Why Steve Jobs’ Personality Made Him a Great Leader
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
Steve Jobs said this. He wasn’t the first to say it, but that never mattered to Jobs. He wasn’t concerned with being original all the time. In fact, he loved to borrow — or “steal,” as he put it — whenever he saw something that could be great but wasn’t. In fact, he seems to have stolen even this “stealing” idea from Picasso, who said that “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.” Jobs was always open to new ideas, ready to build on the best of them.
That openness was balanced by exactitude. Many Apple products have predecessors that, in Jobs vocabulary, were “trash” — okay, he used a different term for refuse. And Jobs didn’t tolerate trash. In fact, he detested anything not first-rate from top to bottom. He stressed getting every detail just right. These characteristics helped Steve Jobs lead Apple and Pixar to greatness.
According to Dr. Galen Buckwalter, an expert psychologist who famously pioneered the personality-based algorithm that powered eHarmony’s success, and current CEO of psyML,
“it’s not surprising that Jobs had the defining traits of leadership found in many successful CEOs: he was extremely outgoing, he was open to a vast array of ideas and information, and he was also able to zero in on exactly what is great about something and focus on it in detail to bring it to glorious life.”
Dr. Buckwalter further explains that “this combination of traits would be ideal if a company wanted to build a CEO personality from scratch. CEOs need to be able to think outside the box, bring the energy needed to interact with all types of people, and be systematic and driven in the execution of their vision.”
But Jobs, as Dr. Buckwalter observes, “couldn’t and didn’t do it alone.”
Great leaders are backed by great teams. Jobs absolutely understood this. As each person on the team brings something different, something needed, he was a huge advocate of collaboration. He went so far as to design Pixar’s headquarters with this in mind, funneling everyone into communal spaces so that people from each department interacted with one another and felt connected to the company’s larger purpose: telling great stories.
And teams need support in order to be able to be at their best together.
That is why Dr. Buckwalter, with our team at psyML, have developed The Science of Thriving, a quick course that uses scientific research about personality to help teams function at a higher level.
One of the biggest challenges facing companies today is how to help their people feel connected to their work and each other. The Science of Thriving is designed to help bridge both of these gaps and teach teams how to become more resilient, regardless of the challenges they face. For more information about this quick course, visit thrivingscience.com. Set up your organization for success by starting out with a plan to truly thrive as a team in the New Year.
