When looking at the startup of the NeXT Inc. company during the late 80's and early 90's following the movement of Steve Jobs from Apple, I would find myself in a high level of uncertainty as an employee. In the video, Jobs becomes outwardly critical of those that differ in opinion or question his aggressive goals, When developers caution the loss of functionality in the rush to meet a roll-out date or desire to put aesthetics over substance of the software, Jobs was quick to dismiss these thoughts, requesting his followers think more about the exciting new logo or focus more on the vision of the company. I am not sure if this was a blind area (Brown, 2011, p. 247) for Jobs or if he preferred to be unbending and dismissive as a leader. Either way, I was very turned off by this business practice and leadership style. If I am going to be part of a team, I expect for my contributions to be at least heard and definitely not ridiculed publicly. Critical thought should go into a response from a leader, not a knee-jerk retort.
I honestly believe the NeXT Inc. business structure was much like a rebound relationship. Apple was the company for which Jobs had devoted his life and he knew this was going to be his baby. With my desire to be placed in a mid-sized conservative business with some desire for risk, I could see myself abandoning ship quickly in the mood-swings and lack of structure defined at NeXT Inc.
As charasmatic as Jobs is, he did not provide the security of knowing that I would receive a paycheck to help keep the roof over my family or food on the table. I am not in a place in my life to take the risk necessary to be part of a startup business like that of NeXT Inc.
One thing that I did learn from Jobs was his uncompromising nature for excellence. I often will relinquish to the group if I believe that the group is overworked, underpaid or just tired. I will make sure the project maintains the values of the company but will compromise perfection for the sake of maintaining resources. I am still uncertain as to whether this is better to always expect excellence, as Jobs was pretty successful in the design and appeal of the IOS software and hardware. People love the sleek nature and it has almost become a status symbol to be a Mac or Iphone consumer.
The most important thing I am learning through this, though, is that I need to be willing to evolve, change, and like Jobs, bounce back after failure or obstacles.
Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organizational Development (E. Svendsen Ed. 8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Nathan/Tyler Production. (2012, January 19). Steve Jobs Brainstorms with NeXT Team. Retrieved August 01, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loQhufxiorM
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