Leadership - Farewell to Steve Jobs

The resignation of Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple makes headline news today.  There are some very useful profiles of Jobs and the success he has led at Apple in various online articles - some links are provided below.

We can expect lots of suitable material and discussion points on the role of CEOs and leadership arising from Jobs’ decision to finally stand down.  I like this quote from an investment analyst which points to the need for a successful firm like Apple to build effective teams rather than rely simply on a talismatic leader;

“The quality of a good leader is being able to put together a team around you. Steve doesn’t design every aspect of these products the way the mythology says he does. There are guys who run the floor sales at Apple retailers that could go out and be head marketers at this company. They’ve done a great job of imprinting Steve’s DNA across the organisation and they will continue to innovate and take share.”

The appointment of Tim Cook as the new CEO is a good example of effective succession planning and internal recruitment too.  Cook has already been the de factor CEO of Apple for 8 months whilst Jobs has been on his latest medical leave.

Apple’s amazing 10 year turnaround (Observer)

Profile of Tim Cook:

BBC profile of Steve Jobs

BUSS4 - a clash of culture and a failed takeover [24 May 2012]
Paul Polman (Unilever CEO) on cultural change, leadership, Asia and Corporate Social Responsibility [27 Apr 2012]
A detailed look inside Apple’s Foxconn factory [24 Apr 2012]
Irene Rosenfeld on Leadership, Transformation, and THAT takeover [18 Apr 2012]
Strategy - How Nokia was overtaken by Apple and Samsung [17 Apr 2012]
Apple under fire for e-book deals [17 Apr 2012]
Strategy & Technological Change - Whatever Happened to BlackBerry? [14 Apr 2012]
Sony - Hirai’s Turnaround Strategy - in Video Clips [13 Apr 2012]
Organisational culture, strategy and performance in fewer than 1000 words [9 Apr 2012]
Move over Apple, Samsung, Sony & Nokia. Here Comes China’s Huawei [7 Apr 2012]
Revision Presentation - Leadership [5 Apr 2012]
Women & Leadership [22 Mar 2012]
Two Lesson Videos on Nokia - Will their Strategy Work? [13 Mar 2012]
Sony - All Change at the Top with a new CEO [12 Mar 2012]
Apple’s new CEO and a new iPad - A Change in Leadership [9 Mar 2012]
Video starter - Inside the iPad factory [21 Feb 2012]
The Strategic Challenges Facing International Airlines Group - Interview with Willie Walsh [14 Feb 2012]
The Leadership Style of Willie Walsh - In Quotes [14 Feb 2012]
Ideas not Hierarchy Makes a Business - Steve Jobs on Teamwork & Culture [13 Feb 2012]
Innovation in Business - Perspectives from Stephen Elop (CEO of Nokia) [12 Feb 2012]
The history of Apple’s product innovation - in 30 seconds [10 Feb 2012]
Leadership - Howard Schultz on the importance of leading an innovative culture [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - what is the best leadership style? It depends on the “situation”! [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - 40 examples of leadership at the movies in just 120 seconds [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - what qualities does an effective leader and manager have? [29 Jan 2012]
Schultz on Leadership, Love and the Competitive Advantage of Culture [29 Jan 2012]
Leadership - it’s not a popularity contest [29 Jan 2012]
Strategic choice: What should Apple do for its investors? [29 Jan 2012]
The tablet takeover? [23 Jan 2012]
In Business - technology developments in 2012 [3 Jan 2012]
Straight-talking answers to business questions - the examiners might hate some of this! [12 Dec 2011]
Do the UK’s forgotten mid-sized firms lack ambition and a competitive edge [24 Oct 2011]
Strategy case study - does Microsoft have a long-term strategy? [21 Oct 2011]
Meet the CEO of Dropbox - the man who said no to Steve Jobs! [20 Oct 2011]
Leadership video - A heartfelt apology from the boss [15 Oct 2011]
