Steve Jobs

A Psychological Analysis

Steven Paul Jobs 

Born on February 24, 1955 American businessman and inventor Widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution Co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple  He was co-founder and previously served as CEO of Pixar Became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006

He was adopted at birth by Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs

Jobs invented Apple computer in the garage of his parents

In 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT

In 1986, Jobs bought Pixar for the price of $10 million

On October 5, 2011, Jobs died due to respiratory arrest, aged 56, six weeks after resigning as CEO of Apple

Heredity

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in the city of San Francisco. His biological mother was an unwed graduate student (and his biological father is said to be a political science or mathematics professor, maybe of Middle-Western descent -but this has never been confirmed). Back in the 50s, it was unconceivable for such a young woman to raise a child on her own, so she decided to put her little baby boy up for adoption. But she insisted that the adoptive parents had to be college graduates, just like she was. According to the heredity approach the ultimate explanation of an Individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, which clearly, Steve Jobs was composed of a lot of ‘smart’ genes.

ENVIRONMENT

Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, and was adopted as an infant. He grew up just south of his birthplace in Cupertino, California.

After graduating from Homestead High School, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.

Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

SITUATION Steve Jobs and Apple

Apple, Inc. went public in 1980 with the success of the Apple II personal computer. John Sculley, a former Pepsi executive, was hired by Jobs as CEO, but the 1984 sales slump and a deteriorating relationship between Sculley and Jobs resulted in Jobs' leaving Apple.

Other Projects

In 1986, Jobs founded the NeXT computer company. Although NeXT garnered a strong following for its sophisticated machinery, the company was unable to cross over into the mainstream. NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1996, paving the way for Jobs to eventually become CEO. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios.He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer.

Jobs Returns to Apple

After the departure of Gil Amelio, Jobs became Apple's interim CEO. Jobs regained the confidence of the board of directors when design developments and the introduction of the iMac led to increased sales. Jobs ultimately reestablished Apple as one of the most cutting-edge tech companies. With products such

Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

LOCUS OF CONTROL

Owing to his high controlling power, Steve Jobs possess the ability to remake a big, dysfunctional corporation into a tight, disciplined ship that accomplished tasks on his demanding schedules.

Locus of control Internal locus of control is applicable to Steve Jobs because people with internal locus of control believe that their personal actions directly affect the outcome of an event.

 Prior to Jobs’ return to Apple, the organisation was in an off-hand environment with employees reporting late and knocking off early. After taking over, he controlled all aspects in the day-to-day operations of Apple

MACHIAVELLIANISM

People feared his wrath. Someone darkly joked that employees resisted going up in the elevator with Jobs for fear that by the time they reached the top they would be ex-employees.

Steve never deviated from his personal mission, quoting the ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been, and we’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very beginning. And we always will.”

The next day he might fire his entire board of directors.

This justify that steve job was high in Machiavellianism.

Emotional stability Steve Jobs had low emotional stability. The solid facts supporting this view can be seen from his reputation in the organisation is a terror inspiring taskmaster whom screamed at his workers and randomly fired those unlucky ones.

SELF ESTEEM

Steve Jobs is the perfect example, no one could tell him of what his vision should be, the ultimate portrait of confidence.

Steve jobs was high in self esteem.

 Steve Jobs has a strong self- confidence in his ability to solve problems and make decisions.

SELF MONITORING

Even though there were vast numbers of mobile phone models catered to suit the needs of the dynamic consumer market, Steve Jobs stood on his solid grounds to launch an iPhone.

After being thrown out from Apple, Steve Jobs tried to do it all over again with a new company, NeXT and planned to build the next generation of personal computers that are superior to Apple.

This justify that steve jobs was a self monitored personality.

RISK TAKING

Jobs was the ultimate risk taker. He had the courage and mettle to even destroy his own brainchildren. Witness the iPod. Jobs made it nearly irrelevant as a device by turning it into an app on the iPhone.

He did it because he was willing to take big risks on new ideas, and not be satisfied with small innovations fed by market research.

He also insisted on high quality and had the guts to leave out features others found essential and to kill technologies, like the floppy drive and the removable battery, he decided were no longer needed.

Steve Jobs seems to have led Apple and often the whole industry through his uncanny gut instinct, willingness to take risks, and unerring attention to detail.

This judtify that steve job was a higj risk taker.

