Steve Jobs is famously remembered for his changing the lives of people with the intensity of his principles. The key to his greatness was his ability to convince people of his way of thinking. What is not spoken of is that Apple's enormous success was Steve Jobs's team that pushed him to reconsider his views. Had Jobs not encircled himself with capable people who could change his mind, he likely would not have made the contribution to the world that he did.

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As an example, Jobs insisted that for many years, he would not make a phone. Once his team eventually convinced him to reassess, he barred external applications. This took an additional year to convince Jobs to overturn his position. The App Store had more than a billion downloads within nine months. Ten years later, over $1 trillion in revenue was generated from iPhone sales alone.

Countless leaders have sought to develop his genius for themselves.  Regrettably, very few have studied the brilliance of those who effectively influenced him. As an organizational development consultant, I've devoted considerable time reading about the people who succeeded in motivating him to reimagine his positions. I've thought about the science backing their methods. Sadly, many leaders are so ego-driven that their pomposity leads them to rebuff worthwhile ideas and suggestions from others. They then refuse to abort their flawed arguments. It is possible to convince the most arrogant, obstinate, egotistical, and unpleasant people to see things differently.

Research shows that personal attributes aren't consistent from one circumstance to the other. Imagine a controlling manager who is sometimes submissive, the competitive teammate who intermittently becomes collaborative, or the persistent cunctator who completes the occasional project earlier than expected.

All leaders have a pattern of responding to specific scenarios in certain ways. Meaning, if an influential manager is working with a superior, then she will become subservient. When the hypercompetitive coworker deals with a significant client, he transitions into a collaborative mode, and when the procrastinator has a vital deadline approaching, she shifts to getting herself in action.

People can be in disarray. We have inevitable responses of if this happens, I'll do this next responses. Still, highly inflexible people bend at times, and the most tolerant have periods when they fold down. Assuming you want to work with unreasonable people, take notice of times when they or those similar to them change their views.

When leaders fail to question their beliefs, their supporters must call on their courage to convince the leader to change their minds.