Title: A comparison and contrast of two very different leaders.

Assignment topic

Compare and contrast two leaders, at least one of whom must be a business leader.

Which of the two was the more effective leader? Why? What skills did they demonstrate? These two leaders must be explicitly named in your assignment and will be drawn from your knowledge of them or from biographies of modern-day leaders. Provide enough details of these two leaders so that the reader, who does not know them, will be able to follow the points about them that you are making. Your assignment should demonstrate that you know what make a successful leader, manager and entrepreneur in any situation.

Word Count (from the start of the introduction to the end of the conclusion section)
1897 words

Executive summary

Leadership is the process of influencing an organised group toward a common goal and in doing this the leader, the situation and the followers all need to be taken into consideration. In this assignment Steve Jobs and Robert Mugabe’s rise into leadership positions are summarised and their leadership styles analysed using the leader, follower and situation definition.

It will also be shown that the more effective leader is Steve jobs after comparing and contrasting their leadership styles.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.......................................................................................................4 2. Steve Jobs and leadership...................................................................................4 3. Robert Mugabe and leadership...........................................................................6 4. Comparison and contrast ...................................................................................8 5. The more effective leader...................................................................................8 6. Conclusion..........................................................................................................9 7. References..........................................................................................................9

1. Introduction

Leadership has been defined in a simple context as being the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals, with the more complicated definition involving the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2012).

Using two very different leaders in this assignment, one being Steve Jobs and the other being Robert Mugabe, their similarities and differences will be distinguished, the more effective leader will be determined and the reasoning why they are more effective will be explained. These determinations will all be made while considering the leader, the followers and the situation.

2. Steve Jobs and leadership.

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California on 24 February 1955 and was adopted at birth by Paul and Clara Jobs. His biological mother was Joanne Schieble and biological father was Abdulfattah “John” Jandali. When he was young, the family move to Palo Alto and in junior school his teachers wanted to move him up a few grades as he was very smart, but his parents declined. In high school he met his future business partner Steve Wozniak and after dropping out of college after the first semester, he travelled to India where he explored his spiritual side and developed one of his mantras ‘Focus and simplicity’

At the age of 21, he and Wozniak started Apple computers from is parents garage funding the venture from the sale of his Volswagen bus and Wozniak’s scientific calculator. When Apple became a publicly traded company in 1980, it was worth an estimated $1.2 billion. In 1985 Apple was losing market share and after a fall out with the CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigned to start up the computer company NeXT and also bought shares in a then small company called Pixar Animation Company. Thanks to Job’s management and leadership, Pixar released Toy Story which was a box office hit and set new standards in animation.

While Pixar succeeded, NeXT was struggling and Apple bought NeXT in 1997 with Jobs returning as CEO of Apple working for $1/year. Jobs completely revitalised Apple and was the brains behind the ipod, iphone, itunes and ipad. (‘Steve Jobs biography’ Elaine J. Hou n.d.) These products which have completely revolutionised our electronic and technological world are all the result of one man’s vision and drive.

When considering Steve Jobs leadership style we will now look at the leader, the follower and the situation: The Leader: Jobs was very smart man and knew that he had to be the best leader he could be in order to best lead his team. He believed that growing up in San Fransico in the 1960’s and his world travels helped shape the way he designed Apple products and which led to their success. He said that “A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have” (The Legacy of Steve Jobs: Beyond the tech world, 2011). It was well know that he could be arrogant, dictatorial and mean spirited, yet he was a great leader as he had at least 3 qualities that great executive leaders have: a clear vision, a passion for the company and its people and an ability to inspire trust (Faculty insight: The Leadership of Steve Jobs, n.d.). Jobs had an incredible ability to inspire his followers to attain high levels of performance and success, he empowered them to feel stronger, more confident and competent and in control of their own destinies (Ronald J. Burke & Carly L.Cooper 2006). Jobs always emphasised team work and although he was always the final decision maker, he realised the importance of good staff and that the right people would be a company’s greatest assets (‘Steve Jobs biography’ Elaine J. Hou n.d.)
The Follower: Jobs surrounded himself with intelligent, like minded people in order to bring his ideas to fruition. When placed on the Curphy Followership Model, his followers would score high on critical thinking and high on engagement, making them self-starters (Curphy & Roelling 2010). They are passionate about the team and are constantly trying to improve team performance.
The Situation: Jobs leadership took place in a situation that was constantly changing at a rapid place. All the computer companies at the time we trying to make a name for themselves and new technologies were on the rise. 3. Robert Mugabe and leadership

Robert Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924 in Kutama, South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), just months after it had become a British colony and the people of his village were oppressed by new laws and limitations set on their education and job opportunities. Mugabe was fortunate to receive a good education and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English in 1951. He then received his Bachelor of Education degree in 1953 and started teaching in Ghana while studying his economics degree, which he completed in 1958.

In 1960 he returned to his hometown to find a drastic change had taken place. Tens of thousands of black families had been displaced by the new colonial government. He was outraged by the denial of black rights and he addressed a crowd of 7000 and told them how Ghana had achieved independence through Marxism. He was then elected public secretary of the National Democratic Party. The government banned the party in 1961 and in 1963 Mugabe started his own resistance movement named the Zimbabwe African National Union or ZANU. Later that year he was arrested and stayed in prison for 10 years until his escape. He then assembled guerrilla operations toward freeing Southern Rhodesia. The fighting continued throughout 1970s and the Zimbabwe economy was in such a terrible state of affairs that the British agreed to monitor the changeover back to black majority rule and lifted the UN sanctions.

