Quake, hurricane, and Steve Jobs
By Jason Lim
I was on the seventh floor leaning against my boss’ office door when the earthquake struck. We didn’t realize that it was an earthquake for the first few seconds. It felt more like living in a cheap apartment complex with a family of five teenage boys having a playful rumble upstairs.
My boss and I were actually complaining that a maintenance crew was doing some drilling work upstairs without telling anyone.
Then the shaking started. My boss, in her maddeningly calm fashion, declared, “We are moving.” Unfortunately, she was right. We were encased on the seventh floor of a concrete building in the middle of Arlington, Va., and moving. Believe me, it was not a pleasant feeling.
Luckily, there was no lasting damage to either people or property, except for some trembling voices and shaky legs afterwards. But it did strike home the simple fact that no one’s tomorrow is guaranteed. As one of my colleagues shared the morning after, “It’s scary to think that your life could be over in an instant and you have absolutely no control over it.”
And that’s exactly the point. You have no control. This realization was the worst part of the earthquake. I realize that we subconsciously minimize our risks and maximize our sense of control in our lives to remain sane. However, when stuff hits the fan, or an earthquake hits the building, an uncomfortable sense of reality intrudes: you have no say when, where, and how you will die.
This was driven home again just a few days afterwards when Hurricane Irene hit. Once again, Lady Luck was with us as Irene’s bark turned out to be much worse than her bite. But more than 50 people lost their lives as a direct result of the hurricane, including an 11-year old boy who was killed when a tree fell through the roof of his house and crushed him.
Is there any reason in the boy’s tragic death? No, of course not. Other than cases of suicide or premeditated murder, there is no logical pattern to death. As such, we have no control over it. In fact, if we let it, death’s absolute capriciousness could drive us into a paralysis of inaction or despair of pessimism. Or great leadership.
Steve Jobs recent announcement ― most likely due to his rumored ill health ― that he would step down as the CEO of Apple, the most valuable company in the world, although expected, was met with sighs, groans, and a big drop in Apple’s share prices, It’s rare that one person ― not even a political leader but an executive of a company ― could transcend the confines of his company, his industry, and even his nation to become an icon that resonates across the world and generations.
Somehow, Jobs managed to do this. The question is how. Because he wasn’t always that great.
Jobs was actually outmaneuvered by his hand-picked successor and kicked out of the company he founded. Then he founded a computer company that failed to crack into the mainstream despite having cutting-edge technology. But something clicked from when he came back to Apple in 1997 to today. He went from good to great and so did Apple.
In his bestselling book, Jim Collins emphasizes the essential presence of a Level 5 leader for a company to go from good to great. The two indispensable and paradoxical characteristics of a Level 5 leader, Collins explains, are his deep humility and unshakeable professional will. In Collins’ examples of Level 5 leaders, an interesting commonality emerges, as illustrated by this quote from his original Harvard Business Review article:
“Darwin Smith fully blossomed as a Level 5 after his near-death experience with cancer. Joe Cullman was profoundly affected by his World War II experiences, particularly the last-minute change of orders that took him off a doomed ship on which he surely would have died …”
These Level 5 leaders underwent experiences that allowed them to sense their own mortality, much as Jobs must have. At the same time, they sensed a power beyond their human understanding could take away their life according to some undecipherable reason or chance. To know that one has no choice and zero control over the why, how, when, and where of his death is to be humble, one of the key characteristics of a great leader.
And humility leads to success because, as Collins explains, “Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won’t even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts.”
In contrast, Collins further explains that “(lesser) leaders, concerned with their own reputation for personal greatness, often failed to set the company up for success in the next generation. After all, what better testament to your own personal greatness than that the place falls apart after you leave?”
I realize that most people wouldn’t characterize Jobs as humble. But that’s just his stage persona. His leadership could have been far different. But I guess that means that we have to wait to see how Apple does before anointing Jobs as a Level 5 leader. I wouldn’t bet against him though.
Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based consultant in organizational leadership, culture, and change management. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com and on Facebook.com/jasonlim2000.