Or your place of work no matter what it is. What would the difference be?
Would it impact upon your role as a teacher? Could you be more innovative? Would there be an expectation for you to be an innovative educator?
A few thoughts from me.
Yes, Apple under Jobs designed amazing products that have seriously impacted upon people's lives. So much so that in using them one can take the view that Don Ihde's philosophy on the negative impacts of all technology inventions is complete twaddle. After all, whilst using my iPhone I can take a photograph of my son and send it to his grandparents instantly. I can't see the negative in that, Don!
But for Apple, and Apple shareholders there was always a bottom line. It's no good coming up with innovative designs and products if they don't sell (see the Lisa, Mac Cube, Pippin, Apple Quick Take camera, which my school had!). Apple's success has been built upon great, intuitive designs which sell well.
So, what's the bottom line in schools?
It's examinations.
The number of times I've heard that something cannot be done in a a school I've worked in because of exams, or tests, or assessments is extraordinary. This is nowhere as apparent as in the international school system, where schools are constantly being compared using examination data and where school leaders are obsessed to the point of paranoia regarding these tests, even for students in the primary age category.
So would Jobs have been concerned about exam results? Of course he would. The Apple shareholders would have insisted upon it!
There are various stories about Jobs, many of which have become legends (or myths) over the years, from sacking people in elevators to blunt assessments of projects; "that's a D". From an innovation point of view some of the more interesting ones focus upon when he had a viewpoint but was persuaded by his team that he was wrong... although they may have used a different word.
Apparently he was very keen on keeping iTunes as a Mac only project, not allowing it's use on Windows. However, the team around him persuaded him otherwise and iTunes on the PC platform is now very popular and drives much revenue to Apple through the iTunes store.
So, despite being a visionary leader he had the sense to surround himself with experts who sometimes questioned his vision and influenced his thinking. This is a key aspect of innovation as many "visionary" leaders simply surround themselves with those who think in the same way, so there is no questioning, no contrary view, so things are always accepted, and, in my opinion, innovation is dampened.
