A leader is only as effective as the quality of the team members he surrounds himself with. The achievement of a dream is based on the quality of the team working on it. Barack Obama’s campaign success is based on several factors but having a great team by his side helped him secure the White House.
Steve Jobs the famed CEO of Apple, recently named the CEO of the decade by Fortune magazine is an effective leader because of the team he has surrounded himself with. He is widely acclaimed to be a visionary leader who has led Apple to create blockbuster products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes etc. He has transformed a company heading into oblivion in the mid nineties into a juggernaut. A lot of Apple’s extraordinary turnaround has been attributed to his brilliance, which is true, but he has also been brilliant enough to surround himself with a top class team. The recruitment of people such as the highly efficient Tim Cook his trusted COO who manages the company and ensures that Apple’s organisational system runs like clockwork. The recruitment of the right team members enables a leader to focus on his strengths while they tackle his weaknesses.
No leader is so gifted that he lacks any weaknesses, hence it is important that he is self aware enough to know what they are and find the right people who are strong in those areas to address those deficiencies. Tim Cook frees Steve Jobs to focus on his strengths as a leader which is vision casting and an obsessive focus on product designs. Jonathan Ives, the Head of Design, complements Jobs’ passion for design and he has been the force behind Jobs in producing all of Apple’s top blockbuster products in the last decade. As a leader, who do you have around you in the pursuit of your vision? Until you have the right people with you on your leadership journey, you are not going to be truly effective.
4 replies on “Recruiting the Right Team”
Many people in leadership position have a single criteria in hiring, ‘share my vision’ that in and of itself is important but unless you are willing to surround yourself with people who share your vision but bring a fresh perspective to how it can be achieved you will be in danger of duplicating yourself and failing to create a fully effective team. It is impossible for 1 person to do everything so do not be afraid to surround yourself with people that do certain things better than you!
I toatlly agree with IT. Leaders need to create the environment for constructive disagreements and this is done by hiring talented diverse team members who bring their own unique skills and perspectives to the table. These fresh viewpoints will only help make the vision better and the leader more effective in the long term.
[…] Check out my previous post on the importance of recruiting the right team in which I discussed Steve Jobs at […]
i really like this. God bless you!