There’s a story Jim Collins shares about his relationship with Steve Jobs. He met Jobs before his second stint at the helm of Apple, and said you should never confuse Steve Jobs 1.0 with Steve Jobs 2.0. Steve Jobs 1.0, he reckoned, could never have achieved the level of success that version 2.0 did.
In other words, it was what he learned through the process of being ousted that made him a better leader.
The biggest change between the 1.0 version and the 2.0 version of Steve Jobs was his emotional intelligence. Being better at listening, hearing and relating to his people made him more successful. It made them want to follow.
Without finding the humility and energy to change, Jobs would never have been reinstated to the helm of Apple, now the world’s most valuable brand, worth twice as much today as any other brand, with a market cap of $741bn.
Here in Australia our 29th Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has just been sworn in as leader.
That he was leader of the Opposition from 2008 until he himself was ousted in 2009 will have taught him some valuable lessons about leadership. It will be interesting to see how that translates into action.
For my part, that he can ride gives him extra points in my book (thanks Australian Story for the footage.)
But seriously, when I think back almost twenty years to my very first management appointment in the banking sector, I hadn’t been taught much at all about leadership. For goodness sake, I was just 24 years old and the youngest member of my team! My mentor had just one piece of advice for me: Lead from day one the way you always intend to lead.
Trouble is, many times when you set off on a journey you really don’t know what you don’t know. The doing is often where the learning takes place.
Many times, it’s the chinks in the armor that make a true leader.
What’s your experience? What have you learned from leading the second time around? Have you seen changes in the leaders around you as they grow into the role?
Yours following with interest,
Jen 🙂
Leave a Reply