Steve Jobs Named Fortune’s CEO of the Decade

Step back, and take a hard look at the business world. Where CEO’s of tech companies are concerned, who first comes to mind? Of course, there are many CEO’s out there whom many would consider to be invaluable to the tech industry, but there only seem to be a handful who most people think of first. Could it be Intel’s Paul Otellini? NVIDIA’s Jen-Hsun Huang? Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer? Google’s Sergey Brin? It could be those, and more, but I’m willing to bet that the first name to come to mind for most  is none other than Apple’s Steve Jobs.

With his buttonless turtleneck shirts and casual dress, Steve looks like a man who loves to keep things simple. That’s not far off the mark, as keeping things simple is reflected throughout Apple’s entire product-line. But as simple as Steve might be, he’s proven himself to be one of the smartest and most forward-thinking businessmen out there. How many CEOs do you know came back from a hiatus to a company on a decline, and managed to turn it around in the fiercest way possible, with unbelievable profit  growth year after year and a turned the company name into a household name?

Very few, and it’s for that reason that Fortune magazine named Steve as its “CEO of the decade”. It’s a fitting title, because even as someone who doesn’t much care for Apple’s products, you simply can’t deny Steve’s business saavy, and keen ability to predict what’s going to do well, and what won’t. There have been many products that Apple’s released over the years that were scoffed at upon launch, but ended up growing on people over time. It’s as if Steve knew better than the rest of us what we wanted from a product.

Take the iPod, for example. It’s a product that’s simple in almost every way, yet it’s the most popular audio player on the market, bar none. Even people who aren’t attuned to technology like the rest of us have to have one, and as bizarre as it might seem given I’m not an Apple fan, I also own one. Although I don’t find iTunes to make much sense most of the time, the same applies here. Plus, and perhaps the most important thing, what other CEO do you know that looks as polite as can be, but also has the effect to scare the wits out of his employees when sharing an elevator?

Rather, Jobs is understandably driven by a visceral ardor for Apple, his first love (to which he returned after being spurned — proof that you can go home again) and the vehicle through which he can be both an arbiter of cool and a force for changing the world. The financial results have been nothing short of astounding — for Apple and for Jobs. The company was worth about $5 billion in 2000, just before Jobs unleashed Apple’s groundbreaking “digital lifestyle” strategy, understood at the time by few critics. Today, at about $170 billion, Apple is slightly more valuable than Google.