Apple Co-Founder and Apple CEO – 1997-2011
One word sums up why Steve Jobs was voted by our panellists into the penultimate spot in this list, namely “vision”.
The only leader featured who’s sadly no longer with us, Jobs’ legacy lives on today through the 200 million iPhones and 20 million Macs shipped annually, and the viral clips of him riffing on such topics as the virtues of “starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology” (see here).
Hailed as the greatest marketer of all time, it is this creativity and free thinking that separated Jobs from the pack for many of the 60 channel leaders who took part in this project. Some 17 put him in their top five, 11 in their top two, and five as number one.
Leadership style
In an article for the Telegraph in 2011, Richard Branson characterised Steve Jobs’ leadership style as “autocratic”, adding that he was “incredibly demanding of his people”. It’s fair to say his passion, perfectionism and attention to detail inspired and alienated those around him in equal measure.
Low points
Jobs is one of the only leaders in this report to have been ousted by his own board (which led to a 12-year spell in the Apple wilderness between 1985 and 1997).
Killer quote
“To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world; it’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”
What our panellists said about Jobs
Paul Shannon, Co-CEO and Founder, OBT Live
“His extreme determination to make the seemingly ephemeral and impossible and turn it into a game changing device is almost untouchable.”
Julie Simpson, CEO, ResourceiT Consulting
“Vision, way beyond his time. Steve never gave up and pulled Apple up from the back to the front of the line and in doing so revolutionised how we communicate. He literally changed the world. How many people do that?”
Rye Austin, CCO, Core Technology Systems
“Jobs’ clarity of vision allowed him to create entire product markets before consumers even realised they needed them. From revolutionising the smartphone and creating the tablet markets to his numerous other achievements, Steve Jobs’ influence is still felt today.”
Jenni Riley, Co-Founder, ITARMI
“He put Apple on the map and made it a world leader in the tech space. To have that much vision for cutting-edge tech is impressive and is basically a genius.”
How did IT Channel Oxygen compile The Century’s Greatest Vendor Leaders? See here
