Rick Inatome on Unleashing Your Inner Steve Jobs

Rick Inatome is a transformative business leader, mentor, entrepreneur, and investor whose legacy includes being one of the architects of the digital age. Working with the founders of companies such as Apple and Microsoft in the computer industry’s early days, he established a disruptive technology distribution channel that introduced the personal computer first to the general public and then to corporate America. It grew into a NYSE Fortune 500 company.

Inatome’s business successes typically have been accompanied by a positive social utility. They have included business turnarounds and innovations in education that improve learning outcomes and enable students to become more successful as learners and graduates.

In his leadership roles, he invests heavily in personal development, pursuant to his conviction that it is the precursor to optimal performance and organizational greatness. Inatome is among a select group of tech giants in the Computer Hall of Fame.

Rick Inatome has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine and by the Harvard Graduate School of Business (presented by the Harvard Business Club – Detroit Chapter). He has chaired the Michigan Information Network and Michigan Technology Council, served on the Michigan Minority Business Commission, and was the founding chair of the Michigan Virtual University.

Rick has founded and managed various private equity funds, served on numerous boards in both the private and public sectors, and is in demand as a consultant, mentor, and public speaker.

1. You have had the opportunity to invest in or work alongside people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others who seized once-in-a-generation opportunities in ways that profoundly defined the world we live in today. What did you observe in and learn from them that shaped your own views on leading transformational change?

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and some of their contemporary innovators shared several important qualities. Three that come to mind are (i) an unwavering curiosity that pushed them to look beyond the obvious and challenge the status quo, (ii) an uncanny ability to see the intersection of seemingly disparate trends, along with the courage to take significant risks, and (iii) a resilience factor enabling them to embrace failure as a continuous learning opportunity, using setbacks as stepping stones to breakthrough successes.

However, these traits only established a baseline for capturing the generational opportunities presented by the microprocessor revolution. In the early years of the computer industry, there were hundreds of companies and individuals—many well-resourced and technically proficient—with the same goal in mind. What separated someone like Steve Jobs from others was an understanding and harnessing of the power of personal transformation.

In Jobs’ case, this process entailed recognizing, after well-publicized failure, that blaming other people or things was not the path forward. What put him on the track of monumental success was a simple choice to look within. By so doing, he realized that to lead transformational change, he first had to change himself in ways that mobilized and galvanized teams around a compelling vision. A vision may be to create a life-changing product or service. But it is destined to be a mirage unless leaders have the courage to self-assess candidly and aggregate their self-esteem in a healthy way, defining themselves in ways that inspire others, unlock their otherwise unrealized potential, and trigger the cascading processes of scaled transformation that ultimately shape the world.

2. Can you expand on what you mean by personal transformation and how it applies to leadership and capturing a generational opportunity?

Personal transformation begins with self-awareness—an honest, introspective evaluation that is not driven by ego, rationalization, or self-obfuscation. Many people, when they think of leadership, focus on traits such as being visionary, creative, courageous, or determined. A capacity for resilience in the face of ridicule and rejection is another important quality, especially when a vision is contrary to established norms. Although these qualities are valuable, they are not enough to separate from the pack of the many others with similar goals and traits. Sustainable change and success require a deeper shift, starting with how you see yourself.

This shift in perspective is the foundation for personal transformation. It is about honestly challenging your assumptions, including those about yourself, and adopting a growth mindset. In doing so, you develop habits and behaviors that extend beyond yourself, thereby inspiring others to see new possibilities within themselves. The ability to inspire others begins with the ability to transform yourself from those thoughts and behaviors, typically grounded in ego and self-esteem, that are disabling to self, others, and organizations.

3. What does this self-assessment entail, and why is it so important?

Leadership is often misunderstood as a function of title, position, or authority. But true leadership—especially the type that can capture once-in-a-generation opportunities—begins from looking within. The great leaders I have observed were not just strategists or visionaries; they made deliberate choices that aligned their inner purpose with their external actions and interactions. They complemented their visions with the ability to inspire others toward an otherwise unimaginable shared goal.

A self-assessment process I have found effective in organizations is one that screens for disabling mindsets like “What’s in it for me?” or “How does this make me look?”—or ones that undermine team progress with caveats like “Yes, but…” Such attitudes are obstacles to effective leadership because people can see right through the underlying self-interest or self-protectiveness. Transformational leaders, on the other hand, prioritize traits like personal transparency and accountability, value healthy conflict, and trade in enlightened self-interest.

By shifting from an ego-centered mindset, leaders inspire change in others and enable them to see potential in themselves they otherwise would not recognize. This impact scales into transformed organizations—ones that have the potential to change lives and shape society.

4. But not everyone can become a Steve Jobs, right?

Actually, I think there are countless people who could walk in his footsteps if only they gave themselves permission to do so. The belief that only a select few are capable of becoming transformative leaders is a huge misconception. The world is full of people with great ideas. Many do not come to fruition because the potential visionaries do not give themselves permission to lead. Steve Jobs gave himself that permission—a simple choice that transformed a struggling enterprise into a world-changing force and secured his legacy.

Permission to lead entails courage to change one’s perspective of oneself and then effectuate the necessary habit shifts that will inspire and galvanize others. Over the years, I have encountered many individuals with great ideas and operational skills, but they placed limits on themselves—typically by allowing issues like ego, authenticity, fear of conflict, or some other disabling behavior to prevent them from growing into the leaders they could become. By making the wrong choice, they immobilized themselves from developing the habits and behaviors that would have allowed them to become catalytic forces for change.

The most remarkable part is that transformational leadership is not reserved for a preordained few or determined by vast amounts of wealth. It fundamentally comes down to personal choice—giving yourself permission to lead and understanding that leadership is not a function of formal designation. Unleashing your inner Steve Jobs also means tapping into your capacity to rise beyond the pitfalls of ego-driven self-limitations and, by choice, becoming the type of leader who can inspire others to do the same.