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.
