The
Steve Jobs brainstorming video with his new team at NeXT Inc. was very
interesting. The mood in the beginning of the video portrayed something that
seemed to be appealing and encouraging to everyone to get the critical thinking
juices flowing. In the first 30 days of the new launch of NeXT everyone is super
excited to launch this new product and you can see it in their faces and hear
it in their voices. Ideas and grandiose goals
are being set and it seems everyone is thrilled and ready to go. The scene moves
ahead 90 days and we see a company that is not as excited and pumped up as they
were at the start. The goal was to have a product to present in 18 months and
yet 6 months in they still have nothing to show for it. Everyone is stressed
even Steve Jobs. There is tension in the air and it seems that the finger
pointing is getting under way as no one wants to take the responsibility for
why there is no product yet.
Watching
this video and reviewing my assessment I don’t think that I would have done
very well with this type of environment in the long run as my assessment
results show me being very much to the right side on the independence
attributes. My aptitude to work autonomously is high so the part of the video
where Jobs has everyone in the room and they throwing ideas out there I feel
would probably make me crazy. I would have done well in that area but when Jobs
begins to micro manage I would have bumped heads with him for sure. He seemed
to become impatient and I would have felt that he didn’t want to take the time
to break things down for me or hear me out on my ideas.
One of
the things I noticed in the video is that Jobs seemed to interrupt people a lot
when they were trying to get their ideas out. As a leader it is important to be able to
actively listen to your followers. My leadership style is diplomatic so one of
my characteristics is to inform. Jobs didn’t seem to follow through in this
area because he was too busy interrupting his followers to actually inform and
inspire them. As the atmosphere changes the communication drops off and Jobs
and the others don’t seem to have the same excitement they did in the beginning
of the video.
An area
that I think we would have done well with was the fact that Jobs had high goals
for himself and his company. I scored highly in this area of goal ambition and
goal setting as I like to set high goals for myself as it applies to my job.
His drive to meet any challenge also would have worked in my favor and I would
have done well in that regard. His motivation to get things done and not accept
excuses is something that I feel strongly about as well so that is another
level I would have fit in. I like to
motivate others as well as myself and seeing people who get excited about
learning new things and adapting to change pushes me to want to go further.
Because
Jobs was starting up a company and I scored highly in the large rapid growth
company, I would not have lasted very long as there would have been too many
rapid changes for me to be become a vital part of his company. Though Jobs was
a transformational leader his overbearing ways and need to micro mange would
not have made for a work relationship in the long run for either of us. While this environment would be good in the
short term I need to be in an organization where achievement is recognized,
realistic goals are set, people are empowered and inspired.
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