"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

- Steve Jobs (1955-2011)  

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Greetings!

There are many qualities that define the great among our business leaders. The two that stand out most in my mind are the ability to create and articulate a powerful and compelling vision and with the ability to make decisions. Steve Jobs did both with a sense of deliberateness that was both unyielding and unapologetic.   

His vision for Apple was his vision for the world. It was never just about computers, or even Apple as a company. He believed that ideas can change the world - and his passion to "think different" drove one of the most stunning and enduring business successes in the modern industrial era. His legacy as an American icon and modern hero is perhaps even more impressive. Somehow he connected to our world in ways that transcended his business success - or even contributions to the technologies that have shaped our modern world in ways that no other has since, perhaps Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell. But unlike Edison or Bell, the power of Job's vision infused itself into the keys beneath our fingers, the touch-screens in our pockets and the tablets under our arms. It was always Apple - but also Steve Jobs vision. From his soapbox he quietly shouted until we all knew (and eventually bought) what he saw.

But as strong as his passion was for his vision - he also understood the power of decisions and had a natural, undeniable penchant for leadership - both of thought and people. His vision was nothing without the decisions he insisted on making. People who worked with and for Jobs found his drive to control choices the company made was what made him both great and often nearly impossible to work for.  

"Steve Jobs spent his final weeks - as he had spent most of his life - in tight control of his choices." This insight was shared in an article that appeared in the October 6th edition of The New York Times. ( You can find the article by clicking on the following link:) 

http://tinyurl.com/3jrtqd2

As a CEO or anyone in any leadership role, it is the quality of our decisions, above anything else, that defines our success and the extent that we influence those we lead. The decisions we make about ourselves amount to what we are and what we stand for: who we are. Our organizations look to us for decisions and determine whether to trust us based on who we are - as much as what we know. It's as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Who you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you're saying." How we "show-up" when tough decisions need to made are as important as the measurable results of those decisions. We are also judged on how we behave in the face of our decisions - our successes and, perhaps more important, our failures. Job's storied career was checkered with both, for sure.

It is interesting that with so much being written, relatively little is mentioned about the strength of his character. In truth, he was widely known for his terrible temper - and the often oppressive way in which he ran the company. In 1981, the Macintosh project founder, Jeff Raskin, sent a private memo to then Apple President Mike Scott. Steve Jobs, the company Chairman, known for terrible tirades fired Raskin after learning of the note complaining that:

1. Jobs regularly misses appointments
2. He acts without thinking and with bad judgment
3. He does not give credit where due
4. Jobs often reacts ad hominem
5. He makes absurd and wasteful decisions by trying to be paternal
6. He interrupts and doesn't listen
7. He does not keep promises or meet commitments
8. He makes decisions ex cathedra
9. Optimistic estimates
10. Jobs is often irresponsible and inconsiderate

He may have been the true boss from hell. He was also not known for being a philanthropist: he turned down invitations to join forces with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to help tackle the ills of the world. He was not known to be a "nice guy" - nor did he make any real effort to dress-up his public persona beyond his trademark penchant for black buttonless shirts and jeans.

Until his now famous Stamford University commencement speech in 1995 ( see below), Jobs was mostly very private about his views on life. (It is very likely that his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer a year earlier made him more reflective and self-aware.) Prior to this time, his most notable quotes spoke to his passion for his company and his vision for their products. To most of the world Steve Jobs persona was Apple for all its successes and failures - a company he kept fiercely independent and non-conforming. The Apple brand was not only widely known throughout the developed world - but also unique and able to stand apart from -and generally above the fray of all most other companies in the world. People gravitated to Apple - as much as Apple worked to attract customers. It seemed that the brand was "who" the company was - not a contrived image conceived to shape the opinions of customers. In many ways - it seems the same was true of Jobs.

In the years I have been coaching leaders, I have often argued that CEO's have no right and little reason to complain about anything in their companies: they have the power - and even the responsibility to change anything that doesn't work - and nearly anything they don't like. Jobs personified this at Apple. He was known as a tyrant when it came to product engineering and design. If Steve didn't like something and couldn't be convinced to like it - there was no way it was going to market. Many have argued that this approach kept him too involved in decision he should have delegated to others. In his mind - this was a conscious decision. He had a clearly defined set of "intolerables" and standards. He constantly challenged the designers and engineers at Apple to challenge themselves to be brilliant and innovative - and also work within the parameters of his sensibilities.  

