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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."
cloning and black turtlenecks
They should just hire someone from something like, oh, say a soda company. Selling computers can't be that different from selling soda...
This guy's the limit!
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.
They are also getting a full shampoo, claw clipping, complete set of shots and, if needed, spaying/neutering.
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.
Because Cher's got to be preserved with formaldehyde by now, and it's not too fashionable for men yet.
It's a girl!
They're grooming them over at Pixar and Walt Disney!
John C. Dvorak? I thought that was you! How have you been, old buddy, old pal?
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Mr. Jobs: I have to admit it. We wrote a big AppleScript and it's running the company. Isn't this awesome?
So THAT's the secret...
My sig is too lon
Hm. So, except for the person who personifies the company in every way, everyone's replaceable. That's a pretty big "except."
For centuries, two races have evolved hidden deeply within Apple co. The aristocratic, sophisticated Newtonites, and the brutal, feral Hypercardians. To humanity, their existence is no more than a whisper of a myth. But to each other, they are lifelong mortal rivals, sworn to wage a secret war until only one is left standing. In the midst of this ongoing struggle, an ipod warrior, itunes, discovers a Hypercardian plot to kidnap a young pippin off spring. After shadowing Pippin through the city, the Newtonites forms an unprecedented bond with it, and when the Hypercardians make their next move, Newton is there to fend off their vicious assault. As it races to save Pippin and unravel the Hypercard intrigue surrounding Pippin, the Newtonites discovers a secret that has terrifying repercussions for both Departments--a nefarious plan to awaken a new invincible Application of domination that combines the strengths of both devices and the weaknesses of neither, which threatens to tip the balance of power in favor of the Hypercardians, who have been on the losing end of the struggle for decades. There can only be one! Long live the Jobs.
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.
The Era of the Desktop computer will very soon become The Era of the Home Server - desktops won't die, they'll simply become our centralized data storage and home automation servers. As it stands even now, many (tech minded) people run an old desktop as a server, and as the software improves, more people will use (static) machines to stream video and audio to every room in their house, and manage storage, synchronization and backup of multiple small, wireless devices.
The benefit of owning both a desktop and a laptop is that you can have, relatively affordably, a machine with massive storage space and computing power, and several portable devices all capable of sharing data regardless of geographic location (assuming there's a wireless signal). So, while the per capita ownership of "desktop" computers may decline - they will most certainly not disappear, just change form slightly.
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
Corporate transition plans are actually a critical structure to have in place to ensure the vitality and success of an organization in the event that a key executive needs to depart suddenly, retire, or passes away. Maintaining company focus, shareholder value, quality of deliverables (services, products) can be severly impacted when a company does not have a migration strategy in place, and an event occurs where one or more key players leave or are removed.
The company I work for recently had the COO step down. The exec team had a transition plan in place, though, so day to day operations weren't impacted in the least. The new COO was already familiar w/ operations, the staff, procedures, goals, directions, initiatives of the company, and was able to step in with only a few weeks of transition. Had we not had this plan in place, who knows what the impacts would have been.
Given Jobs' age (50+), this is the appropriate time to begin thinking about succession. It also gives Apple the opportunity to bring a new face to its customers & shareholders to ascertain what the impact on the company's image is; this is a huge concern to Apple, which is one of the few IT companies whose founder/CEO ranks as a 'superstar'.
Apple is a bit like Cuba in this manner; should Jobs/Castro bow out suddenly, the resulting chaos would be catastrophic.
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.
Steve Jobs is a mountain. What I mean is that there is something special about his whole life story and personality that although financially he can't scratch Bill Gates, Jobs is just more interesting. He's been around, done lots of things and whereever he goes, the press will follow. He has his own technical paparatzi (sp.)
When Jobs ran Pixar, the press loved Pixar. They could do no wrong.
When Jobs ran NeXT, making the most overpriced workstation ever, even though noone could afford the machine, the press stayed interested because there had to be something awesome happening there.
When Jobs ran Apple.... well I think that just looking at the positive press he receives is more than enough, I can't do it justice.
I don't know if the term is popular outside of NY where I grew up, but we used a term called "Rain Maker" for the type of executive that could walk into a stubbling company such as Xerox and gain attraction throughout the world. Jobs is quite possibly the greatest "Rain Maker" ever in the corporate history of the world. His presence alone gains so much positive press for any company that he steps foot into that the rest of the people there start feeling more confident and doing better jobs.
I think another factor to point out is that Jobs, although he'll ride a horse until it's dead and then cut the sucker up and serve it for dinner, he has a skill in listening to his subordinates and knowing where to go next. When it comes to managing, along the road I learned a little from one guy and little from another, but the most important thing I ever learned was from Jobs himself. I'll misquote it badly, and I don't remember where I heard it, but here it goes. It was in an interview sometime back when he was starting back at Apple again.
Interviewer : Steve, your success has been phenominal, but how can you be CEO of Pixar and Apple without spreading yourself too thin.
Steve Jobs : It's a challenge of course, but I have a team of people at both Apple and Pixar made up of really bright guys that I trust completely. In reality, these teams run most of each company, but I listen to them and manage them and the rest takes care of itself.
It was something along those lines, but from a business perspective, I've learned a lot from that statement alone. It's really a matter of having a team you trust and being a person that the team trusts as well. You have to all believe that you're there to take care of each other and that everyone is there to take care of you too. If you build a team like that, you'll suceed.
As for what will happen to Apple when Job's is gone, it's hard to speculate, but I'd say there's a very very good chance that whoever comes next would not be able to attract as much positive attention for Apple as Jobs does. In my experience, Mac is just another computer and in most cases the hardware is excellent but the software is a bit clunky. But Steve Jobs can stand on a stage and pitch a product no matter how silly, for example, a new web cam and it'll make headline news on NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and pretty much every web site people read the next day. For example, if I recall correctly, Slashdot had the iSight as an article within hours of it happening.
I doubt anyone else could hold the interest in the industry that Jobs does. After all, with the exception of the blue screen presentations by Bill, how many times has he had a web video on the front page of news.com.com.com.com.com