THE MANAGERIAL GRID

the most widely known behavioral styles model of leadership

They use it to demonstrate that there is one best style of leadership.

Blake and Mouton point out that “the variables of the Managerial Grid are attitudinal and conceptual, with behavior descriptions derived from and connected with the thinking that lies behind action.”

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid (renamed the Leadership Grid in 1991) is formed by the intersection of two dimensions of leader behavior. On the horizontal axis is “concern for production.” “Concern for people” is on the vertical axis.

In other words, concern for production and concern for people involve attitudes and patterns of thinking, as well as specific behaviors. By scaling each axis of the grid from 1 to 9, Blake and Mouton were able to plot five leadership styles. Because it emphasizes teamwork and interdependence, the 9,9 style is considered by Blake and Mouton to be the best, regardless of the situation.

The Managerial Grid

C

once

rn

for

P

eopl

e

Low

high

Low

high

Concern for Production

17

Concern for production

Steve jobs has a high rating on concern for production

He believed that if you satisfy the needs of the customers, they will be purchasing your product

He believed in perfection, giving quality product, satisfing the needs of the people, innovative products etc.

Thus he gave a lot of importance to production

Concern for people

Steve jobs scores a low rating on concern for people

Although he got he work done in his organisation, he was regarded as a ruthless leader

He is said to have only A grade people in his organisation

He never listined to anyone and did what he felt like, he is even said to have missed appointments irregurarly

Myers-BriggsPersonality

Indicator

Four MBTI Dichotomies

Extraversion – IntroversionE - I Dichotomy

Where do you prefer to focus your attention – and get your energy?

Sensing – Intuition S - N Dichotomy

How do you prefer to take in information?

Thinking – Feeling T - F Dichotomy

How do you make decisions?

Judging – PerceivingJ - P Dichotomy

How do you deal with the outer world?

Communication Breakdown

Ideal Leader is… Extravert: action-oriented (E) Introvert: contemplative (I) Sensing: pragmatic (S) Intuitive: visionary (n) Thinking: logical (T) Feeling: compassionate (F) Judging: planful (J) Perceiving: adaptable (P)

Occupational Trends by Type

 

ISTJManagement

AdministrationLaw enforcement

Accounting

 

ISFJEducation

Health careReligious settings

 

INFJReligion

CounselingTeaching

Arts

INTJScientific or technical

fieldsComputers

Law

 

ISTPSkilled trades

Technical fieldsAgriculture

Law EnforcementMilitary

ISFPHealth care

BusinessLaw enforcement

 

INFPCounseling

WritingArts

 

INTPScientific or technical

fields

ESTPMarketing

Skilled tradesBusiness

Law enforcementApplied technology

 

ESFPHealth care

TeachingCoaching

Childcare workerSkilled trades

ENFPCounselingTeachingReligion

Arts

 

ENTPScience

ManagementTechnology

Arts

 

ESTJManagement

AdministrationLaw enforcement

 

ESFJEducation

Health careReligion

ENFJReligion

ArtsTeaching

 

ENTJManagementLeadership

Source: From Introduction to Type and Careers, A.L. Hammer, 1993, Consulting Psychologists Press

Steve jobs MBTI analysis

It is an observed phenomenon in the ENTJs that As the organizing capabilities increase so does their desire to let others know about whatever has come of their organizational efforts.

STEVE JOBS was of this type of personality. He got to everyone’s notice the innovations and plans he had in his mind.

And So he tend to take up a directive role in his social exchanges.

Steve jobs was one of those entj leaders who consist of Hardly more than two percent of the total population, who are bound to lead others, and from an early age they observed taking command of groups.

Leading a dominant life from the beginning of his career with Stephen Wozniak better known as woz.

Later he was kicked out of his own company for his dominant and aggressive behavior, a sign of entjs..

Steve had a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever he went and made people to achieve distinct goals ranging from his own company apple computers inc. to pixars animation company where he owned the highest amount of individual shares.

They resemble ESTJs in their tendency to establish plans for a task, enterprise, or organization, but eNTjs search more for policy and goals than for regulations and procedures.

He made various goals for his organisation and achieved almost all of them, though few turning out to be unsuccessful and harmful to himself.

Eg his failure in theNeXT Software, which, far from beating Apple, had turned into a niche software development business. Steve was devastated.

