Steve Jobs

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."

Biography of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, on February 24, 1955, to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption. Smart but directionless, Jobs experimented with different pursuits in his early career (such as being a typographer and a video game designer with Atari, a video game company at that time) before starting up Apple Computers alongside with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Apple's revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are now seen as dictating the evolution of modern technology and have changed on the way humans communicate. He died in 2011, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Leadership Traits

1. Focus: When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, it was producing a random array of computers and peripherals. After a few weeks of product review sessions, he shouted, “Stop!” “This is crazy.” Their job, he told his team members, was to focus on four great products. All other products should be cancelled. But by getting Apple to focus on making just four computers, he saved the company. “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do,” he told Isaacson. “That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.”

2. The Will to Simplify: Jobs’ Zen like ability to focus was accompanied by the related instinct to simplify things by zeroing in on their essence and eliminating unnecessary components. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” declared Apple’s first marketing brochure. During the design of the iPod interface, Jobs tried at every meeting to find ways to cut clutter. He insisted on being able to get to whatever he wanted in three clicks.

3. Taking of Responsibility: Jobs and Apple took end-to-end responsibility for the user experience—something too few companies do. From the performance of the ARM microprocessor in the iPhone to the act of buying that phone in an Apple Store, every aspect of the customer experience was tightly linked together.

4. Being Innovative: The mark of an innovative company is not only that it comes up with new ideas first. It also knows how to leapfrog when it finds itself behind. That happened when Jobs built the original iMac. He focused on making it useful for managing a user’s photos and videos, but it was left behind when dealing with music. People with PCs were downloading and swapping music and then ripping and burning their own CDs. The iMac’s slot drive couldn’t burn CDs. But instead of merely catching up by upgrading the iMac’s CD drive, he decided to create an integrated system that would transform the music industry. The result was the combination of iTunes, the iTunes Store, and the iPod, which allowed users to buy, share, manage, store, and play music better than they could with any other devices.

5. Products before Profits: When Jobs and his small team designed the original Macintosh, in the early 1980s; his injunction was to make it “insanely great.” At his first retreat with the Macintosh team, he began by writing a maxim on his whiteboard: “Don’t compromise.” The machine that resulted cost too much and led to Jobs’ ouster from Apple. But the Macintosh also “put a dent in the universe,” as he said, by accelerating the home computer revolution. And in the long run he got the balance right: Focus on making the product great and the profits will follow.

6. Staying humble and life-long learning traits: Jobs stayed hungry and foolish throughout his career by making sure that the business and engineering aspect of his personality was always complemented by a hippie nonconformist side from his days as an artistic, acid-dropping, enlightenment-seeking rebel. In every aspect of his life—the women he dated, the way he dealt with his cancer diagnosis, the way he ran his business—his behaviour reflected the contradictions, confluence, and eventual synthesis of all these varying strands.

Analysis

Steve Jobs and Apple are excellent examples as to demonstrate on the correlation between leadership and management how he has lead the company to its success. Some might say that it was his Autocratic style of management which demanded excellence from his staff and was known for his blunt delivery of criticism towards them. Other might argue that it was his sheer virtuosity, combined with his ability to articulate his vision and onto bringing staffs, investors and customers along on the journey, in addition on the life lessons he has learned during his major career setback, made it work out for him. But one thing that we can all agree on is that it was his charisma that has made what Apple what it is today. As soon as he starts to speak, his presentations informs, entertains and inspires, capturing the audiences and conveying the exact message that he wants you to understand and believe in it. With such a unique style in managing his company, and providing a vision in which everyone could easily relate to, made Steve Jobs one of the most prominent leaders in the 21st century.

Kenny Yap

Biography of Kenny Yap

Kenny Yap, also known as "Kenny the Fish", is the Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Qian Hu Corporation Limited, the only integrated ornamental fish service provider listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange. He graduated from Ohio State University (USA) with a 1st Class Honours degree in Business Administration. He currently serves as the Chairman for the Ornamental Fish Business Cluster initiated by AVA and is a member of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE).

