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He gave the world iPhones and iPads...
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and gained a reputation as a bully along the way.
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She makes delicious macaroons
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and changes the lives of young people in the process.
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It's really important to have people's voices heard,
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so even when they're challenging – and especially when they're challenging.
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If you have a vision,
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we look at how you can manage your self-belief
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alongside the need to take people with you.
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Pioneer, innovator, genius:
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words often used to describe Apple founder Steve Jobs.
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He brought an artist's eye to technology.
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What began as a business with his friend Steve Wozniak
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operating from his parents' garage in the 1970s...
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became one of the world's biggest corporations.
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Along the way, came the Macintosh computer,
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the iPad and the iPhone.
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Jobs' product launches turned into headline-making events.
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His charisma and passion for his products were on full display.
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For those of you that have never used it,
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iTunes is the best music jukebox in the world
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and if you've lived in the US,
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it's been the best online music store in the world.
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But there were also stories of his harsh
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and controlling behaviour at work.
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He would humiliate people in public,
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be offensive and rude,
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set near-impossible tasks for his team.
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Some were able to stand up to him and gained his respect,
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but Apple lost many talented people
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because of his harsh leadership style.
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So, did Apple's game-changing products
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have to come at the expense of so many hurt feelings?
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There's one key practice, which was problematic
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in Steve Jobs' leadership, and this is common
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to many, many charismatic and visionary leaders like Steve Jobs,
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and that is that he didn't listen.
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He had very strong views, he had very strong preferences
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and it was very difficult to...
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to have a conversation with him even, never mind a debate,
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about whether his ideas were good ideas or not.
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So, Steve Jobs didn't always listen.
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He often wanted things to go his way.
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What did this mean for his staff?
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In practice, working for the kind of visionary leader
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that Steve Jobs was
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often means doing exactly what you're told to do. It's not...
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it's not a collaborative process and it's not a collective process.
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You have a single leader, who has very strong and very clear ideas,
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and who wants you as an employee
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to put those ideas into practice.
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If there's a problem, in putting those ideas into practice,
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it's your problem; it's not the problem of the leader
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or the idea, or the vision.
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Leaders like Steve Jobs can make it difficult
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to be collaborative, or work together.
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So, is it best to avoid leaders with a strong vision?
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So, this kind of leadership can be very inspiring
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and it's very important to recognise that.
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Whenever we talk about charisma, we are talking about leaders
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that people want to follow and we're talking about leaders
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who are... often who are successful
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in terms of creating organisations
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or successful corporations like Apple.
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It's a kind of organisation, though, where you either fit or or you don't,
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and so it's a... it's a black or white situation.
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I think it's very important to be clear with yourself,
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if you are thinking about joining that kind of organisation
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or following that kind of leader,
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that it might not work out and you may need to move on.
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A leader with a clear vision can be inspiring,
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but it's important you believe in that vision too.
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So, how could Steve Jobs have done things differently?
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So, with a charismatic or a visionary leader, the...
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one of the key dangers is that it's very easy to get carried away,
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to... to lose yourself in the vision,
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and to lose sight of the other people that you work with
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and the collaborators that you rely on to make your vision happen.
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So, I think one of the key messages about visionary leadership
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is always to remember any kind of product,
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any kind of success, putting a vision...
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making a vision become reality involves a whole group of people
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and it is not just about the leader.
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So, visionary leaders should recognise the value of others;
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it's not just about them.
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Meet Rosie Ginday, the founder of Miss Macaroon,
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a company based in the British city of Birmingham
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and named after the delicious little biscuits they make.
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But it isn't only the macaroons that make this company special.
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Its chefs are some of Birmingham's most troubled young people.
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Rosie uses her baking business to help her community.
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And she gives her young staff the skills and confidence
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to make a mark in the world.
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So, how important is vision to Rosie?
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Vision is incredibly important.
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As a leader, it's so important
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for you to be able to set a longer term vision –
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something that's bigger than, you know, small and medium-term goals,
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but a real purpose for your business.
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So, something that everybody within your organisation,
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whatever level they work at, can get behind
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and understand whether their job contributes
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to that longer-term vision.
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Rosie Ginday's vision gives her business a purpose.
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So, how has she gone about achieving her vision?
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So, to be able to achieve your vision,
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you need to have a clear direction of where you're going.
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You need to really understand your values
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and you need to put a plan in place
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to be able to achieve that vision.
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You also need the flexibility to...
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and understanding that everything's not going to go to plan
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and – likelihood is – it really won't go to plan.
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So, you have to be able to adjust
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to whatever's going on around you.
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Rosie has a clear plan about where she wants to take her business,
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but is flexible about how she gets there.
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To achieve your vision, you need a really strong team of people around you.
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At Miss Macaroon, we have a fantastic board of non-executive directors
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that helped me to set the strategy.
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We also have an amazing team of people that help us
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to build young people's skills and confidence,
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and help them to get back into work,
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but everybody really understands what the vision is.
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Rosie's clear vision has helped her build
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a strong team of people around her,
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who share the same passion as her.
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Even though everybody is super-committed to that vision,
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it's really important that people come from different backgrounds –
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whether that's different industries,
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you know, different ages, genders, sexualities,
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you know, religious backgrounds or ethnic backgrounds,
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or even, kind of, the...
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the commitment level to our social impact:
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we need different voices and thought processes
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around the table.
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Rosie actively seeks out a diverse range of people for her team,
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but doesn't that sometimes cause challenges?
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It's really important to have people's voices heard,
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so, even when they're challenging – and especially when they're challenging –
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listening to what they're saying, because you could learn something
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from every conversation – so, being open to that challenge.
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Asking for help is really important when you need it,
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and just making sure that that diversity of thought
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helps you to grow your business and achieve your vision.
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Rosie understands listening to what people have to say is important,
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especially if it is not always what she wants to hear.
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So, visionaries can inspire others and make powerful leaders...
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but they need to remember to listen, and diversity is useful.
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There may be others who can help make their vision even better.