Ordinary people (followers) can derive valuable lessons from the lives of great leaders. While these leaders have different personalities and leadership styles, they have specific talents and characteristics that enable them to achieve their goals. Besides, these leaders work amongst performers, work hard and are disciplined, have confidence in themselves and use creative and innovative strategies to manage people and the institutions they run. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two great leaders who have shown outstanding success in the business world. This paper will compare the leadership styles exhibited by the two leaders, which made them the success stories they are today.
Discussion
Background of the two Leaders
Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco. Jobs, alongside his co-founder Wozniak, founded Apple Inc in 1976. Over the years, Apple has evolved into a leading brand in the manufacture of computers, smartphones, tablets and other gadgets (Shah & Mulla, 2013). Under the leadership of Jobs, Apple developed revolutionary devices such as the iPad and iPhone. Apple's products have dominated the evolution of modern technology in the 21st century. Jobs died in 2011 after a long battle with cancer.
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Bill Gates
Gates is an American entrepreneur who founded Microsoft, the largest software company in the world. Bill gates transformed Microsoft into the successful company it is today alongside his business partner, Paul Allen (Eisner, 2016). This was achieved through technological innovation, aggressive business tactics and innovative business strategy. Subsequently, Gates became the richest man in the world.
Leadership Styles
Jobs was an autocratic leader who managed the company based on the current situation. An autocratic leader makes decisions that the whole company should follow. Autocratic leadership is associated with quick decision making since the leader does not need to consult other people when making decisions (Isaacson, 2012). The rapid growth experienced in and revolutionary inventions produced can be attributed to Jobs leadership style. However, this leadership style may not work in a multinational company like Apple, spread in different parts of the world.
On the other hand, Gates is a transformational leader. In transformational leadership, the leader inspires the followers to try different strategies that would benefit the organization. The leader shares the belief that the improvement of the company will benefit all the individuals. This enables the employees to develop a positive identity with the organization (Shah & Mulla, 2013). As such, they are likely to do their best to enhance the productivity of the organization. Gates transformative is achieved through giving feedback to employees, training employees and allowing employees to voice their innovative ideas.
Focus
Steve Jobs was increasingly focused on his job that he ignored all the other areas of his life. Jobs disliked disruptions in his work since he was focused on achieving his targets. Job's increased focus on technology-enabled Apple to develop the most revolutionary products in the world (Isaacson, 2012). Indeed, Jobs was so focused on his business that when he was asked what he regrets most in his life, he stated that he never spent quality time with his family in his life.
Bill Gates can focus on different things while still running his business. For example, Gates is involved in his family and children lives and also participates in philanthropic activities. Gates is among the richest men in the world who have signed the “Giving Pledge.” (Eisner, 2016). In this case, individuals set aside a portion of their wealth to be given to the poor when alive and even after death. Also, Gates is involved in many environmental sustainability initiatives that seek to reduce the effect of human activities on the environment.
Behaviours
Based on employee accounts, Jobs was bossy and did not like to be interrupted in his work. Besides, Jobs did not develop open lines of communication in Apple where employees would easily communicate to him (Shah & Mulla, 2013). Employee opinions, suggestions and concerns were always suppressed. Additionally, employees feared Jobs and did not like to interact with him. Further, Jobs directed that employees finish their duties at the allocated time of face severe punishments.
On the other hand, employees can freely interact with Gates and present their concerns and frustrations. Gates likes interacting with the employees on a personal basis. As such, employees at Microsoft portray a great deal of confidence and trust in the leader. Further, Gates is usually concerned about the physical and psychological wellbeing of the employees (Eisner, 2016). When interacting with employees, Gates portrays patience and calmness as opposed to anger and resentment. Gates understands that the employees are at the core of business operations, and without them, the organization would fail.
How these Characteristics Influenced their Leadership Style
An autocratic leader makes decisions on behalf of the whole organization. Autocratic leaders usually make decisions based on their judgments and ideas and rarely accept advice from the followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute control over the followers. When Steve Jobs is termed as an autocratic leader, the definition of the term changes. This happens since Jobs used a different kind of autocratic leadership style to facilitate innovation and creativity in Apple (Isaacson, 2012). Usually, Autocratic leaders destroy the organization due to their use of authoritarian strategies. However, Jobs inspired increased productivity hence leading to the success of Apple.
Bill Gate’s transformational leadership style can be described as the main factor that has facilitated the success of Microsoft. As a transformational leader, it was inevitable that Microsoft would turn into the big organization it is today. This leadership style enabled all the employees to focus on improving organizational productivity. Besides, the employees have developed a positive identity with the company, which motivates them to improve their performance.
Conclusion
This paper has compared the leadership styles exhibited by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The findings portray that the two leaders used different styles to propel their businesses into the success stories they are today. This indicates that no leadership style would fit all leaders, organizations and business situations. As different as leaders are, they should use their leadership styles to promote increased productivity in the firm.
References
Eisner, S. (2016). The “In-Factor”: Signature traits of innovation’s leaders. The Journal of Applied Business Research. 32(1): 185- 200.
Isaacson, W. (2012). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs
Shah, T. & Mulla, Z. R. (2013). Leader motives, impression management and charisma: A comparison of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Management and Labour Studies. 38(3): 155-184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0258042X13509736
