Steve Jobs CEO of the Decade?
Nov 6th, 2009 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, New Product Management, Technology StrategyThanks for the link Hugh.
And, my favorite link Jobs’ Greatest Hits — A Timeline
So, is he the CEO of the decade? Is he one of the most innovative manager/leaders ever?
What do you think?
Yes, he deserves the “CEO of the Decade” award! It is incredible that he grew Apple in 2000 from a $5 billion company to a now $170 billion company. He has completely changed the competitive playing field in three of the largest industries in the world: music, movies, and mobile phones. Doing some of this with serious health problems. With his amazing vision and accomplishments, he has truly changed the electronic universe and has set the bar for innovation. Someone has some BIG shoes to fill!
I agree, I think the things Jobs has done are amazing. The products he has created have revolutionized popular culture. My concern however has always been, how does Apple continue with out him? This is the same question that surrounds Berkshire as Bufett gets older. For Jobs though unlike Buffet he did leave and his management team did a phenomal job temporarily steering the ship. This answered a lot of questions, however I dont think we will truly know who is the greatest until they entirely hand over the reins.
I would refer to Steve Jobs as a “Tranformational Leader” and agree that he deserves “CEO of the Decade.” In my opinion, the key note in this article is that it is not the company that makes the company great, but the people within the company that make it great. I am certain Steve Jobs makes a significant impact, but believe that the people he surrounds himself with assist in reaching success. I think we have many great things to look forward to from Apple. However, agree with the comment above. Jeffery Immelt stuggles to fill the shoes of Jack Welch.
Tony
The amazing thing about what Jobs has done is that he has combined really advanced technology while redefining pop culture and at the same time been able to make oodles of profit in the process. This would certainly have to be the definition of being a successful leader.
Apple achieved financial success in the last decade through new product and service innovation, which can be directly attributed to Job’s. He clearly understands what it takes to be creative and innovative. What’s most impressive is that he was able to create a corporate culture and atmosphere that not only understand innovation, they breathe it. His achievements as an innovator/leader/manager/corporate executive/CEO have transformed organizational structures across the globe in effort to duplicate Apple’s success. So yes, I would say that the title of “CEO of the Decade” is well deserved.
I agree that he is. While I am not an Apple user, I am astounded by the growth that he has provided the company in the last 8 years. In 2000, Apple had the iMac and iBook (and similar models), and that was about it. Since Jobs took over, they have developed products that everyone knows about, and uses such as the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, MacBook, etc. Plus – you know you are successful when people call an MP3 player and iPod, when its really a Zune.
No doubt that Jobs has lead the charge back for Apple. His uncompromising approach to product design kept the products lean and user-friendly. Jobs kept saying, “make it better, make it start up faster, make it easier.” The new innovative products from Apple are countless, no other company has proven as adept at giving customers what they want before they know they want it.
Jobs certainly has been outstanding and has led the company through innovation after innovation. However, I feel more than ever other companies are starting to catch up. Seeing what’s to come will be even more exciting. Whether it’s Jobs or another Executive stepping up to hte plate – Apple must stay on top of their game. Great innovation was certainly spurred from Jobs ingenius leadership, however there is quite the team behind him. There seems to be a commotion about the day Jobs steps down, however remember that the success of Apple was not one man’s accomplishment. I believe Apple will flurish if they maintain their principles and keep great employees in the house.
Apple has become a great model to demonstrate success in a free market. After being stale for a lot of years, they were able to achieve a high level of success through the development and invention of new and improved products. Jobs brought about this success by remaining ahead of the technology market and offering a superior product that met (and even created) a high level of demand among consumers. Jobs success will to be mimicked by other companies to keep the market competitive, which has the potential to benefit the consumer in the future with better technology and more competitive pricing. It seems, that he truly is the CEO of the decade. One question still remains in my mind is how Jobs handled the R&D portion of Apple after tough economic market.
Yes, Jobs deserves CEO of the decade. He has done extremely well and grew his business astronomically. The way he dominated the mp3 market and exploded onto the world scene is incredible. Well done.
I admire that he has had such an impact on multiple levels: 1) innovation at the product level (simple, user-friendly devices), 2) higher-level strategy (revolutionizing/changing the music industry and how we consume other media), and 3) financial growth (taking Apple from a $5 billion company in 2000 to a $170 billion one now). Perhaps others have achieved greater results on individual levels, but his achievements on all three make a strong case for CEO of the decade. On a side note, what was great about the timeline was that it didn’t try to hid the market “flops” – the G4 cube (despite its MoMA-recognized design, it overheated to the point that everyone I knew stopped using it) and the Apple TV (which I would consider except for the price tag).
CEO of the Decade? Based on the article and the performance of Apple, it would be hard to argue against it. I can’t think of any CEO that is more identified with their brand currently.
Jobs’ health concerns (liver transplant, pancreatic cancer) have to pose a serious risk to the brand of Apple. While Job complimented the job of Tim Cook in his absence, the face of Apple is so closely linked to Jobs. It’s hard to imagine anyone else leading the presentation of the next i-gadget.
It is hard to argue against someone like Jobs (or Buffett), but If you wanted a darkhorse candidate for CEO of the decade, I would submit Robert E. Stiller of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. He was CEO there from 1981-2007 (he is still with the company as Chairman of the Board). The earliest record I can find of their stock is that it was trading at about $1.50 per share in 1993. Since then, the value has increased nearly 6000% (compared to ONLY a 3700% gain for Apple over the same period). Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was named Best Corporate Citizens in 2006 and 2007. Amazing financial success and corporate responsibility. Mighty impressive if you ask me.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but really how can you argue that anyone else is more deserving. Outside of Bill Gates in the ’90’s I think you’d be hard pressed to find a more recognizable CEO. What impresses me is how he seems to know what consumers want with minimal input from them (this is what I’ve always heard anyway, if anyone knows about Apples consumer testing practices I’d be interested in hearing about them). I was particularly interested in how involved he is in all aspects of the business, from the promotions to the designs, etc. As someone in the article said, he’s involved in areas that typical CEO’s are not inovled in. I wonder if other CEO’s are adopting his work style and becoming more integrated in the business?
I think given the status of Apple during the 1990’s, and how Steve Jobs was able to transform the company within a decade to one of the most recognized names in the tech world. I think that should put him on top of the list, but it’s not just about his ability to bring new products to the world. His attitude with his black turtle neck shirt, and light blue jeans kind of makes him unique in a way compared to other well accomplished CEO’s. Also, his ability to challenge other company such as Adobe gave him a certain reputation that not many CEO’s have.
Steve Jobs is definitely a good candidate, but just for the sake of throwing another name into the mix, what about the CEO of Google (Eric Schmidt)? I’m not entirely sure if he or Larry Page or whoever else is actually responsible for the success of Google, but just look at what the company has become over the last decade. It went from being a new search engine that was going to try to rival Yahoo, Lycos, etc., to being an essentially all-encompassing internet “empire”. Number one search engine, along with countless “Google _______” such as “gmail” or “documents” or “translate”…and that seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. Android and Google TV are bringing Google into new markets, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Google finds success with a full-on operating system in the future that fits in somewhere between Chrome and Android, much like what Apple is doing next summer with the release of Lion.