In May of 1998, Jobs told BusinesWeek that "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." Jobs felt his job was to show people things that they didn't know they wanted or needed and continually challenged his company to pursue his vision of possibility -to trust his gut - as much as he trusted it himself. In his Stamford speech his suggested that "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

Anthony Robbins, the motivational speaker/coach put it nicely, writing; "It is in the moment of our decisions that our destiny is created." Jobs knew that the power of his vision was only harnessed by his ability to make decisions. Decisions about what his company would do, what his products would be and look like - and how his life would be - right up until his final breath. We live and die by our decisions.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

These were the final words of The Whole Earth Catalog*. It was also Steve Job's final words in his often-cited commencement speech at Stamford University in 1995. It can be said that Jobs was nobody's fool. In truth - in many ways he was quite foolish - and I wonder if it's possible that this was the hidden aspect of self-refelction revealed in his concluding words.  

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html  

(If you are too young to remember the Whole Earth Catalog, grew up out of it's reach - or somehow slept for the 15 years it was published, the posted article on Wikipedia is not only worth reading - but poses some light on the symmetry between the two mediums)  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog  

There has been a tremendous amount written about Steve Jobs since his death last week. I can't recall ever seeing such an outpouring in the press about the death of a CEO. The kind of media attention; the outpouring of tributes and grief; the public adoration and eulogizing is usually reserved for leaders of world powers, Popes and people who have profoundly influenced and touched the lives of vast numbers of people. CEOs, at best are admired and maybe even revered, though most get media attention when it is appropriate to vilify them. Steve Jobs transcended his role and even his legend to become a symbol of something intensely human - a rare feet for a business leader - or anyone with great wealth and power.

Randall Storss, a professor at San Jose University wrote for the NY Times that, "Mr. Jobs was perhaps the most beloved billionaire the world has ever known.  Richard Branson's tribute captures the way people felt they could identify with Mr. Jobs's life narrative: "So many people drew courage from Steve and related to his life story: adoptees, college dropouts, struggling entrepreneurs, ousted business leaders figuring out how to make a difference in the world, and people fighting debilitating illness. We have all been there in some way and can see a bit of ourselves in his personal and professional successes and struggles."

Just the same, Job's was not exactly the perfect roll model for CEOs. There's no reason for behaving terribly. I know from my personal work with executive peer groups that tyrants can be tamed and leaders become stronger when they raise the aspirations, talents and achievements of the people they lead by resecting and even protecting their dignity. I'm guessing Steve trusted very few people, certainly not to the degree that he could hear the truth about himself. Perhaps if he had, it wouldn't have required the face of death to bring about the softer side of his genius and with that what would have likely been a life richer than his enormous wealth. As to his decisions, it's possible that if he had people he trusted asking tough questions he could have avoided at least some of the more famous disastrous mistakes he made. I have a feeling Steve Jobs had the answers - even when he didn't realize that he did.

The bottom line is never underestimate the power of your vision - nor the importance of your decisions.  

Discover what you believe in -the things that drive your passions and define what's truly valuable to you - and you will find the way to lead others forward - and maybe even change the world. Find a group of truly trusted advisors and allow them to interrogate your personal reality and your business realities - and you'll find your confidence and competence in your decisions will improve. I guarantee that.

In the spirit of full disclosure - this article was written on an Apple (Macbook Pro) - as has everything I've written since mid 1987, when I bought my first Apple McIntosh. It was an SE 512Ke. For the first time in my life I could write freely, knowing I could cut and paste to organize the random thoughts that didn't string together in ways that made sense to others - and repair the endless spelling errors and typos that were the trademark signature of my writing and poor typing skills. For that I do thank Mr. Jobs and Mr. Wozniac.

Finally, Steve Jobs was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in 1993 saying "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me." Great words to live by, Steve. Good night.

As always, wishing you a great and successful week ahead.  

Philip R. Liebman

Managing Director, Strat4

Group Chair, Vistage International

PS - Due to the unusual length of this article - the normal format below has been abridged. MMCEO will return to it's normal format next week. - pl