Steve Jobs’ Way of Managing People

Passion

One of the things about Steve Jobs that people remember the most is that his enthusiasm for a new product or an idea was contagious. When he walked into a room and talked to people about a new product or idea, they couldn’t help but listen.

When Jobs met famed musician Wynton Marsalis about his iTunes project, this is how Marsalis described him in an interview with Business Insider: “He was a man possessed. After a while, I started looking at him and not the computer, because I was so fascinated with his passion.”

Respect for Expertise

Steve Jobs had a very hands-on approach to work, and believed in learning from other experts.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

This is one of Jobs’ most famous quotes, and it describes exactly how he felt about getting the right knowledge and expertise in the room.

Creative Motivation

He kept creatives away from the critics – ideation, explication and critical analysis happened separately so everyone stayed motivated

One of the things that made Apple the success it is today is the generation of ideas in Jobs’ company. Not only were ideas encouraged, but Jobs also knew exactly how to keep all steps in the idea-making pipeline motivated and encouraged. In his idea management process, Jobs had three steps – ideation, explication, and critical analysis.

He was a firm believer in keeping all of these steps separate from one another. The creative people coming up with ideas were important, and so were the people who would critically analyze those ideas. Letting both these parties in one room would have been disastrous for the creatives and their motivation levels.