In 1980 the country became the Republic of Zimbabwe under the ZANU party banner and Mugabe was elected Prime minister and then President of Zimbabwe in 1987. In 1989 he implemented a 5 year plan to strengthen the economy and by 1994 the economy had seen some growth in farming, mining and manufacturing. By 1996 the seizure of white peoples land without compensation had began and many citizens were outraged by this and his one party constitution, the high inflation rate and the self awarded pay rises of government officials. Foreign relations also suffered and donations from other countries stopped. Still Mugabe managed to win the 2002 elections. On 29 March 2008 he lost the election to Morgan Tsvangirai, but was unwilling to let go of the presidency and ordered a recount. A runoff election was to be held that June, but in the mean time Tsvangirai supporters were being killed and he withdrew from the election as he realised that Mugabe would never give up the seat. Mugabe won the 2013 election as well where it is rumoured 70 000 votes in favour of Tsvangirai had been thrown out (Robert Mugabe 2014, the biography channel website).

When considering Robert Mugabe’s leadership style we will now look at the leader, the follower and the situation: The Leader: Mugabe’s leadership style has unfortunately not remained the same overtime and has developed into a power hungry, corrupt, self centred leader who has, over a period of 30 years, destroyed a country. Mugabe charismatic leadership style can be viewed as the down side of this emotional approach. He was and is still able to get followers excited about future possibilities and willingly give up their lives for his cause (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2012). He has superb rhetorical skills that heighten followers’ emotional levels and has attained his personal goals through his image of unshakable self-confidence. He has been blamed for driving Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate so high that the money needed to buy a brick house with a pol and tennis court in 1990 cannot buy a single brick today. Although he is widely despised by his own citizens and the international community, he is also still seen as charismatic, well-educated and clever. He also has a self proclaimed “degree in violence” and rival leaders, members of the opposition and journalists are regularly beaten or killed. Many predicted his demise 10 years ago, but he still has a firm grip on the control of Zimbabwe (“Robert Mugabe; the man behind the fist” 2007).
The Follower: Mugabe’s followers would be his supporters and his cabinet.
For many of his supporters, he will be the only leader they have known and they still believe that he will be able to deliver on his promises. They are the poor, desperate and destitute people who have nowhere else to go. Few venture into neighbouring countries hoping to find work and a better life, but some are not event able to do that. They basically have no choice but to support him or risk losing their life, what little they have or injury to their families.
The Situation: When Mugabe first was appointed to the Presidency, Zimbabwe was known as the breadbasket of southern Africa because of its strong agricultural sector, but that all changed in the 1990’s when the economy began a downward spiral and Mugabe’s government faced charges of elitism, cronyism and corruption. The situation worsened in 2000 when his land reform policies evicted white farmers and gave the land to poor black Zimbabweans who were not familiar with commercial farming and therefore the farms lay barren (“Robert Mugabe: African liberator, former honorary knight, aging ruler” CNN). The situation is now dire and unfortunately most feel that only his death will eventually be a turning point for this dying economy.

4. Comparison and Contrast

When comparing the two leaders, Jobs and Mugabe, it is very difficult to find much to compare other than they both have a way in which they deal with their followers that make them respond in positive manner and that they are both very smart.

When contrasting them, there are many differences between the two. Jobs was concerned with his followers well being; Mugabe was only concerned with his own power. Jobs built an empire from scratch; Mugabe brought down an entire country into the pits of poverty. Jobs and Mugabe will both leave a legacy, but they will be very different. Jobs was an innovator; Mugabe is stagnant. Jobs was a college dropout; Mugabe has numerous degrees.

5. Who is the more effective leader?

Without a doubt in my mind, when considering the outcomes of Job’s and Mugabe’s leadership styles, Job’s is the more effective leader based on the growth of the Company, the enrichment of the lives of his employees and the legacy he has left. I consider Mugabe’s long term leadership style to be that of a ‘destructive leader’.

6. Conclusion
From the evidence above a valuable lesson can be learnt on how two different leadership styles can have such a different effect on the followers and the situation. It can also be said that Steve Jobs possessed leadership skills that are not commonly seen and this is what made him such a valuable leader. On the other hand, Robert Mugabe’s story clearly indicates the devastating effect that bad leadership can have on an entire country.

7. References
Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2012, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience, seventh edition.

‘Steve Jobs Biography’ Elaine J. Hou, Business news daily, viewed 17 February 2014, http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4195-business-profile-steve-jobs.html

‘The legacy of Steve Jobs: Beyond the tech world’, Professional safety, Dec 2011 Vol.56 Issue 12, p56-56 – EBSCO

Faculty Bolg, Rutgers business school, Faculty insight: The leadership of Steve Jobs, n.d. viewed 17 February 2014 http://business.rutgers.edu/news/faculty-insight-leadership-steve-jobs

Ronald J. Burke & Cary L. Cooper 2006, Inspiring Leaders pg 38
G.J. Curphy & M.E. Roelling, Followership, unpublished manuscript (North Oaks, MN:,Author, 2010)

Robert Mugabe [internet]2014, The Biography Channel website, viewed 14 February 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/robert-mugabe-9417391

“Robert Mugabe; the man behind the fist” 2007, The Economist; C Shepherd “news of the weird” Minneappolis Star Tribune 15 March 2007

“Robert Mugabe: African liberator, former honorary knight, aging ruler” CNN, Faith Karimi, 4 August 2013, viewed 14 February 2014 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/02/world/africa/mugabe-profile/