BusinessWeek Names Steve Jobs one of Best Business Leaders

by , 5:30 AM EST, December 12th, 2005

As 2005 comes to a close, Apple (and Pixar) CEO Steve Jobs is racking up the kudos and honors, with BusinessWeek naming him one of the best business leaders in the world. Indeed, the magazine said that, "No one in techland had a better year -- or a broader impact -- than Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs." Mr. Jobs was praised for the iPod, the Mac mini, and the deal with Disney to bring video content to the iTunes Music Store. Pixar movies Finding Nemo and The Incredibles were also mentioned.

BusinessWeek Cover (Click the image for a larger version)

Mr. Jobs mention comes in a year-end issue with a cover featuring a caricature of Mr. Jobs, complete with mock turtleneck, unveiling an Apple logo, a nod to his showmanship in releasing new products.

Inside the issue is an article called "The Best of 2005," and a companion article that shines a spotlight on 38 of the world's best business leaders. Mr. Jobs' portion of that article is first, though there is no specific ranking included in the article.

"Apple continued to set tech's fashion agenda in 2005," BusinessWeek wrote, "with products such as the iPod nano and the video iPod, as well as the Mac mini, Apple's cheapest computer ever. Indeed, no exec sits astride both the technical and creative worlds as much as Jobs, who also runs powerhouse Pixar Animation Studios, maker of megahits such as Finding Nemo and The Incredibles."

In the intro story, the magazine said, "We watched with awe as Apple blew apart entire distribution networks of established broadcasting and movie empires."

Other business leaders named in the article include Alan Mulally of Boeing, Terry Semel of Yahoo!, A.G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble, and Katsuaki Watanabe of Toyota, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, Edward Zander of Motorola, Robert Iger of Disney, Adam Curry of Podshow, former Apple exec and current Apple board member Bill Campbell, for his role as Chairman of Intuit, and many more.

Not listed were any executives from Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Sony, Adobe, RealNetworks, Roxio, Dell, or other direct Apple competitors.

In November of 2005, Steve Jobs was named a nominee of Time's "Person of the Year" award. On December 6th, a survey found that Apple itself gained significant reputation during 2005. Apple technology Spotlight, a feature of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" was named in the "Best of 2005" by Popular Science.