this. He didn’t order people around or micromanage. He helped them to learn to challenge themselves and explore their potential, which led to increased productivity and of course, innovative thinking. Steve Jobs was known for working his employees night and day before a product launch to get it just right. While we don’t advise pushing your employees to the point of burnout, understand the line between inspiring them and pushing them too far.
Don’t Settle
While striving for perfection is often a source of stress and people feel as if they’re never good enough, don’t settle for less. When the first iPod was just days from launching, Steve Jobs had the headphone jacks replaced. As engineers looked on, he noted that the headphones didn’t make a clicking sound when they were inserted into the headphone jack. He insisted that users wouldn’t know if the headphones were fully inserted if there was no click. Even though they were cutting it down to the wire, he insisted it was fixed. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, but don’t settle for second best when you know you can push yourself and your team to do better.
Take Risks
Steve Jobs was a master innovator, always taking risks. If you aren’t taking risks in your business, you must ask yourself if you are growing. Embracing new strategies and solving problems by shaking things up will help you stay one step ahead of the competition and strengthen your brand.
