The environment that Steve Jobs
created for the Next team to brainstorm was inviting and conducive to critical
thinking. I thought that the open forum he encouraged among the team members
was the type of environment that I enjoy working in, sharing thoughts and ideas
with like-minded people. Steve clearly took over the meetings as the leader,
steering the topics for discussion and doing the most amount of challenging. He
directed the meeting, but encouraged others to join and provide appropriate challenges
to the team regarding their plan. My leadership type is team-based, so allowing
the team to collectively find answers to questions and determine priorities is
something that I feel very comfortable with.
One thing that I really enjoyed
about the Next start-up team is that they appeared to be getting away from
everything to do these meetings, almost like a retreat where they can really
focus on the topic at hand and get away from disturbances. I am a big
proprietor of creating environments where team members feel comfortable and
close, where thoughts, feelings, and ideas are shared openly and without
judgment or criticism. This to me is a true team. The Next team knew what they
had to do and how to do it, with leadership from Steve, and they planned
together on how to accomplish it in the timeframe they established earlier. I
also enjoy working out the details and planning to be perfect, which is
something the Next team appeared to do quite often. They gave themselves tight
deadlines and strict goals with little room for error, making it more important
for them to rely on data.
Steve Jobs may not have made the
best decisions with his new company, but from a teamwork standpoint I think he
nailed it. He allowed the team to work together to determine what they needed
to do, how it needed to happen, and with what. The team seemed more efficient
and functional before running into financial problems, because they were able
to focus on more of the project and end goal. I enjoyed watching the Next team operate
and collaborate on building the next big thing.
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