Steve Jobs

Guy DePlacido
September 27,2011
Business and Society
Professor Fleury-Lawson
Steve Jobs

I personally think that Steve Jobs is one of the smartest men that have walked earth. I took everything he has done for granted up until I saw these two videos. I knew of how successful he made Apple but I never truly understood it. The CNBC Video really shows his contribution to the world. Everyone really does take Apple products for granted and they think nothing of having them. Products such as the iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc. make life so much easier. “In Adam Smith’s view, businesspeople don’t necessarily deliberately set out to help others. They work primarily for their own prosperity and growth. Yet as people try to improve their own situation in life, Smith said, their efforts serve as an “invisible hand” that helps the economy grow and prosper through the production of needed goods, services, and ideas”(Nickels pg 33). Steve Jobs started this job to become prosperous and in the end, he helped many. Apple products have so many apps that you can download. There is basically an app to help you with almost every aspect of your life and it is really convenient. He is a brilliant person and his mind helps so many people on a daily basis. His products are so small and are capable of everything. When Jobs’ died, I was so sick of hearing about it because that is all everyone was talking about. It sounds horrible but it is true. I didn’t realize how much impact he has had on everyone’s everyday life.

There are many management lessons to be learned from Steve Jobs’ career. One management lesson that he showed us is that as a manager, you should still stay involved and actually work when you are there. Employees respect bosses who actually carry a workload. I think that is a major reason why this company is so successful. I also think what he said at the Stanford Commencement Address is a very good management lesson. He states that you should always follow your heart. You also need to trust that the dots in your life always connect going backwards so you have to trust that everything happens for a reason. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”, this is said by Steve jobs in this Commencement Address. This is a great lesson for not only managers, but for everyone. I truly believe this because you will never put full complete effort into everything unless you put your heart into it. He has left us with many great lessons but I believe these are the top lessons.

Retail has benefitted greatly from his innovations because he has made so many great products. If you go into a room of any kind filled with a random group of people and asked them who owns any sort of Apple product, I can guarantee that more than 60% of people would say they do. Apple is one of the most widely know products on the market and the invention of all these products has completely changed retail and has expanded it greatly.