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CASE STUDY OF A FIRST TIME MANAGERi

Fred

This was early in my career, and I didnt have any experience in promoting people into

management. But I was working for a rapidly growing company, and my organization had gottentoo big for me to manage all by myself. I needed to add a manager below me to supervise someof the programmers.

Fred had already demonstrated project leadership skills, and he seemed to relate to people prettywell. I didnt have a lot of other candidates in my organization, and I wanted to promote fromwithin, so I decided to give Fred a shot as a new manager.

Two things sabotaged Freds chances from the start. First, he seemed to think that making him amanager made him always right. Where previously he would have open and honest discussionswith project team members about technical details, now he didnt want to get their feedback. The

way he saw it, he was manager so he told his people what to do. If he didnt know what to do, hejust made something up. Big mistake!

Second, he couldnt handle the pressure. This was probably related to the first reason, but itmade matters worse. He would freeze up and become almost unresponsive in certainconfrontational situations. Its as if he was trying to hold himself back from exploding. Ormaybe he just froze out of fear.

I tried to help Fred in his new role, providing advice and coaching. But it was clear that thingswerent going to change very quickly, and so I took Fred out of the manager role and lookedelsewhere for a solution. Fred calmed down once he was off the hot-seat, and he went back to

being a good project leader. I lost track of him over the next few years, so I dont know whetherhe ever got over his initial problem and went into management again. His first attempt certainlydidnt work out well, so I could understand him being reluctant after that.

Lessons Learned (by me, by Fred)

You cant always tell in advance who will make a good manager and who wont.Obviously I was wrong about Fred. Some guidance from my own manager about how to pick a new manager wouldhave been useful, but I was pretty much left to fend for myself. Being in management doesnt give you any special knowledge or insight that you

didnt have before. And its important that you dont act like it does. Being a manager gives you some authority and the opportunity for some differentbehavior. Its up to you how you use it. It helps if theres a way to reverse a bad promotion. In some companies youcouldnt move Fred back to an individual contributor role youd have to fire him.And in other companies Freds pay grade would have changed with the promotion,and it would be an administrative nightmare trying to change him back to his oldposition and salary. Few companies allow you to try out a manager.

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CASE STUD OF STEVE JOBSii

Who was He?

Steve Jobs was the Chairman and CEO of Apple Computers Inc. and arguably one of

the worlds most successful businessmen of today.

He founded Apple in the 1970s, got chased out by his own board of directors, but returnedeventually as Apples CEO. Since then, he has revolutionized the IT industry with his creationslike the MacBook, the iPod and the iPhone.

Since his return, he has brought Apple Computers Inc. from a fledgling company to a globalforce to be reckoned with.

A Quick History

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco in Feburary 24, 1955. He was an adopted son of the Jobscouple from California.

Jobs attended Homestead High School in California and often went to the after school lecturesby Hewlett-Packard Company. It was there that he met his eventual partner, Steve Wozniak.

Jobs would have his early beginnings working at Atari as a technician building circuit boards. In1976, he would start the company Apple Inc. with Steve with funding from a millionaireinvestor.

In 1984, he developed the Macintosh, which was the first small computer with a graphic

interface in its time. It had promise to revolutionize the whole PC industry.

However, bad business decision and internal stife with his CEO would eventually cause Jobs toleave his own company.

He went on to start two other companies; NeXT and Pixar. Pixar would be acquired by theDisney Company and NeXT would be acquired by his own Apple Computers Inc.

With the acquisition, he returned to Apple Computers Inc. in 1996 as interim CEO. From thattime on, the rise of Apple Computers began again as the iMac would be developed.

The famous iPod and iPhone would later be developed and it would revolutionize the wholehandphone and MP3 player industry. Under his leadership, Apple Computers Inc. became a forceto be reckoned with.

In 2009, Jobs would have a personal net worth of $5.1 billion. However due to the need for aliver transplant, Jobs took a break from his work since January 2009.

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LEADERSHIP LESSONS

1. Persistence is the key

Steve Jobs was a very persistent person and it was most exempilifed through his exit

from Apple. He would not give up, but went on to start NeXT computers which wouldeventually be acquired by Apple Computers Inc.

If Jobs was like most people, he would have given up and spent the rest of his life beingbitter about his loss.

As a leader, you have to be ready to face setbacks. Setbacks are a part of life and whetheryou become successful or not often depend on your ability not to give up. It is all themore important to display this attribute, especially if you want to build a never-say-dieteam.

2. Innovation brings leadershipJobs saw the power of innovation in building his company. Till today, we can see theinnovating power of Apple Computers Inc as it continues to take market leadership in theindustry.

If you want to maintain your leadership, you have to be the one whos constantly up withnew ideas, new initiatives, all in the spirit of moving your organizational missionforward. In whatever industry youre in, your constant innovation in alignment with yourmission will keep you ahead of the pack.

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i http://blog.makingitclear.com/2009/07/15/managers1/ii http://www.leadership-with-you.com/steve-jobs-leadership.html