Steve Jobs: The A$$hole that Changed the World!!

Since this guy has passed away he has gone from inspirational leader to chief executive asshole..  I think much of this is due to Walter Isaccson's book which tells the good, the bad, and the ugly.  But I have to ask, it possible to revolutionize 6 industries and capture over 50% of the most competitive market in the world while being Mr. Nice guy?  Machiavelli may have had it right hundreds of years ago when he said.. "It is better for a leader to be feared than loved".  Machiavelli wisely inferred that optimal leadership achieves both, but if a leader can't achieve and must choose.. is infinitely better to be feared.  A leader who is loved and not feared (or at least respected) leaves him/herself open for people to find ways to excuse themselves from doing the hard work that moves the organization towards the objective.  Steve Jobs may have been a control freak, detail obsessed, both covertly and overtly aggressive, and possibly bi polar...  So what!! Execptional leaders are driven by passion and don't play by the rules.  In fact, they are on a mission to rewrite the rule books.

My thoughts:  I have read Isaacson's study on Jobs and believe he was probably obnoxious much of the time.  But I am surprised the conversation is dominated by his negatives.  What messages are being sent about the importance of leadership - don't be a leader, because they are assholes?  This is lame and counter to Jobs' inspirational nature.  Further, in a time where US competitiveness is being tested, we should be trying to produce more Steve Jobs'.  I think the discussion about the leadership style of Steve Jobs should be centered around these six discussion points:

Perseverance:  Even after Jobs left Apple in 1985 he never changed his vision - he stayed true to himself.  He brought his standards to NeXT and Pixar and then finally back to Apple - he lived to fight another day!  Being sacked at apple must have been a crushing blow and it would have been easy to drift into obscurity.  But he kept his eye on the prize and waited until Apple rendered itself impotent and then re-emerged like a Messiah to take command (in the right place, right time, with the right skill sets, with the right mental approach) and march on to greatness.  This never would have happened without tactical patience and perserverance.  

Think outside of the Box:  "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do".. this quote is closely associated with Jobs' 1997 return to Apple..  I believe the quote rings true.  Apple's, "Think Differently" campaign which inferred the genius of mankind is found in the rebels, bohemians, and misfits was masterful.  

I think Jobs was the quintessential "think outside the box" guy.  He was doing it in the early 80's by leading his teams to develop the means for the rest of the world to think outside the box in the 90's.  In the 2000's and beyond, "think outside the box" became a catch phrase in American society particularly in the US military.  In my opinion US Army didn't start thinking outside the box until MG Petreaus released "Full Spectrum Operations in 2008".  This finally tore the institutional Army away from it's love of Cold War doctrine and its associated mindsets...  We have only began to understand how to think outside the box - the important thing is we are trying to get there and it's leaders like Jobs who are out there getting after it every day.  I believe this is the future of the US: building highly diverse teams led by intuitive, adaptive, and innovative, think outside the box leaders who push the envelope.  I think what they will produce over the next three to four generations will be breathtaking.

Intuition:   Intuition is a knowing, a sensing beyond conventional understanding.  I believe at the heart of this is the ability to read situations and people.  Jobs credits his sojourns to Indian Gurus with the development of his intuition.  This is interesting, but certainly not the only way to develop a keen intuition.  I believe gaining experience in appraising situations beyond words (body language - non-verbal communication) empowers the leader to render a decision with less information... to go with his/her gut!!  This can be dicey, but its part of the real deal leader tool kit. 

Inspirational Leadership:  I think inspirational leaders inspire by motivating achievement of what is perceived as impossible.  They inspire by bringing out the talents of individuals and focusing it - then they do to the same for groups.  Perhaps the methodology is not as important as the result...  For example, Jobs used a different approach to motivate each individual - some were bullied, some had their egos stroked etc...  It was a custom fit... there was no cookie cutter approach.  Jobs also had a group approach - a kind of showmanship/dry erase board leadership style where he built synergy through 3hr + brainstorm sessions.  He bluntly states in interviews that he didn't use the committee system or powerpoint saying, "if you know what you are doing you don't need powerpoint".  He built teams with A team players, that he personally motivated and then he developed the group synergy (inspired them to work together) then sent them out to do great things. 

Warrior Ethos:  The US Army defines a warrior as a soldier who refuses to accept defeat and who is of the highest moral character.  Applied to the corporate paradigm, Jobs is the very essence of this.  He was obsessed with achieving his vision on his terms.  His relentless pursuit of excellence - demonstrated by pushing his people to the limit (within the bounds of the law) changed the world.  His moral character is beyond reproach he was a purist.  He was dedicated to providing the consumer with an excellent product believing the revenues would follow.. I think he was right.

Innovation:  You can't put a price on this.  Jobs pushed Apple to innovate itself out of a hole to become the gold standard of the new knowledge based economy.

