Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 7 - Bend Reality

According to his colleagues, Steve Jobs used a "Reality Distortion Field" to push people to do the impossible* and he believed that "life's ordinary rules didn't apply to him".  When a supplier complained that over confidence would not overcome real challenges, Jobs' replied "Get your mind around it.  You can do it".

A leader often has to ask the seemingly impossible of his/her followers, and followers often rise to this challenge.  The leadership lesson is that people have more in them than they and their manager or leader realise.  To rise to a challenge they must be motivated, and the motivation comes from their leader's confidence that they can do so.

Next: Lesson 8 - Impute

*Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org.