Choosing an organization such as Apple Inc. that is one of the top corporations in the world let us understand the difference that a good, unique leader can make. What we learned about a leader is the impact it can have, as it can completely make or break a company. We chose current leaders of the organization (Tim Cook and Luca Maestri, CEO and CFO respectively) and the former CEO that revolutionized the world (Steve Jobs) but also learning about former leaders of the company that were not able to succeed.

    They really are the turning point of a company with being a successful leader. One has to be very open to ideas and build a strong relationship with employees to make them want to work at there job and want to come to work every day and participate and make the company grow as a community. Depending on how your leader is and your workforce as one will depend on how the organization and company will do. In addition, many leaders have different characteristics, and it is not set on stone what type of leadership style will successfully work for a company, as one’s personality, experience and type of leadership chosen equally affect or impulse a corporation. We also learned from this assignment that no matter what your position is everyone in the company matters because it can take one person from making or breaking a company if they are not satisfied with what they do. Also with Apple, it shows why they are one of the top companies in the world nowadays because the leaders they have are perfect role models for bosses you want to have for your company or the company one works for in many ways.

Prior to coming to Apple, Luca Maestri worked for General Motors for over twenty years. He also was previously the CFO for Nokia Siemens Network, as well as for Xerox. It is clear that Maestri had plenty of experience before joining the Apple team. As of today, Luca Maestri is Apple’s Senior Vice President, as well as the Chief Financial Officer reporting to CEO Tim Cook. As a CFO Luca oversees the accounting business support, financial planning and the analysis of the financial reports. Luca Maestri joined Apple in 2013 as the Vice President of Finance and corporate controller. Maestri inherited the CFO position from long time Apple executive, Peter Oppenheimer, who retired from Apple in September of 2014.

In this video Maestri talks about his career and how he earned himself the title of being the CFO of the leading technology and consumer electronics company. He explains how securing this job took countless hours of work and years of commitment to the jobs he previously had. He mentions that without the managers he had, he would never be where he is today. He believes his managers were very motivational and inspiring, they pushed him to be his best, so he wants to do that for others.

In an article from Cult of Mac, prior to Maestri becoming CFO, Tim Cook is quoted saying that “his contributions to Apple have already been significant in his time with us and he has quickly gained respect from his colleagues throughout the company.” Maestri was essential in the success when Apple announced in January of 2015 that they had made more profit in the previous three months than any other company in history.

As CFO Maestri is a transformational leader, for example he built his early reputation by guaranteeing he will give each employee a sense of control with their work, also that he hopes to inspire each of them as his managers did for him. He uses organizational tactics like being available to employees and assuring they have all the necessary resources. He also holds weekly meeting to discuss what progress has been made toward the goals of the company and anything else the employees are concerned about. One of the reasons for Maestri’s success is he can align his company with one main vision, then he holds everyone accountable for their part in making that vision happen.

Maestri said that one thing he needs in an office environment is communication, it is important to get everyone on the same page and get rid of barriers, so information can flow freely. Additionally, it is important to be open to all ideas from the employees. Maestri also has a servant leadership style because he is always ready to hear other’s ideas, and if someone’s idea is implemented, that person would be granted several extrinsic rewards including recognition and monetary awards. However, regardless of the idea gets implemented, he encourages everyone to participate. I believe this type of environment is one of the reasons Apple is so successful, it lets everyone in the company have a say and feel comfortable sharing their opinion.

Maestri is well liked by his subordinates at Apple and many employees look up to him, not only in a professional way but also a personal way. This is possibly due to his very relaxed nature that makes people feel comfortable when speaking with him. Maestri has helped Apple increase profits and has already left his mark, despite only being with the company for 5 years.

Works Cited

“Apple Leadership – Luca Maestri.” Apple , http://www.apple.com/leadership/luca-maestri/.

Hein, Buster. “Apple’s Luca Maestri Named Most Admired CFO.” Cult of Mac, Cult of Mac, 26 July 2015, http://www.cultofmac.com/310890/apples-luca-maestri-named-fortunes-admired-cfo/.

Iitaly, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 5 Apr. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHWwq5–nEw.

“I don’t think business should only deal in commercial things. Business, to me, is nothing more than a collection of people. If people have values, then companies should,” Tim Cook

Recruited by Steve Jobs to lead worldwide operations in 1998, Tim Cook served as interim CEO during Steve Jobs’s leave of absence before becoming CEO in 2011. Many thought that Cook would not be able to fill the shoes of a leader such as Jobs after Jobs made Apple arguably the most successful and powerful consumer-tech company in the world bringing such innovation and leading with a style that experts described as the opposite of a “servant leader”, being sometimes arrogant and being a charismatic leaders at the same time, showing how to use a situational leadership style. So would Tim Cook just try to imitate his mentor or take the completely opposite direction on leading the company is what the world wonder when he took over Apple, and I believe he has chosen to be a more authentic leader, clearly showing many of the components of Authentic Leadership.

