SYNOPSIS: Executive summary Life history of STEVE JOBS. The nature and importance of leadership We have applied the following concepts: Leadership traits Leadership roles General Personality Traits Task Related Personality Traits Leadership Motives Cognitive aspects and Leadership Leader‘s qualities Leadership skills Charismatic leadership Personalized charismatic leadership Transformational leadership Autocratic leadership Leadership behaviors Power & politics Team leader Entrepreneurial skills of Steve jobs. In conclusion we conclude the study according to our opinion. Steve Jobs, Apple Computers founder and CEO, Creator, Inventor, Visionary and a great LEADER & human being has left us all. Due to his innovative ideas we are able to have modern technology in the form of Apple products. Father of technology, he will surely be missed. Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American business tycoon and inventor. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc... Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. He was credited in the 1995 movie Toy Story as an executive producer. Which eventually became one of the most successful studios after creating beloved animated films such as Toy Story, A Bug‘s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredible, Cars and Ratatouille. Father: Paul Jobs (adoptive father, machinist, b. 1931) Mother: Clara Hagopian (adoptive mother, accountant) Father: Abdulfattah Jandali (biological father) Mother: Joanne Carole Schieble (biological mother) Sister: Mona Simpson (biological, b. 14-Jun-1957) Daughter: Lisa Nicole (namesake of the Apple Lisa, b. 17-Jun- 1978) Wife: Laurene Powell (m. 18-Mar-1991) HIS TRACES IN THE HISTORY: As I mentioned above Steve Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali in San Francisco, USA. Soon after the birth, he was rejected to be adopted by his parents. Later he was adopted by the family of Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs in California, USA. He was always a sharp, an intelligent and innovative thinker. Besides that he was not a very shining student and his whole schooling life was filled with defective outcomes. After he was enrolled to high school, Jobs spent his free time at HP (Hewlett-Packard). It was there that he befriended with Steve Wozniak, who was a brilliant computer engineer. His whole study life was directionless but things started to take shape when in 1974 he cropped up as a video game designer in Atari. But again, many months later he left Atari in order to travel India to find spiritual explanation. To say that these were the ‗Dark Ages‘ of Steve‘s life. APPLE IS MADE: In 1976 Jobs and Wozniak started Apple Computers in Jobs‘ garage, and they funded their entrepreneurial projects after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator. The legacy was about to be made in upcoming years. The two creators created revolutionized the computer industry after making smaller, cheaper, and efficient computers (Apple-I) which earned them $774,000 the very first year. Only three years later with the advent of Apple-II computers their sale rose to 139 million dollars. It made Apple a well credited trading company in America. To help boost the sales of company and to fill the role of Apple‘s President Steve Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully of Pepsi-Cola. At Apple‘s annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh (MAC) to a wildly enthusiastic audience. The MAC became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). An industry wide sales slump in end of 1984 caused a disruption in Jobs‘ and Scully‘s relationship with each other, and at the end of May 1985 following an internal power struggle and an announcement of significant layoffs because of disappointing sales at the time Scully asked Jobs to quit his duties as the head of the MAC division NeXT: After leaving Apple, Steve Jobs went on to find a new hardware and software company called NeXT Inc. with $7 million in 1985. A year later, Jobs was running out of capital and with no product on the horizon, he appealed for venture capital. Eventually, he attracted the attention of billionaire Ross Perot who invested heavily in the company. The company reported its first profit of $1.03 million in 1994. Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas, which later became Pixar Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar‘s potential, Jobs invested $50 million of his own money into the company. And the company really did well as to the expectations of Jobs. The studio merged with Walt Disney in 2006, making Steve Jobs Disney‘s largest shareholder. BACK TO APPLE Steve Jobs is credited with invigorating the company in the 1990s with altered stock options, new management team, and a self- imposed annual salary of $1 a year. Jobs put Apple back on track. His ingenious products such as the iMac, iPhone, iPad caught the attention of consumers once again. Jobs always longed to see Apple and its products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least in innovation and style. Once in a speech at the Macworld Conference and Expo in January 2007 he said by quoting ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky: There‘s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. ‗I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been‘. And we‘ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very beginning and we always will, Jobs said. HEALTH: In 2003, Jobs came to know he had a neuron-endocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. For nine months Jobs deferred his surgery, making Apple‘s board of directors nervous. Apple‘s executives feared that shareholders would pull their stocks if the word of their CEO‘s illness spreads. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in consequent years Jobs once again disclosed the disorders about his health. On October 5, 2011, the visionary Steve Jobs left us. At the time of his death, he was 56 years of age. Pancreatic Cancer In 2003, Jobs discovered he had a neuron-endocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pescovegetarian diet while weighing Eastern treatment options. For nine months Jobs postponed surgery, making Apple's board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders would pull their stocks if word got out that their CEO was ill. But in the end, Job's confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in subsequent years Jobs disclosed little about his health. BIG QUESTION: Apple without Jobs, how things will unfold for the company in the successive years? Either the shares will drop in the market and Apple will suffer, or it will get a great boost in the market due the sympathies people goanna have for Steve Jobs? ―Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower‖, “I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple. My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.” (Steve Jobs) THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP Few things are more important to human activity than leadership. Successful leadership helps our nation through times of danger. It makes a business organization successful. It enables a not-for-profit organization to fulfill its mission. The effective leadership of parents enables children to grow strong and healthy and become productive adults. The absence of leadership is equally dramatic in its effects. Without leadership, organizations move too slowly, stagnate, and lose their way. Much of the literature about organizations stresses decision-making and implies that if decision-making is timely, complete, and correct, then things will go well. Yet a decision by itself changes nothing. After a decision is made, an organization faces the problem of implementation how to get things done in a timely and effective way. Problems of implementation are really issues about how leaders influence behavior, change the course of events, and overcome resistance. Leadership is crucial in implementing decisions successfully. Each of us recognizes the importance of leadership when we vote for our political leaders. We realize that it matters who is in office, so we participate in a contest, an election, to choose the best candidate. Investors recognize the importance of business leadership when they say that a good leader can make a success of a weak business plan, but that a poor leader can ruin even the best plan. LEADERSHIP ROLES Figurehead: Steve Jobs is the visionary figurehead who turned a second-tier computer manufacturer into one of the most recognizable and well-loved brands in the world. His presentations and product unveilings at the annual Macworld events caused hysteria among his audience that wouldn‘t have looked out of place at a rock concert. Spokesperson: Spokespersons for the establishment will try to fit him into old molds trying to confine his spirit within the usual terms: Vision. Innovation, Communication, Inspiration. There was all that, for sure, but that alone does not quite capture him. We haven‘t lost the best CEO of his generation.