So, why do we waste time talking about how much of an asshole/control freak he was?  Why don't we tell it how it is?  I think Jobs was a man obsessed with his vision of greatness and he was relentless in enforcing his vision on all - from his employees, to the US consumer market and finally to the world.  He believed in himself and what he was doing.  Look at the following video...  I am amazed by how much he believes his vision (I find the words he uses to define the environment Star Wars-esc.. good vs. evil).  The commercial at the end which portrays Apple as the savior who breaks the mind control (delivered by IBM I presume) is spectacular!

Those around him either bought into the vision or they went elsewhere.  He used all instruments at his disposal to achieve greatness.  In doing so he revolutionized the music industry, portable music devices, mobile phones, personal computing, created the tablet computer, and developed digital anamation industry.  These industries have developed several spin-off technologies that bounded Apple and Pixar well ahead of their peers.  Jobs created meaningful positions that will spawn innovation and new micro-industries for years to come.  These micro industries will help keep the USA out front in vital fields of technological development for the near term.  Do I care that he called a software engineer a "shithead" or offended people who thought they deserved bonus' by telling them NO!?  No, I don't and neither should you! I believe Jobs made the USA and the world a better place because he had the guts to be an asshole in pursuit of excellence!!  We need more of this in the USA. 

Rome... This is not what right looks like

 In this case I will share what I believe right doesn't look like.  In 2010 I attended the Italian Joint Services Staff College in Rome.  While the course had many admirable aspects I was amazed by the lack of institutionalized (systematized) leadership.  There were leaders present but they were the exception not the rule.  They were what we in the US. Army calls "emergent leaders".  These are leaders who, despite no formal training, institutionalized leader development, and institutional innovation develop and demonstrate leadership skill on their own.

I found it strange that the Italians have no word for leadership.  About the closest word is Capo (which means Captain), but they view a Capo as more of a manager in my opinion.  A Capo is not supposed to take initiative.  He is supposed to do only what he is told.  The Italians use the word "lider" which they took from the English word "leader" pronounced the same but written with the Latin i instead of e.  In my opinion institutional leadership is not well understood in the Italian officer corps.  That is to say, they don't devote any real resources to building leadership traits into their institutions nor do they systematically innovate leadership.  That is to say, I never witnessed any effort to redefine leadership paradigms to suite modern times.  So in the Italian military and I suspect the government and much of greater Italian society much the same way it did during the Cold War which ended almost 25 years ago.  To be fair we, in the US military suffered (and continue to some degree) from the same condition until 9/11/01.

I find it difficult to criticize my Italian friends' but strongly believe we, as brothers in arms, need to get at some of these underpinnings if we are going to move forward.

This is a video of a riot that occurred in Rome on 10 December 2010 in the vicinity of Piazza Venezia (incidentally where Mussolini delivered many of his famous speeches and where I walked daily on my way to the Colosseo Metro stop heading to and from school).  During the spring and summer there were weekly riots and it wasn't fun traversing them…

Back to the video..  We were in the school coffee bar when this (and several more videos) aired.  In fact I was sitting next to a Guardia di Finanza (GDF) (Italian Customs Police) Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) and turned and asked him, whats up with that?  

He and the other GDF officers were embarrassed and gave no response.  I was amazed that a Customs Police unit was tasked to control a riot of this magnitude.  I was further shocked that they were deployed in groups of 5-10 into areas where they could not be mutually supported.  There were 3-4 thousand rioters out that day.  To me this demonstrates a clear lack of competence and absence of leadership.  There is simply no excuse to place lives at risk by deploying haphazardly.  If leaders care about their men they will take the time to plan and rehearse before deploying.  This clearly didn't happen here.

The next day the LTC GDF in my group took to the podium and gave what I considered an amazing presentation.  He pulled up the GDF web page and began a speech informing us that they had everything under control.  He went on to show this video and small pieces of another that was spliced into it that showed inside the angry mob there was someone who reached into the chaos and pulled some of the Finanzieri (customs policemen) to safety.  He played and rewinded the video several times stating that they had people, "inside" the rioting mob.. as a means of managing risk.

I remain amazed that most of my colleagues were satisfied with this lame explanation.  I later asked him if anyone was fired and he looked at me as if I was crazy and said "yes.. the lider was fired".  I don't believe him.  I believe it was swept under the rug.  I will acknowledge it was a good move to have the infiltrator in the rioting mob - glad someone was thinking, but this remains another instance of what occurs when leaders are not institutionally trained and mentored.

Leadership is not for everyone.  Institutional leadership is about building organizations that stand the test of time because they are able to meet dynamic threats by relying on training.  To get there, organizations have to invest resources in building leaders.  That is not to say the emergent leader has no place.  I believe institutionalized leadership provides a natural home and support network for those gifted with a natural ability.  Leaders must create an organizational culture where leadership thrives.  

Whoever commanded this GDF unit should not be serving but because of corruption, he is likely doing so right now..  What family will lose a father, brother, or son next?

Nothing in society happens without leadership.  It remains the genuine article.  It can't be faked or copied and when it is needed and not there it often costs people their lives..