Steve Jobs in the late 70s: His management style is still a topic of debate.
Steve Jobs and
the Biblical Job: Paradigms for Management (Helsingin
Sanomat, Finland)
"After his
death, Jobs became a test for business leaders as severe as the biblical Book of Job is for committed believers.
... According to the Old Testament Book
of Job, God is a tyrant who gave Satan a free hand to test Job."
By Jaakko Lyytinen
Translated By Katarzyna Wisniewska
April 9, 2013
Finland
- Helsingin Sanomat -
Original Article (Finnish)
|
Apple founder and adored business leader Steve Jobs died in October 2011 of pancreatic cancer. After his death, Jobs became a test for business leaders as severe as the biblical book of Job is for committed believers.
According to the Old Testament Book of Job, God is a tyrant who gave Satan a free hand to test Job.
According to the biography by Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs was a mad genius who likely suffered from a Messiah complex. Jobs felt he was chosen and enlightened, just like exceptional individuals such as Gandhi or Einstein.
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As is understood, rules don’t apply to exceptional people - at least not in their own minds. Jobs couldn’t bear compromise and mediocrity. He bullied his subordinates, parked in disabled spots and complained when the wrong types of flowers were found in his suite.
Jobs divided people into two castes. One was “enlightened,” and the other “asshole,” writes Isaacson. Sounds like a true fundamentalist believer. But was Jobs a success thanks to his character, or despite it?
Desperate to latch on to new leadership models, American bosses have interpreted the Jobs story from two opposing points of view. Some consider Jobs a lesson that true success requires absoluteness, aggression, sacrifice and victims. Forget about your family - Jobs did. Don’t listen to claptrap - Jobs never would.
A great boss is like an artist whose works aren’t born out of a committee of compromise, but upon brainwaves arising from a clear vision.
In the second camp are those for whom the Jobs story triggered a realization of their own behavior. With their faces pale, they recall how Jobs would send nighttime e-mails to Apple users who had sent feedback saying “you’re an idiot.”
Writing about the phenomenon, Wired Magazine called the two camps the Acolytes and the Rejecters.
According to the Isaacson, genius worship always leads to disputed interpretations. “It’s like arguing the Gospels with a fundamentalist.”
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When times get tough, bright-eyed acolytes begin to demand Jobs-like measures. Unfortunately, very few have been given Jobs' talent, which was what allowed subordinates to tolerate the caprices and anger of their leader.
People like Jobs are hardly as well off as the original Job, who God blessed after all of his suffering. Job received 14,000 sheep and goats, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pair of plowing oxen and a thousand she-asses - and he lived for 140 years.
*Jaakko
Lyytinen is Helsingin Sanomat culture editor.
Jaakko Lyytinen jaakko.lyytinen@hs.fi
Twitter: JaakkoLyytinen
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FINNISH VERSION
Posted By Worldmeets.US Apr. 9, 2013, 2:59pm