Through his leadership, vision and passion for the industry, Kenny plays a key role in establishing Singapore as the ornamental fish capital of the world, with Qian Hu accounting for more than 4% of the global fish market.

He has won numerous awards and commendations among which includes Singapore Youth Award for Entrepreneurship (1998), Spring Singapore's International Mangement Action Award (2000) and the Ernst & Young Services Entrepreneur Award (2003), Public Service Award (PBM) in 2004, Ernst & Young’s Service Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003, Young Chinese Entrepreneur of the Year by Yazhou Zhoukan in 2002, one of the 50 Stars of Asia by Business Week in 2001, the PSB/International Institute of Management’s International Management Action Award in 2000, and the Singapore National Youth Award in 1998.

Leadership Traits

Focus

He mentioned the the necessity of being focus in business, "focus on what we are good in" . It should not operate the business by diversifying, one should remain focus. When asked whether there is a future of diversifying his business in other areas, he mentioned that the focus of his business would be in the fish business.

Open-minded

He mentioned of his "open door policy" to allow people to communicate or feedback to him. He ensure that there are both a formal and informal meeting. According to Mr Yap, the informal meeting is usually the fruitful one, as he would get his staff drunk in order to receive honest feedback. The attitude of having an open-mind is important, one should keep on improving himself.

Great decision maker

Make wise decision to be one of the first in singapore to do fish farming. In the end, Qian Hu expanded into the local wholesale-distribution business and dealing with fish food and aquarium accessories. They even set up a small plastics division to manufacture plastic bags that are used to hold the fishes being sold. Qian Hu had aimed to be a total-solutions and quality-service provider that was involved in the entire value chain of activities in the ornamental fish industry.

Creativity

Although Kenny believes in concentrating on his core business and not venturing into other areas that he has no experience in, he is always researching and introducing new ways of doing business. In particular, he focuses on innovation in relation to quality assurance so as to reduce the attrition rate of fishes, especially for overseas exports. This set him apart from other fish business. Because he is always coming out with new ways/methods to improve on his fish business.

Integrity

Recognizing that trust and integrity are vital, Kenny is upfront and honest in his conduct of business. He believes that Qian Hu is not just a “Yap” family business but rather a “Qian Hu” family business, where employees are just as important as shareholders of the company. He joins his employees during coffee breaks to minimize any barriers to communication and foster strong teamwork, camaraderie and commitment.

Analysis

Kenny Yap went through the change process in his business as discussed in class. The change process consists of planning, implementing, monitoring and continuous improvement. First of all, he recognizes a need for change in the market and went to read up on fish farming/breeding. After researching and studying, he gather all resources and his family members to implement the new way of fish farming or breeding. He monitored the whole process closely and soon became the main fish supplier. However its not enough as he realised that competition is stiff and people expect new things. Instead of venturing to a new business, he believed more in continuous improvement and hence he did some research and development and came out with new ways and methods to market and sell his fishes and products.

Adolf Hitler

"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.
"Germany will either be a world power or will not be at all."

Biography of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary in 20 April 1889. He was an Austrian citizen until 7 April 1925 and became a German citizen after 25 February 1932. Adolf Hitler rose to power in German politics as leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazi Party. Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and served as dictator from 1934 to 1945. His policies precipitated World War II and the Holocaust. Other occupations apart from being a politician and soldier was that he was also an artist and writer. Hitler committed suicide with wife Eva Braun on April 30, 1945 (aged 56), in his Berlin bunker, Germany.

Leadership Traits

Powerful
People listened to him and not many people went against him because they were afraid that something would happen to them or their families as Hitler has great power during that time.

Demanding
He wanted what he wanted and he does not ever change his beliefs for anything or anyone. He thought that he had all the power in the world and that’s what he was trying to gain.

Reliant
He relied on his troops to carry out his plans and trusted their loyalty towards him to achieve what he wanted. 

