The Steve Jobs Way - iLeadership for a New Generation

Jay Elliot, the author and former Apple senior vice president (written with William Simon, author of iCon), has delivered an insider’s view of Steve Jobs and his leadership style in his book The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation. Overall, this is a book about the leadership lessons he experienced working alongside mighty Steve Jobs.

First of all, do not expect a how-to manual here. After reading through the stories that Elliot provides, you will have to reflect on your own experiences and then think about ways that you might want to implement Jobs’ way as part of your own. You would not find a direct ‘recipe’ for building the team that builds the next Apple or iPod or Mac. But, you will gain exposure to some really interested stories about Apple’s internal workings, how Jobs built the initial Mac team and what it was like working with/for Steve Jobs. 

My personal criticize on this book... if you are looking for a break from checklists and worksheets that poke and prod at your brain to come up with new ideas, this book does not offers much. To make things worse, the title itself is rather confusing….. I thought the author will provides insight into Apple & Steve Jobs entire history up until the modern day. After all, the wording of ‘iLeadership’ makes me think about the modern day Apple...  In fact, Elliot hasn’t been directly involved in Apple since the mid to late 1990′s. If I am not mistaken, he left Apple before Jobs returned the 2nd time. So, is he the right person to write on this? Hmm.......

As a summary, if you are a fan of educational biographies, this is a definitely a good book for you. Since I love biographies (and I worship Steve Jobs too, LOL)...I personally rating it at 7 out of 10. Well...overall, I like it.

At the end of the book, the author did provides a list of nine principles:

1. Be passionate about each project you work on
2. Be driven by an opportunity and create a product for it
3. Always be open to talent who can help
4. Do your best to make the product intuitive, so a user's manual isn't needed
5. Be really honest with yourself about your products
6. Ensure that the products represent you and your traits as a person
7. Work through your people and celebrate as a unit with every success
8. Keep innovating to get closer and closer to your ideal, your vision of perfection that goes beyond the currently achievable reality
9. Don't listen to people who say it can't be done

Lastly.... do not miss out on the letter to Steve Jobs.... Jay Elliot wrote a very sincere yet meaningful letter to Steve Jobs. Thumbs up !!!