Steve Jobs: Start with Vision and Work Backwards

This short clip of Steve Jobs is a rich case study in visionary leadership.   A couple of observations:

• In setting Apple’s vision, Jobs did not assess the company’s current capabilities/strengths and then work forward — he knew that would only lead to Apple becoming a slightly better version of what it already was.  Considering the rapid pace of change in the world, Jobs wanted his company to not only remain relevant, but also to provide an exceptional customer experience.  So his team began the visioning process by imagining the ultimate customer experience and worked backwards to create an implementation plan. Upside:  Once the vision was set, formerly confounding and conflicting questions about current programs and services, staff became crystal clear.

• I wonder what would happen if schools took this same path, asking the big questions: what incredible learning experience can we give our children, what does a remarkable learning journey look like and how can we deliver that in an exceptional way?

• As painful as it was for certain stakeholders, a valued program ended up not fitting within Apple’s new cohesive vision and had to be cut.  This underscores the potential risk of using valuable leadership capital to grow a prized program before establishing an overarching vision for the organization.  What if it doesn’t fit?

•  I’m struck by the respect Jobs showed his detractor.   He graciously acknowledged ‘angry man’ was right in some areas and validated the man’s perspective before going on to explain how he created Apple’s amazing vision.  Acknowledgement and respect are powerful tools.

• Finally, Jobs admits to making mistakes and commits to finding and fixing them.  This makes him fallible – people really like that.  Authenticity and transparency inspires trust.  When effecting change, leaders need a treasure full of trust.

It takes a lot of courage to be a leader in times of change.  I applaud school leaders everywhere who are taking this important work on.