Reflection Paper LAS 20

My Admired Entrepreneur
When thinking about an entrepreneur the first thing that comes to my mind is
someone who is self-employed and engaged in a business or multiple business such as
trading, manufacturing, retailing and others. This thought of mine was actually quite
correct, but it lacked the concept that truly defined entrepreneurs. This concept was
later taught in the LAS 50 class that I enrolled in before. I learned that an entrepreneur
is not only someone who operates and organizes a business or multiple businesses, but
is also someone who takes the financial risks and burdens to do so. An entrepreneur is
classified as a person who takes an opportunity and the risks that go along with it for the
sake of earning money or providing a service. Being an entrepreneur is so much more
than owning or managing a business, it involves risking all that you have for the passion
of providing a service and earning money. It is a creative act without which the economy
cannot progress and without which we could not raise our standard of living. Now after
studying and reading the module 1 of this course I have yet again had to relearn what it
means to be an entrepreneur. Now my idea of an entrepreneur is tied together with
management. So to say from learning about value creation and the management
functions. I now believe that being an entrepreneur is a way of thinking, reasoning and
acting that is for the purpose of value creation, but is only possible if the person is
capable of making people work together. A true entrepreneur is an opportunistic leader
who knows how to think ahead, designate tasks and allocate resources, motivate his
team, and is an optimizer who constantly monitors his business for the better.
With that said, my chosen entrepreneur is no other than one of the proclaimed
best businessmen in the tech world during the late 1990’s and 2000’s, Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs is an American businessman born February 24, 1955 in San Francisco,
California and is one of the cofounders of Apple Computer Inc. So to begin, Steve Jobs
was an extremely ambitious person and charismatic pioneer of the personal computer
era. His company revolutionized the industry through the creation of the Apple 1, the
Iphone, the Ipad, and many other products. They trekked in paths that were new and
had a vision of forward thinking
In the documentaries, articles, and especially in the movie Jobs. I learned that
Steve Jobs is a man who is very good at all the functions of management Planning,
Organizing, Leading, and Controlling. He had an inclination to always be opportunistic,
curious, and was constantly fascinated by things that could make the lives of many
easier. This was why it wasn’t much of a surprise when he brought the Apple 1 to the
masses. When he first saw the project Steve Wozniac was working on as a hobby, he
was fascinated by it and saw it’s raw potential in changing the world. With that said he
convinced Wozniac to partner up with him and after some hurdles and problems they
started the company Apple. The management function Planning is defined as the
function wherein performance goals are defined and plans and proposals are made to
achieve them. When Jobs started the company Apple, he had a vision of making
something that no one ever did, which was bringing the personal computer to everyone.
He had a goal of making the lives of a lot of people more convenient. This passionate
and clear goal he had gave him the proper mindset in order to create good plans for the
company. This was evident in the success of their next computer after the Apple 1, the
Apple 2. He planned it correctly on how to improve the Apple 1 and with the goal of
convenience he implemented a lot of modifications and improvements for the Apple 2
that made the product line ever more compelling to consumers. For the organizing
function, Jobs was smart in allocating the people per department as was shown when
they were creating the Macintosh software for their computers. He knew how to
delegate and assign tasks and was efficient in allocating the resources of the company.
This was further emphasized when he brought Apple back from near bankruptcy with
their limited resources and manpower. For the Leading function. Jobs was usually well
spoken and knew how to motivate his employees. He did; however, have a temper and
a sour attitude to anyone who disobeyed him. He was a prideful leader, if he didn’t feel
respected he would refute and fight them. All in all he was still skilled in this function, but
wasn’t the best at it. Lastly for the controlling function, Jobs was a very meticulous
leader, he constantly reviewed and revised things to perfect the company’s products.
This was seen when he spent so much time on the simplification and icon design for the
apple software. He knew what the customers wanted, and made sure that they always
delivered that. He constantly emphasized on the quality control of the company’s
products and it is evident in their reputation of being well made. If I were to choose
which is his best management function, it would be planning. His ability to predict the
market and people’s wants, truly made him one of the best planners in the business
world. He was able to know what the people want and act upon it with proper plans with
his company. His kind of management also carried on to the current Apple today which
although is safer and less in your face when it comes to innovating, is still very smart
with their actions. One of which is their creation of their own chips, they now do not
need to source their semiconductors from Intel or AMD, they create it themselves. In
conclusion, I chose Steve Jobs because he represented what it truly meant to be an
entrepreneur while also embodying being a great manager. He knew what opportunities
to seek and he knew how to delegate and allocate jobs and resources to run the
company very well.

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My Admired Entrepreneur

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