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Comparing the Leadership Style of Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs

Yash Dave

Westcliff University

BUS500: Organizational Leadership

Professor Chuo

March 28, 2021

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Comparing the Leadership Style of Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs

India is one of the fastest growing country and inevitably its current development cannot

be imagined without its freedom from the British rule. At the turn of the twentieth century,

Mahatma Gandhi led the people of India with his ideology of non-violence and non-cooperation

to reinstate the most basic right of freedom of the country following which India was declared to

be free in the year of 1947. Similar to this, the current growth in the field of technology and

communication cannot be imagined without the contribution of companies like Apple. Steve

Jobs co-founded Apple and led the company to become one of the most innovative and valuable

companies in the world at the turn of the twenty first century. While both Mahatma Gandhi and

Steve Jobs had different leadership styles, different objectives and they both belong to different

era, however, there are certain commonalities that are found in their leadership qualities which

play a key role in making each a successful leader.

The comparison of their leadership qualities provides insights on qualities that do not

change with time and can prove to be effective in different scenarios where it is important to

inspire a group of people to achieve a common goal.

Qualities Leading to an Effective Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and brought a change in

the movement of freedom for India by practicing non-violence through his actions. While many

adopted the methods involving violence to fight against British army, Gandhi stood out by

challenging the process and advocating non-violence. British rulers possessed a strong army that

were well-equipped which made it easy for them to fight against the ill-equipped people of India

and had resulted in many defeats for India and loss of many lives in the past. Gandhi’s

realization of the fact and adoption of non-violent strategy turned out to be harder for British
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government to fight against as they did not have any advantage against Gandhi’s strategy. This

made Gandhi’s leadership very effective as it frustrated British rulers who very deprived of ideas

to deal with such strategy.

One of the key leadership qualities of Mahatma Gandhi as studied by Low (2010) include

realizing the power of the common people. Gandhi inspired and motivated the farmers and labors

of India to fight against unjust behavior of British people involving collection of excessive

amount of land tax and treating them poorly. He signified how each individual of the country

played an important role in demanding India’s dominion status from the British government.

Steve Jobs was a visionary who was focused on fast-paced innovation and creativity. He

inspired the people working at Apple with his vision of the products as well as his philosophy to

achieve perfection in whatever they do. Jobs often included only small group of people in his

meetings who were directly related to the subject and can contribute to decision making to bring

meaningful outcomes from his engagements and streamline the process. He was highly focused

on the end goal and his intuitions resulted in driving the success of the company. Some of his

traits that make him an effective leader include passion, flexibility, impulsivity, critical thinking,

obsession to achieve perfection, charisma, innovative thinking, persuasive etc. (Toma and

Marinescu, 2013).

Influence on Life of Others

Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs both had a positive influence on the life of others.

Gandhi did not believe in the caste system prevailing in India and the discrimination based on

religion and caste of the people. He played a key role in fight against this discrimination and

uplifting the minority communities. His perception of peaceful revolution has influenced

numerous people and is still applicable in modern era. The “Velvet” revolution of 2018 in
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Armenia is one such example of peaceful revolution which involved no deaths during its

transformation of political power (Gupta et al., 2019).

Gandhi had a positive influence on Steve Jobs as well. There are very few people whom

Steve Jobs considered to be his hero. One of them was Mahatma Gandhi who he admired

throughout his life. Upon being asked to choose the person of the century in one of his interview

Jobs said, “Mohandas Gandhi is my choice for the Person of the Century because he showed us

the way out of the destructive side of our human nature. Gandhi demonstrated that we can force

change and justice through moral acts of aggression instead of physical acts of aggression. Never

has our species needed this wisdom more.” (Jha, 2011, para.2). He also chose to wear the iconic

circular glasses as a hat-tip to Mahatma Gandhi.

Steve Jobs influenced people around him positively by inspiring and motivating them to

be their best version and encourage innovative ideas and help them in successful execution. He

helped people around him take calculated risks and encouraged them to collaborate with each

other to boost productivity. He is a role model to a lot of people and has been considered to be a

great example to learn management and leadership lessons from. Apple on Jobs said, “He really

did ‘think different’ and his brilliance, passion, and energy were the source of countless

innovations that enriched and improved many lives, which made the world immeasurably better”

(Kutsar at al., 2008). His ‘think different’ ideology still remains in Apple’s DNA and encourages

people to think out of the box.