Controlling
He wanted others to do things for him and made them do what he told them to, making sure that they carry out his orders in the way he has instructed them to.

Goal Setter
He set goals and visions for himself and the Nazis. Even though some of these were very far fetched, he did set them and that is a positive characteristic of a leader.

Judgmental
He believed all who were not Aryan were not needed. He judged people based on his own thoughts on their looks and heritage without making sure that he knows them before he judges. 

Confidence
He had a lot of confidence thinking that he could achieve his goals. Although in the end his confidence was overturned, he did have it which is a good characteristic of a leader that could lead his followers onward. 

Charismatic
He was a powerful speaker and communicator with a strong belief in himself. He believed that it was his mission to rule not only Germany, but the world. This eventually gained support from the people who has the same believes as him.

Analysis

Hitler has demonstrated the various leadership traits that we as future hospitality leaders can adapt. Hitler’s charismatic approach as a leader and successfully gained support from the people because he targeted the “Why” in people instead of the “What”, as similarly mentioned in the golden circle theory that was previously taught in class. He expressed his belief strongly to the people and gained support from people who strongly believed like what he believed. It was only then that he gained supports from passionate people who are loyal to him. He was also an autocratic leader where he exercised authority over people to achieve what he and his fellow followers desire. Other than that, he was an outstanding leader as he sets his vision and goals clearly and high for his followers to follow and achieve what they believe and wanted to achieve.

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay

Biography of Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay He is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive of Genting Berhad, which is the holding company of Genting Group known for its gaming and entertainment businesses. He holds a Bachelor in Civil Engineering through the University of London while he also attended the Advanced Management Programme of Harvard Business School in the United States. He is the second son of casino magnate the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and his wife Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua who is currently the richest woman in Malaysia.

Tan Sri Lim is also the co-founder of Genting Hong Kong Limited which was previously operating under the company Star Cruises Limited. It operates and manages a combined fleet of 18 ships that visits more than 200 destinations around the world with Norwegian Cruise Line which today is the third largest cruise operator in the world.

His rise to prominence in the industry started when he was elected to the board of Genting Berhad where he worked together with his late father and from being a single entity to 5 listed entities in Bursa Malaysia. In addition, Genting is also listed in the Singapore and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges respectively. In 2003 when Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay's late father retired, he took over as Chairman and Chief Executive of the group and has since been working relentlessly to expand the group into becoming one of the major entertainment and tourism companies in the world. Under Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Genting has established major brands globally while it also runs the largest casino in the US at the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Leadership Traits

Humility

Being born under a wealthy family, Tan Sri Lim has never faced any major problems and always get what he wanted. When he started working as an assistant to the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, he began to realize the difficulties in managing and working with a group of team members. Throughout this period before he inherited the business, he was taught to be humble and learn from the basic and earn the respect of his fellow team members.

Influential

Being the Executive Chairman of Genting Singapore PLC and Resorts World at Sentosa Pte. Ltd, Chairman and Chief Executive of Genting Berhad, Genting Malaysia Berhad, Genting Plantations Berhad and Genting Hong Kong Limited, Tan Sri Lim was seen as one of the most influential person across Asia. Given his determination to face any obstacles and challenges and the wisdom to make critical decisions, he had gained much respect and reputation. His influential presence continues to impact Asia especially when he won the bid to build one of the integrated resort with casino in Singapore.

Optimistic

Tan Sri Lim believe that positive thinking is a powerful tool that affects one’s behaviour, image and success. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Tan Sri Lim was taught to be optimistic by the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong whom envisioned a resort on a remote mountain and finally achieved his dream of building Genting Highlands into a world-class resort.

Communication

For any organization to be successful, they have to ensure effective communication throughout the flow of the organization. For Tan Sri Lim, communication plays a vital role for him as being the Chairman and Chief Executive of Genting Berhad, he has to make sure that his vision is being communicated to the employees throughout the organization.

