The Steve Jobs Way: Can it work everywhere?

By Kim Jae-kyoung

Apple Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs has become the iconic figure of innovation as his iPhone and iPad products have entirely changed lifestyles in the 21st century. His leadership has also been in the limelight after he brought the struggling tech giant back to the throne.

Many people both at home and abroad have become enthusiastic about the ailing but innovative leader. The 56-year-old CEO has inspired many of us with his classic charisma and fiery personality, and business leaders around the world are busy trying to learn his leadership and innovative management skills.

Here is a simple question. “Does every company need a Steve Jobs?” Many would answer “yes” without hesitation, but a world-renowned HR consultant replied “no,” saying there was no single ideal model and leadership styles change over time.

“You can certainly look retrospectively at that kind of success that companies with leaders like Steve Jobs enjoyed during their tenure. I think that those kind of leaders are most effective in those kind of circumstances, as well as what that leaders are made of,” Mark V. Mactas, president and chief operating officer of Towers Watson, said in an exclusive interview with BusinessFocus held at the global consulting firm’s Seoul office on March 7.

“My guess is that whether it’s Steve Jobs or anybody else, the nature of their leadership over time has evolved. So it wasn’t one formula, when he made his company into what it is today,” he added.

His message is that a leader should not necessarily be charismatic and it may not be in the best interest of some companies to have a single, charismatic leader, suggesting that a Steve Jobs type of boss can fail as a CEO in other companies in different circumstances and cultures.

“Historically, there is a picture of the right leader being charismatic, a very dynamic personality leading an organization. It might have a place in industries and companies at some point in time. But I don’t think there are many more leaders like that,” he said.

Leadership

The veteran consultant, who was chairman of Towers Perrin before it merged with Watson Wyatt in January, 2010, pointed out that although there is no ideal leadership model, there are a set of requirements and roles that a leader should have to become successful.

“Some say that management is power by position, and leadership is power by influence. Both are equally necessary. For me, viewing leadership as power by influence means first, that a leader’s ideas matter and that they must have merit; and second, that a leader must be able to get people to follow him or her,” he said.

“In addition, effective leadership provides direction, builds confidence, and helps people execute for their organization’s sake as well as their own,” he added.

Finding DNA

Asked how Korea’s world’s top class manufacturers, such as Samsung and LG, can turn into innovators from fast-followers, Mactas said that Korean players should focus on indentifying their core DNA.

“Some are fast followers, while others are good at supply chain management, business model improving and other areas. So I think that it’s important for (Korean) firms to know what they are really good at or what their DNA is and to leverage it. And maybe leverage it in different ways so when it is exhausted, they can look for alternative DNA to become innovators,” he said.

“Companies have challenged themselves to do things in different ways. Historically, they did these usually by necessity. Because when companies are successful they tend to do tomorrow what they did yesterday, to break that habit can be difficult. I think this requires self-examination.

“스티브 잡스 리더쉽”

Apple 창업자이자 현 CEO 스티브 잡스는 그가 만든 i-Phone과 i-Pad 등의 제품이 21세기 삶의 혁명을 불러오면서 개혁의 대명사로 떠올랐다. 또한 고전을 면치 못하던 Apple이 재기에 성공하면서 그의 리더쉽 또한 재조명을 받고 있다.

국내외를 막론하고 많은 사람들은 스티브잡스에 열광하고 있다. 올해로 56세인 잡스는 특유의 카리스마와 열정으로 이미 많은 사람들에게 귀감을 주고 있고 수많은 비즈니스 리더들은 그의 리더쉽과 경영기법을 벤치마킹 하려고 노력하고 있다.

사람들은 우리사회에 더 많은 스티브잡스가 필요하다고 말하고 있다. 그렇다면 과연 모든 회사가 스티브 잡스를 CEO로 필요로 하는가? 대다수의 사람들은 아마 주저없이 “예”라고 답할 것이다. 하지만 세계적으로 유명한 한 HR 컨설턴트는 “리더쉽”에 있어서 하나의 이상적인 모델은 존재하지 않으며 동일한 사람의 리더쉽도 시간에 따라 변한다고 주장한다.

“스티브잡스와 같은 리더들이 이끌던 회사들의 성공을 반추해 봅시다. 제 생각으로 그런 종류의 리더들은 그 당시의 환경에 가장 효과적인 리더들입니다,” HR분야 세계 최대의 컨설팅 회사인 타워스 왓슨 (Towers Watson) 마크 맥터스 (Mark Mactas) 회장은 BusinessFocus와의 인터뷰에서 말했다.

“추측컨대, 스티브 잡스던 아니던 리더쉽은 시간에 따라 진화합니다. 다시 말해 단 하나의 옳은 리더쉽 형태가 있는 것은 아닙니다. 스티브 잡스가 회사 (애플)를 처음 만들었을 때와 지금의 얘플과 같이,” 그는 설명했다.

맥터스 회장의 말은 리더는 꼭 카리스마를 가질 필요가 있는 것은 아니고 또 회사 입장에서도 한명의 카리스마가 강한 리더를 갖는 것이 꼭 최선은 아니라는 의미이다. 다시 말해 스티브 잡스와 같은 리더도 (애플이 아닌) 다른 상황, 문화를 가진 회사의 CEO로 일한다면 실패할 수 있다는 말이다.

맥터스 회장은 하나의 이상적인 리더쉽 모델은 존재하지 않지만 리더로서 가져야 할 기본적인 조건과 역할은 존재한다고 강조한다.

“사람들은 매니지먼트는 “자리가 주는 힘”이고 리더쉽은 “영향력이 주는 힘”이라 구분하는데 두 가지 모두 똑같이 중요합니다. 영향력의 측면으로 봤을 때 리더에게는 우선 훌륭한 아이디어가 중요합니다. 그리고 그를 믿고 따라는 사람이 있어야 합니다.”

“또한, 훌륭한 리더는 방향을 설정해 주고, 확신을 심어주고, 부하들을 잘 도와 주는 역할을 해야 합니다.”