steve jobs Archives - John Knotts

Whatever happened to Apple?

Meandering Genius March 17, 2014

So Steve Jobs is gone and what happened to Apple?

I haven’t seen anything new come out of Apple in a couple years…I think the last “big” thing was a color case for the iPhone 5?

Can one person have that much influence over an entire organization? Was Steve Jobs the innovative wiz behind Apple or did he simply bring out the innovative in everyone else?

This is a great lesson for those who aspire to lead and who wish to leave a legacy. How do you build the skills in people to do what is needed? When you leave–and we all leave eventually, what will you leave behind?

When I look at Google today, with Google Glasses and their Autonomous Vehicle, I can definitely see who is leading the pack with innovation. I guess Simon Sinek was right about Apple and Steve Jobs…he was the Why for Apple.

Without him, they only know the How and the What.

Leaderment (SM)

Leadership March 2, 2014 7 Comments

Leadership is a dying art in the world today. The great leaders of the past, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, Martin Luther King, even Adolph Hitler, are found few-and-far between these days. There are some that have been fairly successful, like Steve Jobs for instance, that have rose to an iconic status, but have they been truly great leaders or just really successful at running something?

Often there is contention between the skills that a leader needs and what a manager needs. I believe, if you’re not a good leader, you won’t be a good manager, and if you’re not a good manager, you won’t be a good leader. It is my contention that those who apply both of these talents expertly demonstrate what I call, “Leaderment^SM.” This is the expert combination of Leadership and Management together.

Two days ago, I posted a blog titled Skill Requirements for Today’s Workplace. In it, I highlighted two key personal skills of Analysis and Problem Solving. This was the primer for my new Sunday blog (Leaderment^SM) to compliment my Saturday blog (Think Big, Take Small Steps). I will continue to blog in my Meandering Genius section Monday through Friday.

In this blog I will pull from experience inside and outside consulting as well as experience as a repeated business owner and nonprofit leader. Additionally, I will pull from and incorporate information additional resources and experiences much like these:

Quality Engineer/Technician
Program Manager
Project Manager
Lean/Six Sigma
Professional in Human Resources
Human Performance Technology
Financial Management
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Change Management
Facilitation

Every week I will cover a specific topic aligned to this outline listed below. I will probably jump around every week so that the blog provides value to every audience depending on where you are in this outline. See the outline below:

Leaderment^SM
Becoming a better leader and manager
Leaderment^SM — Yourself
Exploring the basic building blocks to develop the “Leader Within”
Leaderment^SM — Projects
Developing skills and abilities required to lead and manage projects and things
Leaderment^SM — People
Developing skills and abilities required to lead and manage individuals
Leaderment^SM — Capabilities
Developing skills and abilities required to lead and manage programs made up of things, projects, and people
Leaderment^SM — Organizations
Developing skills and abilities required to lead and manage organizations

I hope you are as excited to start this journey as I am and watch next week for my first installment that expands on Developing the Leader Within You.

Leaderment^SM is a service mark of Crosscutter Enterprises.

What is “visionary?”

Business Consulting Meandering Genius February 29, 2012

Last night I had a great conversation with a good friend of mine about visionaries. We talked at length about Hinduism, Maslow, and people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (of all things). See, Gus is a Mac and I am a PC, so we often have some very interesting talks…especially over wine. This one centered around how visionaries impact innovation. Many years ago, I wrote a paper titled, “Formula for Innovation.” I built the notion that aside from Necessity, Risk is a major player in Innovation. That got us talking about how Vision … seeing several moves ahead like a chess player … can impact Innovation.

What are your thoughts regarding the “factors” that influence Innovation and how?