Cook decided to focus on existing strengths of the organization and fostering of business as well as employee relationships, leaving aside the approach of “innovation first” that characterized Jobs, being less involved in the details of product engineering and encouraging more consensus building. He can also be described as a charismatic leader as he is a visionary that highlights this style, as he is able to “speak to the hearts of employees, letting them be part of something bigger than themselves. Where others see obstacles or failures, he sees possibility and hope”, as said in the book.

In the article, Apple’s Tim Cook leads different from Fortune, he openly talks about his differences with Steve Jobs, even expressing that he cannot “replicate the Jobs magic—and therefore that Apple never again would be insanely great.” He is definitely not a transformational leader that tries to bring about innovation and change, but the article also explains that in his 3 1/2 years as CEO of Apple, “Cook has come into his own as a high-profile leader of Apple, not merely tolerating the spotlight but leaning into it to focus attention on issues of importance to him and his company.”

He is a new leader with extraordinary ethical values, which it is still hard to find in this modern days. This accentuates his own leadership style and shows the power and influence he has on the company.

Works Cited:

“Apple’s Tim Cook Leads Different.” Fortune, Fortune, fortune.com/2015/03/26/tim-cook/.

Investopedia. “What Is Tim Cook’s Managerial Style?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 9 Oct. 2018, http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032515/what-tim-cooks-managerial-style.asp.

“The History of Apple CEOs.” InsideView Blog, 28 Mar. 2014, blog.insideview.com/2011/08/25/the-history-of-apple-ceos/.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in his parent’s garage in 1976, he was removed from his managerial duties at Apple in 1985. Later Jobs returned to Apple as the CEO in order to rescue the company from bankruptcy in 1997. Jobs’ first objective was to refocus the products. He did this by creating a four box grid on a whiteboard with the columns labeled “Consumer” and “Pro”, and the rows labeled “Desktop” and “Portable”. Jobs told his team of employees that their task was to focus on four products, one for each quadrant of the grid. He did this so that his team could focus in of those products to make them amazing. As a result of this decision by Jobs, Apple was able to produce and sell these four products, leading the company away from possible bankruptcy.

Jobs had a vision for the company and he made sure that all of his employees shared in that vision. In doing this, Jobs was giving meaning to work through engagement to his employees. This also illustrates his charismatic leadership style, he was energized and determined which made people want to be around him and willing to follow him.

Jobs motivated his employees in several ways, one of those ways was simply by listening to them. An example of this is when Apple purchased NeXT, a computer and computer software company, in 1997. The NeXT developers were angry about the acquisition so instead of presenting to them, he asked to hear what they had to say. He listened and expressed empathy to the employees while they vented their frustrations. This cut the tension and gave the developers a chance to express their feelings instead of listening to what Jobs thought was right for them. Another example of how Jobs motivated his employees was through symbolic gestures. He had the signatures of every member of the original Macintosh team engraved inside every single mac. This is similar to an artist’s signature on a painting, and was Jobs’ way of encouraging his employees to take pride in their work.

In this video of Jobs, he gives a bit of an inside view of how the company operates and one of the things that he stresses is how everyone meets for three hours once a week to talk about everything they are doing. He said that teamwork is key, and that teamwork is about trusting the other members to come through with their part. This is Jobs empowering his employees and giving them the authority and resources to work effectively.

Jobs was also very aware of the competition, he often looked to see what Google and others were doing with mobile phones. At the time of the release of the first iPhone in 2007, the competing smartphones were using QWERTY text keyboards and styluses. When the first iPhone came out in 2007 it featured a multi-touch screen instead. This was an innovative design that allows the screen to recognize more than one point of touch on the screen, which enabled Apple to become the leader in smartphone technology. If Jobs had not been so keenly aware of what the competition was doing, Apple would not be the successful company that it is today.

Works Cited

Henson, Ramon. “The Leadership of Steve Jobs.” Rutgers Business School, 1 Nov. 2011, http://www.business.rutgers.edu/business-insights/leadership-steve-jobs.

Isaacson, Walter. “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs.” Harvard Business Review, Apr. 2012.

Winfrey, Graham. “How Steve Jobs Used Masterful Storytelling to Motivate Employees.” Inc., 26 Nov. 2018, http://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/4-ways-steve-jobs-used-storytelling-to-inspire-apple-workers.html.

