Fortune Names Steve Jobs the Most Powerful Person in Business

Once called “The Beethoven of Business” by the management guru, Jim Collins, Steve Jobs has now been honored with the top position on Fortune’s “Most Powerful People in Business” list. In his unparalleled thirty-year career, Jobs has altered the direction of the computer industry not once, but twice. In 1977, the Apple II launched the PC age; and Macintosh’s graphical user interface that was launched in 1984 has been copied by every other computer company since. Brent Schlender of Fortune writes, “Along the way Jobs conceived of “desktop publishing,” gave the world the laser printer, and pioneered personal computer networks. As a side gig he bankrolled Pixar, which fostered the technology and a brand-new business model for creating computer-animated feature films.”

Fast forward to 1997, when Jobs returned to the ailing Apple, and once again worked magic. He rolled out a series of Mac computers that have gotten consistently more remarkable each year. And the world of electronic music players was turned on its ear with the iPod. He’s partnered with the music industry, tv networks and the film world to distribute their goods in the iTunes Music Store. His growing string of hugely successful Apple Stores are famous for excellent customer service, well-trained and likeable staff.

Schlender writes, “And this year, at the height of his creative and promotional powers, Jobs orchestrated Apple’s over-the-top entry into the cellular telephone business with the iPhone, a lozenge of glass and aluminum encasing a do-everything digital device.”

What does Jobs himself think of Fortune honoring him? “We don’t think in terms of power,” Jobs states. “We think about creating new innovative products that will surprise and delight our customers. Happy and loyal customers are what give Apple its ‘power.’ At the heart of it, though, we simply try to make great products that we want for ourselves, and hope that customers will love them as much as we do. And I think after all these years we’ve gotten pretty decent at it.”