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Apple Grooming Next Gen of Executives
capt turnpike writes "The modern Apple as we know it -- the good one with open-source Darwin, with Unix-based OS X, and so on -- was mainly the creation of NeXT: Steve Jobs, Avie Tevanian and Jon Rubenstein. What's going to happen to Apple once this troika leaves? eWEEK.com looks at the orderly transition out of Jon and Avie and asks whether things could go as smoothly should Jobs need to retire." From the article: "At some companies, such a loss of leadership could leave the company with a power vacuum or a lack of direction. However, Apple seems to be conscious that no single person--except, perhaps, CEO Steve Jobs himself--is irreplaceable, and that new talent can always be groomed for the future."
Not two weeks ago. How ironic Here it is. Interesting to see what regular folks think about this kind of stuff. http://forums.phoenix.craigslist.org/?ID=41833383
"Hey Gary, why are we wearing bras on our heads?"
What is this, a time warp? These days companies don't "groom" new talent, they buy it. They prefer to buy other companies' overhyped leaders, just like they buy other companies' overhyped projects instead of doing their own R&D.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Apple is rapidly transforming into a digital media company.
The people that were key to the Mac side of the company are growing less and less relevant to the future of the company.
OS X
Mac hardware
and most of the rest of Apple's desktop computing stuff is all going to quietly and gently be phased out of the next few years as the company focuses on the high growth area of consumer computing devices - small, mobile, and wireless.
Look for Apple to replace the Mac/OS X type people with people from companies like Sony and Disney.
The Era of the Desktop Computer is rapidly coming to an end. Companies in that market will survive but it will never be a booming market again. OS X/Windows -> Linux and Apple/Dell ->Asian manufactures over the next few year.
FTFA:This move created two new components of the company; the existing hardware division, which had been under Rubinstein's eye, split into iPod and Macintosh divisions.
Apple is a much different company than it was then. Apple is focusing on innovative consumer devices. I can't see Apple focusing entirely on PCs - it's a commodity business that's becoming more difficult every year to keep margins up - we'll see with the move to Intel chips :-). They have to keep expanding their business outside of the PC business and possibly have the PC business actually become secondary to Apple's primary businesses.
Most management I encounter makes me wonder how they got the job in the first place. My current employer boasts the most number of exceptions since my division is relatively new. However, in most organizations, management are the good 'ole boys clubs and these people are not interested in training new managers. Most people with any motivation or interest in management and not part of the club usually get trumped out...yours truly included (a number of times). I am happy to report I have no interest in leadership and no longer seek any management position. At the same time, I see all these articles about IT and management merging. That is like Oil and Water mixing. It ain't gonna work. People who write these articles are dumbasses with no idea of how IT actually works. IT managers would not ship jobs to India, non-IT managers do it everyday. Most people who get promoted from IT into a manager position do not last very long.
Hm. So, except for the person who personifies the company in every way, everyone's replaceable. That's a pretty big "except."
As opposed to "the bad one" with AppleOS, MacOS through 9, Nu-Bus, etc.?
Wasn't that the same guys? (Or Jobs, anyway).
What makes the OP think that these guys are such altruists?
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
ok, Coward.
Who's the better person?
The one who incorrectly (however very commonly) missused the work ironic, or the person who hides as a coward and yells out from the crowd an insult?
Self proclaimed wannabe geek. You know how it is. Most of us who read this stuff probably fit in that category.
Well, he'd probalby prefer someone whos "visions" match his own. Not necessarily because he likes being told how good his ideas are, but because he's very often been right, and has much success. You're right, it reduces the pool of candidates, but that's a good thing. Finding a person isn't hard, finding the right person is. Anything that can help you trim away people is a good thing.
I've never met Jobs, so I'm just guessing, but I'd imagine that at times, he's more than willing to entertain other people's ideas and criticisms, it's just that at the end of the day, he's the boss, and once he's made a decision, you need to commit yourself to making that a reality, or else he doesn't want you as an employee. And that doesn't seem like a particularly bad way to run things. But maybe I'm wrong about all this.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.