The organization that we have chosen is Apple Inc., and the three leaders we will be analyzing are the previous and current CEOs, Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, and the Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri. Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company that designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, and became incorporated in January of 1977.

Initially, Apple’s sales of computers grew quickly as new versions of the computers and operating systems were released featuring graphical user interfaces that were much more aesthetically pleasing than had been seen before. However, all of this innovation was driving up the price of Apple’s computers, which allowed Microsoft to be able to steal some of Apple’s market share with lower-priced products. Another reason that Microsoft was able to steal Apple’s market share was that Apple computers had very limited software, while Microsoft computers were able to run on more types of software. At this point in time, Microsoft computers can be considered better because Microsoft uses open source software, which means that the source code is shared with the public and anyone can try to improve it. Apple’s software is closed source, meaning that only the company can see or change the source code ever.

This led Apple into a decline until Steve Jobs made the company profitable again. In August of 2011, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO because of health complications and passed away two months later. The board then named Tim Cook as the new CEO. Today, Apple Inc. is the world’s largest information technology company by revenue and the world’s third-largest mobile phone manufacturer. In 2018 Apple’s market cap reached over one trillion dollars, and the company has an extremely high level of brand loyalty.

Stained glass windows

This cultural activity was interesting to do because we got to see and participate in an unfamiliar religious ceremony. Religion is a big part of life for many people in many cultures, so it is beneficial to observe and have an understanding of religion, being able to respect all of them no matter how different they are to ours. We learned how a typical catholic mass is conducted and how people participate in it as a community. We saw how every body there at the moment was deep into what was going on and helped us adapt to this situation. We listened to what the priest was talking about, which was interesting because after he did the readings, he elaborated on it and gave his own opinion and bringing everything to our current moment and how that could help us elaborate our own interpretation of the readings.

When conducting business with people from other cultures there are many things to consider. One thing about religion is that the day of worship is incredibly important or many other religious holidays, so no business should interfere. If you have an idea of the religious calendar, then you may know what days are off limits and you can mention those upcoming religious holidays to show interest and further the business relationship, as well as becoming more familiar with the culture.

Recommendations for doing business globally:

Taylor: My recommendation for doing business globally is to be aware of what religions are prominent in certain regions of the world that you are doing business in. I recommend this because being aware of the religious culture will help you to know what the people value. Knowing what people value can help with business relationships because it can facilitate a connection with the other party and build a relationship that can give you a competitive advantage that is about more than price.

Miguel: To do business globally, I would recommend everybody to be very open-minded and receptive to other cultures, including their traditions, religious beliefs, among others. Be prepared in order to avoid miscommunications or misinterpretations, and this can be done by doing previous research and ask a lot of questions to somebody of this particular culture or someone that has gain previous knowledge of it. 

Nick: When you are doing business globally, I would recommend learning about a religion you never practiced or have done anything for it really makes you curious after the fact and help know people better that you do business with that study that religion and can make you guys connect better, and lead to better relationship and business. If you are well cultured with a bunch of different religions it will help you in the business side as well.   

For our group project we attended a catholic mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown Tampa on Wednesday September 19th, at 12:10 PM. We chose to do this because all of us do not study religions and wanted to see what it is like to attend a religion mass. So when we got into the mass there was a bunch of benches facing the front of the room toward where the pastor talks. The mass starts off with the pastor saying a prayer and then goes into the bible and starts reading scripture. As this was going on I was very lost but also surprised with how some people where quoting the bible scripture that the pastor was saying without even seeing the words. At times I felt uncomfortable because I really did not fit in because I did not know anything. As the mass went on there was songs that were sing along but where very religious songs. The church itself was very beautiful with amazing paintings and great decoration. Inside the church it had a very distinct smell it was like a clean/wood smell. Before going into the mass I had an idea but had no idea it was going to be the way it was it was very well planned and almost everyone in the church was connected and knew everything that was going on. Another thing that happen towards the end of the mass was this thing called communion which only people get if you had your first holy communion. But what it is, you go up to the front of the church and you take a chip looking thing and you eat it and walk away, and when you got back to your seat you would pray and then sit back down in your seat and wait for communion to be over. I did not join them, but it was interesting to watch. After communion was over there was more bible scripture and more music played. I was very surprised that they had music in church I thought it was only someone that talks to you about the religion, I thought that aspect is cool because it connects the whole church together by singing all along. My overall experience with the catholic mass was very interesting and different it made me really get close to a religion I had no idea about. I think this was a good idea not only for us to use as a project but also for us to see how someone studies their religion they are a part of. I never really knew how beautiful churches really are until I went to that mass they just look very holy and different from normal places when you step foot in a church. Another thing I forgot to speak about is how they pray they make a cross like sign with their hands from there head to the heart and left and right shoulder, also in church you say amen a lot as well. It was an experience alright you are in a totally different culture when you step foot in there. Everyone is very nice and relaxed and calm.