When in charge of an organization, whether in the military, business, education, or government, eNTjs more than any other type desire (and generally have the ability) to visualize where the organization is going, and they seem able to communicate that vision to others.

It was only because of the return of steve jobs to his company 10 years after getting kicked out of the same, that apple could be bought out of making losses and it moved towards profitability.

His organizational and coordinating skills were highly developed, which resulted in hi, to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, at marshalling evidence, and at demonstrating his ideas.

eNTjs usually rise to positions of responsibility and enjoy being executives. They are tireless in their devotion to their jobs and can easily block out other areas of life for the sake of their work.

Superb administrators in any field-medicine, law, business, education, government, the military-eNTjs organize their units into smooth-functioning systems, planning in advance, keeping both short-term and long-range objectives well in mind.

Jobs was a superb business executive as well as the only executive of his time to become the CEO of two companies at a time- apple and pixar.

His superb administration got both the companies to overwhelming heights and made them highly successful.

For the eNTj, there must always be a goal-directed reason for doing anything, and people's feelings usually are not sufficient reason.

When he came back to his company in the 90s, it was making losses and He immediately started an extensive review of the whole company, cutting the number of projects from hundreds to a dozen.

The number of hardware products would be cut down to just four. They are ever intent on reducing bureaucratic red tape, task redundancy, and aimless confusion in the workplace, and they are willing to dismiss employees who cannot get with the program and increase their efficiency.

This all was seen in the personality of steve jobs.

eNTjs are tolerant of established procedures, they can and will abandon any procedure when it can be shown to be ineffective in accomplishing its goal.

Similar trait is observed in jobs in his demands of making computers and inventions of new eras with the best hardware and software availability.

Like other eNTjs root out and reject ineffectiveness and inefficiency, and are impatient with repetition of error which was the same case with steve jobs.

personality analyses in reference to 16 PF's

1)Warmth-Steve Jobs could be rated above average in warmth considering the fact that he has always supported and showed faith in his team and has always given them credit and has never shown them a cold shoulder.

2)Intellect-he has to rated highly in terms of intellect because he dealt with such an industry where he had to be very analytical and cerebral. Apple has always been appreciated for its technology and the new products that they come up with and always kept motto of manufacturing those products which they would want to use themselves and that comes up with lot of research and analyses.

3)Emotional Stability-Steve Jobs was extremely emotionally stable person which can be seen through the ups and downs of his life, where once he had to leave the company which he created and also when he got to know about the cancer with which he was suffering. But both the times he had kept his cool and thought of what could be done to overcome this situation wherein once he built NeXT computers and the other time he got his operation done and then returned to his normal schedule as soon as possible.

4)Aggressiveness-Steve Jobs could be rated fairly high in aggressiveness. He was very aggressive and demanding personalities that can be seen in the books written on him tagging him as one of the leading 'egomaniacs' of the silicon valley.

5)Liveliness-He would be rated again low in this trait as he was always very sober and calm unlike other entrepreneurs who were wild and open. He always maintained a low profile and was particularly restrained and limited to his work.

6)Dutifulness-He was extremely dedicated to his work and has to be rated very highly on this trait. He has delivered whatever promised by him and has been confirming. He was so dedicated and devoted to his work that he used call meetings very late in the nights as well as he wanted to get the work done.

7)Social Assertiveness-Steve Jobs has to rated low in this particular trait as he wasn’t a social figure who could be seen anywhere but was very limited and withdrawn.

8)Sensitivity-He has to be rated averagely in sensitivity because neither he was very tough nor was he to touchy about things. This can be seen when he was thrown out of Apple he once felt of running away showing that he was sensitive but then he kept his cool and started with his own company showing that he was tough.

9)Paranoia-Steve Jobs could be rated averagely in context of this trait as he was never very easy-going or very suspicious about things happening around him.

10)Abstractness-he has to be rated highly on being abstract as he was very imaginative not the one who would simply follow the conventional methods of doing things. This is how he was able to create different products with technology that the world had never seen before.

11)Introversion-Steve jobs was an introvert as he was never very open about his private life and was only restrained to his work. He was also never seen in social gatherings and used the public platform just to launch his products. There have been very interviews in which he has talked apart from his work.

12)Anxiety-Steve Jobs has to rated low in this particular trait as he was always self-confident person and had never doubted his ability. So even when he had to leave apple he was able to create a new company altogether and throughout created only those products which he would like to use.