Remembrance in History

Mahatma Gandhi considered himself to be a common man and it is reflected in his

actions and behaviors. More importantly he did not change himself based on who he met

regardless of if they are rich or poor. The people surrounding him had great respect for him and
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followed his footsteps. Gandhi’s birthday is celebrated across the country and is also declared as

International Day of Nonviolence as a tribute to his great actions. Following the footsteps of

Gandhi, Jobs’ contributions to the technology industry make him very successful in his life and

is remembered as a visionary and an innovative leader. Jobs is remembered as, “one of a kind

man, a transformational and charismatic leader who inspired while struggling with his own

shadows” (Collins, 2012)

Similarities and Differences

Despite differences in objectives and leadership styles, Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs

had similar qualities that made them an exemplary leader. Both inspired and motivated the

people around them to demand better whether it is quality of life as in case of Gandhi or the

product in case of Jobs. Also, they built a strong relationship with their audience and enabled

them to make their dreams come true. As in case of Gandhi, he had strong relationship with

people of all cast and creed. He destroyed the wall created by the difference in attire of rich and

poor by wearing a very simple attire of loin cloth. Steve Jobs had a similar quality and did not

like the distance created between superiors and the subordinates by different attires and adopted

wearing simple t-shirt and jeans. This quality is also seen in many other leaders who gave up

unnecessary luxurious lifestyles to be able to bridge the gap between them and their

subordinates.

Furthermore, Gandhi and Jobs share common traits such as both were a visionary and

envisioned the future for a better tomorrow, they were stubborn and did not give up upon failure,

they had faith in themselves and believed in the famous quote by Gandhi “Be the change you

want to see in the world”. They both had tactics and strategies based on their principles and

beliefs which they adhered to no matter how bizarre or unconventional it was perceived.
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On the contrary to their similar qualities and ideologies, both Gandhi and Jobs had

differences in their leadership style as well. While Gandhi was a servant-leader and believed in

the ideology that each individual has an important role in contributing towards the goal, Jobs was

more authoritarian and believed in a dictator type of leadership. Gandhi had love for everyone

which is showcased in one of his saying “Love for one and all, friend or foe.” While Jobs

showed little to no emotions towards the employees of the company. Also, Gandhi on one hand

was a great mass communicator, however, Jobs did not like communicating to massive crowds

and the only time he did was during a launch event of a new product (UKEssays, 2018).

Mahatma Gandhi as Servant-Leader Type

The actions of Mahatma Gandhi depict he was a servant-leader type. Gandhi was actively

involved in removing the social barrier between different class of people and society especially

contributing in abolishing the discrimination towards the untouchable community of India.

Gandhi volunteered at different instances to help the ones in need such as nursing the victims

during the black plague breakout, forming a group to help cure the injured victims of Zulu

rebellion, teaching English to Indians for free, being involved in humanitarian work and serving

the hospitals as a nurse etc. (Barnabas and Clifford, 2012). These acts of kindness and serving

the ones in utmost need make him one of a greatest servant leader of the history.

Conclusion

The assignment discusses the leadership traits of Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs that

make them an effective leader. It describes the positive influence both the leaders have on the

life of others and how their leadership styles are still relevant in modern era. The significance of

their work and how they are remembered in the history due to their actions. It provides the

similarities and differences in the leadership style of Gandhi and Jobs and discusses incidents
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that make Gandhi a servant-leader type. From the similarities it can be concluded how certain

leadership trait remain timeless and they have helped leaders be successful in different eras.
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References

Barnabas, A., & Clifford, P. S. (2012). Mahatma Gandhi–an Indian model of servant leadership.

International Journal of Leadership Studies, 7(2), 132-150.

Collins, S. (2012). STEVE JOBS. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 6(1), 93-94.

https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/steve-jobs/docview/1518930278/se-

2?accountid=158986

Gupta, S., Uygun, S., Ilinich, S., Kumar, R., & Ordukhanyan, E. (2019). Mahatma Gandhi: a role

model in revolutionary management. International Journal of Research and Analytical

Reviews, 6(2), 993-998.

Jha, P. K. (2013). Steve Jobs' iChoice was Mahatma, DNA.

https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-steve-jobs-ichoice-was-mahatma-1595945

Kutsar, V., Ghose, N., & Kutsar, Y. (2008). Leadership analysis using management tools: Steve

Jobs. Leadership, 8.

Low, K. C. P. (2010). Leading the Mahatma Gandhi Way. Leadership & Organizational

Management Journal, 2010(2), 110-117.

Toma, S.,Ph D., & Marinescu, P.,Ph D. (2013). Steve Jobs and Modern Leadership. Manager,

(17), 260-269. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/steve-jobs-modern-

leadership/docview/1518528902/se-2?accountid=158986

UKEssays. (November 2018). Compare and Contrast Two Leaders History Essay. Retrieved

from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/compare-and-contrast-two-leaders-

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