Committed

Tan Sri Lim was seen as a very committed and detail-oriented leader. Despite having a few businesses under his baton, he continued to put his time on the bid to be one of the two integrated resort operators in Singapore. He spent day and night working closely with his group of team members in which he displayed his commitment towards his business and had built his rapport with his team members. This was also the reason why Resort World Sentosa continue to stay firm to the ground as they have a team of strongly bonded management team.

Analysis

There is a couple of lessons that be can learnt from Tan Sri Lim. While leaders always have followers, they will need to have certain qualities in order to have people whom will be willing to follow them. In Tan Sri Lim case, he was able to inspire others to believe in his vision and follow after his footstep or work closely with him.

Being a leader in a large organization, Tan Sri Lim was always positive-minded and committed into whatever he was doing. This lesson taught us that being a leader does not come easily and that we will often obstacles in which we will have to stay positive and never give up  easily. While we have our goal set ahead of us, we will have to stay committed and persevere towards the end.  

While climbing up the corporate ladder may not be easy, one will have to humble himself to learn from the people around him and respect others as they are. Do not be overconfident by placing yourself way above others but always being humble towards everyone. This will be the start of gaining respect and trust from the people around you.

Barack Obama

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. "
"If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."

About

Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States. He was a civil-rights lawyer and teacher before pursuing a political career. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate and he became the president of United States in 2008. 

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000.

In his political reign, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

Leadership traits

Integrity

Obama is the man who has the courage to do what is best for his people, and not to compromise because it provides him with some short-term gain. He is willing to risk losing the election because he would not compromise his values, and thus he has been chosen to lead his citizens in the United States.

Humility

Before being elected as the 2008 Democratic Candidate for President, Obama supported diplomacy as the first measure to be taken in response to any suspicious activity. In particular, Obama supported the re-initiation of diplomatic action with Iran. He opposed the bill that would regard the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, thereby allowing the president to position troops in Iran that could be interpreted as military action against the Iranians. This shows the humility aspect of Obama being respectful of every organization irregardless of their background.

Fairness

Obama believes that fairness is an especially important trait for a successful leader in which one must treat everyone with equality, regardless of race, gender or social status. In whatever decisions that Obama has ever tried to implement, he always ensure that it is a win-win situation for all involved parties.

Caring

One of the most difficult tasks that any world leader may face is, balancing time with their two major obligations; the population that they are leading and their actual family. There is no hiding to the fact of the strong bonds between the members of the Obama family; the family reserves time for a sit-down dinnertime every night. Obama is certainly a family man as he is seen in public all of the time with his loving family.

Additionally, Barack Obama is committed to creating universal health care in America.  This shows that the health of the individual American is one of his top priorities.

Inspirational

Obama knows the true meaning of leadership which is to encourage the American people to act for a common purpose because they want to. Here is a phrase that Obama used in one of his speeches:

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America".

He has certainly held true to his word on this quote. To help to alleviate the recession, he has spent more money in his first sixty days of presidency than in an entire term of any other president. Obama has not just talked about plans of rebuilding America but has acted on them. Americans are gradually investing more and more trust in their government as each crisis is being dealt with and this is proven when he was able to inspire followers to continue believing in him which resulted in his successful re-election as the president of United States.

Mindful Decision Making

A deliberate decision of Obama was to surround himself with people that do not necessarily agree with his views. This way, he will be able to gain different valuable opinions on difficult issues.  If his cabinet were to contain people that constantly agree with him, he could make purely 'Obama' choices all of the time, and the right decision might not always be made - nobody's perfect.

Barack Obama has shown his decisiveness through the innumerable times he has taken action in just about the sixty days that he has spent in the White House.

Analysis

After looking at several case studies on Obama, we were able to identify some good leadership traits, as stated above, that we can learn from him. Obama is a transformational leader and he focuses a lot on his followers. He often motivates his followers in achieving great achievements and always tries to transform people or organizations for the better. He is also a charismatic and inspirational leader who engages his followers in his beliefs and ideas and this is something that we should possess as a future leader.