Management By Committee? Not At Apple [9 Oct 2011]
The Biz Quiz (6 October 2011) - Steve Jobs Edition [6 Oct 2011]
De-layering: do firms need middle managers? [5 Oct 2011]
Leadership styles for effective change management - Morgan Freeman style [29 Sep 2011]
Autocratic leadership style in action - Basil v Manuel [22 Sep 2011]
Inspiring leadership? [19 Sep 2011]
Can investment in R&D provide a competitive advantage? [31 Aug 2011]
Steve Jobs on Luck, Life, Death and Making the Most of Every Day [25 Aug 2011]
Apple and Innovation - Iconic Product Launches by Steve Jobs [24 Aug 2011]
Smartphone market shares spell trouble for Nokia [17 Aug 2011]
The Case for Transformation [29 Jul 2011]
Sir Ken Robinson on Creative Leadership [20 Jul 2011]
Rupert Murdoch and Leadership - Should a CEO Know What’s Going On? [20 Jul 2011]
Leaders’ Weaknesses [4 Jul 2011]
Leadership, Culture and Trust - A Letter from Sir Richard Branson [1 Jul 2011]
Samsung seeks a ban on Apple products [30 Jun 2011]
Retrenchment for Thorntons following strategic review [28 Jun 2011]
ResearchBuster: New Leaders and Strategic Change [16 Jun 2011]
CSR & Strategy - Why the Cooperative Group changed to survive [16 Jun 2011]
CSR - Should Apple Pay More for its Geniuses? [14 Jun 2011]
Corporate longevity: the lessons from IBM’s 100th birthday [14 Jun 2011]
Leadership styles - the importance of listening [14 Jun 2011]
Leadership - a crisis of confidence? [13 Jun 2011]
What makes Ferguson great? [27 May 2011]
CSR and Business Legislation - The Bribery Act comes to town [5 May 2011]
Leadership and the Golden Circle [21 Apr 2011]
CSR - Apple: Big Profits but Dirty Data? [21 Apr 2011]
Leadership - a triumph of youth over experience? [6 Apr 2011]
Leadership Resource - Every Little Helps [16 Mar 2011]
Howard Schultz - A Changed Starbucks. A Changed C.E.O [13 Mar 2011]
CSR - Apple audits the supply chain [15 Feb 2011]
CSR - Avoiding the child labour hotspots [15 Feb 2011]
Leadership - can Apple really be a one-man band? [19 Jan 2011]
Training, social immobility and tuition fees - KPMG’s blueprint solution [13 Jan 2011]
Was this the worst mistake ever made in the Dragon’s Den [5 Jan 2011]
Lessons in leadership [5 Jan 2011]
Meet Sir Terry Leahy at the Business Teacher National Conference 2011 [18 Dec 2010]
Bruce Poon Tip exploits a huge Gap in the adventure market [12 Dec 2010]
Microsoft - Competitive Strategy in the Post-PC world [30 Oct 2010]
Leadership in action - A Day in the Life of Willie Walsh [25 Oct 2010]
Making the FT Brand Sweat! [19 Oct 2010]
Leadership skills of the new CEO drive profits at Pret [8 Oct 2010]
Culture & Change - The Challenge Facing Nokia [27 Sep 2010]
Leadership & Strategy - “Welcome to Nokia” [20 Sep 2010]
Can new leadership revive Nokia’s fortunes [12 Sep 2010]
Ryanair contemplates a change in leadership style? [12 Sep 2010]
Fighting for a share of the fast-growth tablet market [11 Sep 2010]
When is a Ping not a Ping? When its an Apple [1 Sep 2010]
Does Nokia’s Strategy Need An Upgraded CEO? [30 Jul 2010]
AQA BUSS4 Section B Practice Question - Starbucks [15 Jun 2010]
What must it feel like to be the ‘most hated’ CeO? [10 Jun 2010]
The Dark Side of the iPad and iPhone? [26 May 2010]
Sir Richard Branson on Virgin Atlantic Business Strategy [26 May 2010]
Some facinating data on research & development data at Apple, Google & Microsoft [25 May 2010]
BUSS4 - Leadership in a Changing Environment [16 May 2010]
Leadership comes to the fore in post-recession UK business [3 May 2010]
The Sense of a Goose [28 Apr 2010]
A useful resource on leadership and management [22 Apr 2010]
BUSS4 - Building exam skills [21 Apr 2010]
Starbucks - the Famous Strategic Change Memo from 2007 [21 Apr 2010]
Global technology giants are hoarding their cash [26 Mar 2010]
Motivation, Leadership & Culture: Ban the Boss (BBC) [24 Mar 2010]
Financial Ratio Practice Resource - Apple Inc [27 Feb 2010]
Strategy in the UK Recession - What 69 UK CEOs Did About It [22 Feb 2010]

BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!