As a team, we were surprised that anybody on our team had grown up in a Catholic household. We all knew that the Catholic church has a big presence in the city of Tampa, and that is why we decided to attend mass at The Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown Tampa, Wednesday, September 19 at 12:10 pm. I grew up in Medellin, Colombia with my father, whose family attended the Christian church when he was growing up. However, he told me and my brother that he took us to the Christian church when we were little kids but we hated it so much that he never did it again. As I grew up, I never felt the connection with any religion, and even though Catholic church if very big in my hometown as well, I never went to church, neither remember being at one when I was a little kid. In addition, as a young adult, I became an atheist as I do not believe in the existence of a God; however, I respect everybody that thinks differently and I love to learn about other cultures and religions.

As I walked into the church, I felt lost because I did not know if I could sit wherever I wanted to, as it was a Wednesday and there were a lot of sits open on this huge, amazing, colorful church. It was also somehow overwhelming seeing all these different images, sculptures, stained glass, among many other forms of art, all devoted to god, saints, angels, among others. I am not sure what kind of architectural style is this particular church, but for me, it looked Romanesque with lots of round arches and a very high ceiling.

During mass, I just tried to be very respectful with everything around me, as I started to understand that there is a lot of symbolism on everything around me and all that is part of the mass. Also, I just followed and mimic what people did during the ceremony as there were parts where they all got up of their chairs, sat down again, went on their knees to pray, etc, and I did not know the phrases that they all responded together out loud after the Father that conducted the mass.

What I liked the most was that everybody treats each other like family, and you could feel that there is a culture of understanding, helping, and collaborating.  I do not feel comfortable interacting with people that I really don’t know, but I was immersed in the whole experience and felt part of that community immediately. I also think that the Father was the principal reason why I felt comfortable during this experience because he had a perfect tone of voice, pace, and corporal expression. He gave his interpretation of the Bible in a modern way, and I think I took a very valuable lesson.

If I were to go back to mass, I would really like to know how to fully participate in everything that goes on, so I would read and practice at home to also understand why everything gets done that way. I talked to a Catholic friend that recommended me to do the confession before the mass, and I hope to do it one day.

Stained glass windows

Outside the church

Outside the church

Stained glass windows

For the cultural activity project, my group and I attended a catholic mass in downtown Tampa. We went to mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Wednesday, September 19, at 12:10 PM. I participated by reading along for the hymns and listened to the priest while he read from the Bible and explained in other words what the Bible says, but I still got a bit lost at times.

This is a new cultural experience for me because I was not raised with religion. My parents never took us to church or anything like that so I do not have a lot of knowledge or understanding about region/church. This is why I decided to choose this activity for this project.

I arrived a bit before mass to take a few pictures inside the church because I thought it would not be appropriate to take pictures during the mass. We sat down near the back of the church and waited for it to begin. People kept coming in and finding seats and I thought it seemed like a lot of people for a mid-day mass on a Wednesday. There were a lot of elderly people, and they were all dressed in nice clothes. When people sat down they were all looking in the books that were in front of them so I did as well. It was a book of hymns and soon the organist started playing and then people started singing along to the hymn. The singing kind of made me uncomfortable, I did not join them but I read along. People also knew what to respond to the priest and when, that made me a bit confused because I had no idea that was going to happen.

Some of the things that I noticed were how the church looked and how it smelled. The church had beautiful stained glass windows that colored the light as it came in, and the whole room was bright because of the white walls. The whole place smelled faintly like incense and something else that I could not identify.

Before I went to the mass, I talked to my friend’s mom who works at a catholic church. She told how the mass would basically go and what I should do. I think I was successful with understanding what the priest was saying and what it meant. He referred to everyone in the church as “brothers and sisters” and he also talked about loving your neighbor. I think a lot of the things he said cannot only apply to religion but also just life.

When everyone got up and started walking in a line to the front, I did not go with them. My friend’s mom had told me that I should not go up with them because you have to first receive the first holy communion. I felt a bit out of place when we were of the very few not going up, but it was fine after that.

If I repeated this experience, I think I would be more prepared for what was happening because I have seen it once now. I think I would be better able to follow along with what the priest was saying as well.