Steve and Gordon: Two Models of Innovation and Influence

Yesterday, I wrote about how serving the Lord can lead to transformation, innovation and leadership. Today I came across two examples of innovation and transformation with very different impacts:  Steve Jobs and Gordon Ramsey.

The web is filled with the news and commentary about Steve Jobs’ passing. It was a little shocking to me to hear how soon after stepping down it happened. Pretty much everyone is singing his praises about how he transformed the world electronically. It’s a no-brainer that he influenced the world in a major way. There are several points to note about that impact.

Surrendering Territory

It is said that bureaucratic programs are easy to create but impossible to destroy. It is said that they develop a life of their own. There is some truth to this. As I have written before, when decision making becomes ‘policy,’ it becomes unowned—no one has responsibility for the decisions and their consequences anymore, they are ‘just following procedure.’

This also occurs because egos of those involved can feel failure if the program they created, manage or are part of is no longer needed, so they seek to justify its existence.

Paradoxically, programs and policies live on because no one wants to risk sticking their neck out to take responsibility for a potentially unpopular decision or other display of true leadership. Sometimes it happens out of a desire to save their careers because they don’t want to expend the energy to search for a new opportunity or are fearful of losing the security they have in their current position.

In both cases, the root cause is fear. Fear of losing prestige, a job, authority, influence and so on. Fear of taking a risk and making a mistake. Fear of making others angry or unhappy.

The motivation has switched from achieving a goal to self-preservation. This results in innovation becoming stagnation, and leadership degenerating into management.

A Good Staff

There are times when you are blessed to be surrounded by good people. A great leader can be surrounded by mediocre people (or worse) and still lead them to success, and conversely, even a bad leader can look great when surrounded by great people.

An example of the first is Christ and His disciples—a great leader with a dysfunctional tribe. Yet through them, He revolutionized a planet, and in fact, is a hallmark of the way He does things—His signature on events. (I Corinthians 1)

Nearly all of us can think of examples of the second—an incompetent manager who somehow has a good team and they are able to function as a unit without leadership to do extraordinary work.

Do More With Less?

“Doing more with less” seems to be the motto of this time. Administrators and managers everywhere are urging folks to pitch in more to get through these difficult times. And certainly there is wisdom in that general principle.