All organizations are really about people: the people who work there, their idiosyncrasies, their relationships, what they contribute, how they work or don't work well together and so on. Of course, it is all guided from the top. The person/people at the top set that entire environment.
So, Steve Jobs created that environment of a very tight leadership structure with a distinctive culture (the relationships). If he did it well and imparted his approach to those around him, it will continue. If not, it will last for a while and then fade.
In this case, the true test of whether Steve Jobs was a great leader and not just a genius at creating and developing great products will be told in the future. He has already cemented his genius in design. His genius in leadership will be defined in whether Apple can continue as successfully in the future.
In a sense, leadership is practicd in the now but defined in the future.
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Let the future take care of you
When you take care of “now,” the “future” will generally take care of you.
I’ve discussed before 8 to Be Great: The 8-Traits That Lead to Great Success by Richard St John. I’ve been re-reading it. Like any good work (book, film, art, person), every time you look at it again, you can gain something new. As my mother would say, every time she saw The Godfather, she would always see something she had not noticed before. By the way, my mother never really knew English, but she still enjoyed watching The Godfather.
In my latest read, I came away with the idea that you can only control what you’re doing now. If you do what you’re good and passionate at, you don’t have to worry about the future. The future will take care of you.
Go back to the fundamentals. First, read the book, then follow the 8 steps. Don’t worry about the future so much. You can’t control it. You can only control what you’re doing today.
I’ve discussed before 8 to Be Great: The 8-Traits That Lead to Great Success by Richard St John. I’ve been re-reading it. Like any good work (book, film, art, person), every time you look at it again, you can gain something new. As my mother would say, every time she saw The Godfather, she would always see something she had not noticed before. By the way, my mother never really knew English, but she still enjoyed watching The Godfather.
In my latest read, I came away with the idea that you can only control what you’re doing now. If you do what you’re good and passionate at, you don’t have to worry about the future. The future will take care of you.
Go back to the fundamentals. First, read the book, then follow the 8 steps. Don’t worry about the future so much. You can’t control it. You can only control what you’re doing today.
Friday, January 16, 2009
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper
So said T. S. Eliot, Nobel Prize winning poet. And, as it turns out, so do the Mayans. According to various sources, mostly on the web, Dec. 12, 2012 will mark the end of one age and the start of an other, or not. The world may end on that day through some sort of cataclysm, or it may just be another day.
With the inauguration of Barack Obama, what will we get? Depending on who you talk to, it is either the start of a new era of progress and hopefulness or the sad end of an era.
In either case, the world will not end or reboot. It will keep going. Remember the year 2000 hype? It was either to be a disaster of crashing planes, closed banks and computer mayhem or it was the start of a new era? It was neither. On January 1, 2000, it was just another day.
So, what's a leader to do? Actually, nothing, I think. We just go on doing what we were doing all along, getting our people and organizations focused and moving forward, always. Just don't wait for the end to come about or some magical change to take place. Get excited for the history of the day, but don't start behaving as if history is taking over for you.
Not with a bang but a whimper
So said T. S. Eliot, Nobel Prize winning poet. And, as it turns out, so do the Mayans. According to various sources, mostly on the web, Dec. 12, 2012 will mark the end of one age and the start of an other, or not. The world may end on that day through some sort of cataclysm, or it may just be another day.
With the inauguration of Barack Obama, what will we get? Depending on who you talk to, it is either the start of a new era of progress and hopefulness or the sad end of an era.
In either case, the world will not end or reboot. It will keep going. Remember the year 2000 hype? It was either to be a disaster of crashing planes, closed banks and computer mayhem or it was the start of a new era? It was neither. On January 1, 2000, it was just another day.
So, what's a leader to do? Actually, nothing, I think. We just go on doing what we were doing all along, getting our people and organizations focused and moving forward, always. Just don't wait for the end to come about or some magical change to take place. Get excited for the history of the day, but don't start behaving as if history is taking over for you.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
It's not just socializing. It's hard work.
You thought surfing the net and working on MySpace pages was all about socializing. How wrong you were. It's all about training for the work force of the future. That's what the New York Times says in an article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20internet.html?_r=1&hp) posted recently. Okay, I can't quite get the hang of having the link linked to a word on my blog so that you just click on the word and it will take you to the article. You'll have to cut and paste the link. I'll work on it.
But the point is clear, socializing is a good skill we need to have. It's really part of leadership. As one of the researchers says, "...their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”
So, MySpace and FaceBook are really powers for good and not slackering? In a way, yes.
As the recent economic downturn points out, we're turning into a country that is more and more moving toward a service- and computer-based economy and less toward production of goods. We have to start thinking that way. As in some other things, youth tend to point the way, if inadvertently, toward the future. It's not so much that they're looking for the future as that they're just looking and exploring what's out there. But, that's where the future is.
But the point is clear, socializing is a good skill we need to have. It's really part of leadership. As one of the researchers says, "...their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”
So, MySpace and FaceBook are really powers for good and not slackering? In a way, yes.
As the recent economic downturn points out, we're turning into a country that is more and more moving toward a service- and computer-based economy and less toward production of goods. We have to start thinking that way. As in some other things, youth tend to point the way, if inadvertently, toward the future. It's not so much that they're looking for the future as that they're just looking and exploring what's out there. But, that's where the future is.
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