Module 3 Writing Assignment 1 – HBS Case Study: The Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

Leadership Lessons Acquired From Steve Jobs Name Institution Course and Code Professor Date Leadership Lessons Acquired From Steve Jobs The person I identified in sports and athletics is Gregg Popovich, an American professional coach in basketball and the president of the San Antonio Spurs. Popovich has been in the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1994. He took over the coaching career of the San Antonio Spurs in 1996. Due to his outstanding leadership qualities in the sports industry, Popovich is renowned as one of the best NBA coaches. Over the last two decades, San Antonio Spurs have won numerous championships and tournaments under Popovich’s leadership. In particular, Popovich’s success in the sports sector can be connected to various Jobs-like attributes, which are discussed in “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. Focus is one of the Jobs-like attributes that Popovich applies in his coaching career. Besides, after Jobs was ousted from his company, he returned in 1997 only to find that Apple was sinking due to the lack of focus on the products it was designing and manufacturing. He directed his team to focus on only four computers in different quadrants, namely pro, consumer, portable, and desktop (Isaacson, 2012). Jobs' intense personality, passion for perfection, and ferocious drive to succeed in making quality products enabled him to revolutionize music, personal computing, digital publishing, tablet computing, smartphone technology, and animated movies. Similarly, the focus is a leadership quality that has enabled Popovich to win numerous tournaments and championships in the NBA league. Popovich uses intense personality makes him push his players by guiding them on what to do so that they can achieve the best outcomes in the field (Coyle, 2018). The coach connects with his players well and does everything to unleash their potential in the field since he has created and sustained a culture of trust, togetherness, and teamwork. Even when Popovich yells at his players sometimes, they do not get angry since they understand that their coach wants the best outcome for the team. The other most significant Jobs-like attribute that Popovich applies is “when behind, leapfrog.” Although Apple is one of the most innovative companies, which was the case even when Jobs was alive, it does not mean that it always made new products first. Jobs knew that when left behind, one should leapfrog by applying creativ...