Steve Jobs’ inspiring advice on leadership and recruitment at Apple

Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, shared inspiring insights throughout his career.

Over the course of his professional life, Steve Jobs had to appoint senior executives to lead his various businesses, including Apple. Those experiences shaped his thinking and led him to offer advice on recruitment.

As Fortune notes, his first recommendation was to promote the strongest performers. “Do you know who the best managers are? They are outstanding individual contributors who never wanted to become managers, but take on the role because nobody else will be able to do the job as well,” the CEO said.

Steve Jobs on leadership at Apple

In another interview cited by our colleagues, Steve Jobs explained: “This is what leadership is: having a vision, being able to articulate it clearly so that the people around you understand it, and building consensus around a shared vision.”

He later expanded on this idea in 2010, describing Apple as the world’s largest start-up:

There is a tremendous team spirit at the top of the hierarchy, and that spirit carries through every level of the company. Teamwork depends on trusting each person to do their share of the work without having to watch over them constantly.

Steve Jobs’ advice on recruitment

Lastly, according to the executive, the final key to success is making sound recruitment decisions and building a team you trust completely: “The greatest thing is to bring together a core group of ten exceptional people. The group regulates itself in terms of the people it allows to join. That is why I believe recruitment is the most important task for someone like me.”

Steve Jobs’ advice to young people

Steve Jobs offered many lessons over the years. In 2005, for instance, the business leader addressed graduates at Stanford University and gave students a valuable piece of advice:

Your work will fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied with what you do is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Apple’s founder added: “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. And don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” Further information on this subject is available in our previous article here.