Steve Jobs

Steve Job's life and career are obviously very impressive compared to the average person or even to a fairly successful business owner. He has contributed so much to our society and there's no way we could erase his impact on us all. Everyone knows him from Apple and don't realize that he was in charge of Pixar too. Where would we be without amazing movies like Toy Story, A Bugs Life, and The Incredibles? Even right now as I'm writing this blog I am listening to music on iTunes while charging my iPod. These devices along macbooks, iPhones, and iPads have become necessary parts of our lives. An important management lesson you can learn from Steve Jobs is leadership. The book defines leading as "creating a vision for the organization and guiding, training, coaching, and motivating others to work effectively to achieve the organization's goals and objects." He must have done a pretty good job of leading if he grew his company up starting with a few people working from his garage. He also had a vision, which the book talks about in chapter 7. He created items that no other company had thought of and made them amazing so competitors couldn't come close. In 1985, Steve Jobs left apple to start another company called Next and when that flopped he started what would become Pixar Animations. Not every business is going to be successful even if you are Steve Jobs. He didn't stop there though and give up. When he returned to Apple he came out with ideas that made the company more profitable than ever. I think that we should all be thankful that he dropped out of Reed College to do what he really wanted. It's very inspiring to know that even without a college education you can start up a business that can change the face of technology completely. This is a lesson we can learn from Steve Jobs, because college isn't meant for everyone. Not enough people do what they want in life and end up with a job they hate. Steve Jobs loved what he did every day and at the same time created and sustained one of the most successful companies ever. In one of the video's we watched in class he said something along the lines of 'if there are too many days in a row that you aren't happy with what you are doing, then you need to make a change.' I think that's one of the most important lessons you can learn from Steve Jobs.