13)Open-mindedness-he was a very open-minded person and was curious to know more and was very exploratory. This is the reason why he was so successful in the field of computing wherein new products are launched almost every second day.

14)Independence-Steve Jobs wasn’t a very independent person in a sense he wasn’t very social and always preferred his own space and wasn’t that all outgoing as well.

15)Perfectionism-Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who always aspired to position his businesses and their products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least in innovation and style.

16)Tension-Jobs has to be given an average score in terms of tension because of the fact that he was always very cool but was unsatisfied and strived to achieve better and be perfect.

The Big 5 Model

Extroversion

Extroverts like to meet new people, are outgoing and are willing to confront others. Moreover, they tend to enjoy human interactions and spend more time in social situations .

When requested to have a dialogue about his creation of Apple, Steve Jobs revealed his willingness in numerous interviews and front cover photographs. He had proven his relationship with the world media and for this reason; he exhibited this trait of an extrovert.

Steve Jobs is also capable of influencing his people to have a strong desire to work.Extroverts will tend to exhibit inspirational leadership. An example of inspiration is when Jobs lured Sculley from Pepsi by asking him if he wanted a chance to change the world or to spend the rest of his life selling sugared water .

Agreeableness Agreeableness is a tendency to be pleasant and

accommodating in social situations. People scoring low on agreeableness place self-interest above getting along with others. They are generally less concerned with others' well-being, report less empathy, and are therefore less likely to go out of their way to help others.

Steve Jobs does not listen to people’s feelings, what he only listens to is their ideas. The ideas the employees put forward to Steve ought to be appropriate as he will force them to stick to the ideas and often raised their blood pressure to test if they know the facts and have strong arguments.

He lacked empathy towards his employees. He strived for perfection incessantly and those who failed to meet his demands resulted in swallowing his verbal attacks.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

Steve Jobs always demonstrated great ambition to build a global media empire and has a high drive and works hard to achieve his goal.

His strong work ethics can be seen from him working 90 hours a week and still loving it. He displays high levels of enthusiasm and energy towards his work.

Conscientious people do not suffer from setbacks, they deal with them.

Emotional Stability

Steve Jobs had low emotional stability. The solid facts supporting this view can be seen from his reputation in the organisation as a terror inspiring taskmaster who screamed at his workers and randomly fired those unlucky ones.

When the Macintosh was initially not doing well, Steve Jobs was known to sob on the shop floor of his company. He is also famous for his mood swings.

Openness to ExperienceLeaders generally have above-average intelligence as Jobs did. Intelligence refers to cognitive ability to think critically, to solve problems, and to make decisions.

When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Apple was bleeding money. Within a year of Jobs as interim CEO, he reduced the product lines and cut the wholesale cost, and Apple was back to creating profit. This example clearly shows that Jobs is intelligent because he is able to solve problems in a short period of time.

Openness to experience is characterized by intelligence and originality and Jobs had both of these traits. He was the co-founder of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios thus justifying his innovative ability.

Analysis

An analysis of the Big Five Model identifies a list of different traits Jobs possessed that made his business successful and his leadership unique. These traits include self-confidence, extraversion, high energy, intelligence and internal locus of control. It is quite evident that these traits are important to his leadership success. His self-confidence gave him the ability to make hard decisions and stand by them. Without extraversion, he would have been unable to confront with others and it would have been hard for him to show his leadership abilities. With high energy, he was able to withstand setbacks and persevere through hard times. His good intelligence helped him to quick respond to many tough situations, and finally, internal locus of control drove him to override challenges. On the other hand, there was also a dark side of Jobs’ personality egoism, lack of empathy and instability. These traits can cause a leader to be derailed.Nonetheless, Jobs is still considered as an effective leader due to his possession of those leadership traits.

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT JOBS

After he dropped out of college, he traveled to India, became a Buddhist, and experimented with the psychedelic drug LSD.

2. He was dyslexic

3. He earned $48 million dollars from disney’s shares but his annual salary was $1

4. He is a college dropout

5. Came to India to find spiritual enlightenment and has been a Zen Buddhist ever since.

6. The company he started in his garage gets sued on average once a day.

Here’s to the crazy ones... The misfits.The rebels.

The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes...

The ones who see things differently...

They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo...

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them...

Because they change things.