Steve is the public face of Apple and nothing beats when he goes out and says, ‘Ta-da,’ but at the end of the day, someone has to take all those amazing product designs and turn them into that big pile of cash you see in the company’s bank account. That’s Tim.
Carlson reports, “Bloomberg’s Dina Bass and Connie Guglielmo put a finer point on it, writing that ‘[Cook has] been quietly running the company for several years.'”
Full article here.
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Oh, I thought everything was programmed by Steve.
Dude: if Steve was EVERY thing at Apple, he would have to be an android.
He is still in charge, and if people want their jobs, they’ll operate as well as before.
I don’t think the fact that Steve isn’t running day to day operations of the retail department, or any department, is revolutionary news. Steve has his own management style that certainly affects the company, for better and for worse, but the real value he brings is long term strategic vision. When Tony Fadell walked in and said he wanted to build a music player type thing Steve used it to launch one industry (portable music players) and overhaul another (music distribution).
Apple’s other execs may be adept at designing insanely great things, making them well, and selling them at a profit, which they will continue to do after Steve leaves, but the fearless leasership that makes Apple a pioneer in multiple industries will be gone. Maybe Apple already has someone within it that can do that, but since most other companies can’t find one truly amazing leader it seems unlikely that Apple has two. Then again his Steveness has always had a knack for finding and recruiting amazing talent. Maybe he found the next smartesst guy in the industry and has already brough him or her in. I’m not saying that Apple is ruined, or that Apple is fine. I’m just saying that the fact that Tim Cook has already been doing a great job managing the company doesn’t mean that Jobs is no longer making irreplaceable contributions to Apple’s strategy and bottom line.
@Jay, you can romanticize all you want about fearless leadership and vision, but the truth is that Apple has always been a team effort, just like a very good movie depends on a good director, it also needs a good story line, good sound engineer, good acting, good editing… well you get my point.
Exactly right.
Shouldn’t impact Apple for the next 6 months because the strategy and pipeline are probably set. If Jobs doesn’t return though (I expect he WILL), it would present just the problem you outlined.
Jake
The head elf runs the North Pole and Santa’s workshop, but he is not Santa Claus….
And now you know why there is that $1 salary.
My buddy who did some work for Apple told me several years ago: “Steve is amazing guy, he is like executive producer, he has his hands on everything, but you know, he really doesn’t run the company per se. He doesn’t even make all the decisions”. I remember thinking how could it be, but the $1 salary explains it and the perks, and the stock options.
Designer Karl Lagerfeld has umpteen assistants and lots of people running the real work, but no one is Karl Lagerfeld, but Karl Lagerfeld.
Artist Andy Warhol, had a factory manager and lots of artisans creating his ideas, but none of them had the ideas and charisma of Andy Warhol.
If these creative visionaries dropped dead (one did in the hospital) there would still be enough work in the pipelines to keep the enterprise going on with new Lagerfeld or Warhol designs for about 6 months to a year….but then it is over.
Same with Apple.
Incredible that it took Steve’s leave of absence to get everyone to realize that Apple is more than Jobs.
<<Exactly right.
Shouldn’t impact Apple for the next 6 months because the strategy and pipeline are probably set. If Jobs doesn’t return though (I expect he WILL), it would present just the problem you outlined.
Jake>>
Won’t impact Apple for another 5 years. Apple’s current product line is solid, and its product pipeline is stuffed with things we never knew we wanted.
Who has been better than Apple and Jobs at mastering timing? With all the plans and products (known and unknown) already in the works for the rest of the year, cash in the bank, no real threat in sight, and economy in a lull, if anything this is the BEST time Jobs could have taken a break and also watch and evaluate the performance of his succession team at work from the sideline while ALIVE. Like Bourn, Apple/Jobs “don’t do random.” That’s how they are ahead of everyone, with long range plans and lots of run through. Just because the public and the Street is ignorant of what is going on does not mean Apple leadership is in a panic. Just the contrary.
No offense, but I’d hardly put Karl Lagerfeld and Andy Warhol even near the same league as Jobs. If Karl and Andy never existed, their respective fields, industry, and disciplines would have gone on fine, perhaps even better than what they’ve done. I can hardly imagine what hi-tech + consumer gadget + digital art + entertainment would have been today if Jobs were not here.
Klunk-Chune!
Could not say it better myself.
Tim Cook will help the company be successfull as a business. He will help it make money, employ people, sell things, etc.
Can he plan 10 years down the line (like jobs did with pixar)?
Can he completely dominate an industry (like the portable music industry)?
I think I’ll be skipping Mac news sites for a few days until this blows over…
Please remember this article from Fortune. It is now quite prescient.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/15/technology/cook_apple.fortune/index.htm
Also gives a nice outline of 4 or 5 other people besides Cook who provide creative genius at Apple: Ives, Forstall, Schiller, Mansfield, Serlet, etc. I’d bet on any company with 5 leaders like this who have been thoroughly discipled by Jobs for years AND who are running a company shepherded by Jobs for over 10 years. And people are all gaga because Rubinstein is at Palm.
The other question people seem to forget is, would you rather bet on the current leadership of Apple without Jobs or the the current leadership of Apple’s competitor’s?
Tim Cook: The Power behind the Throne
/* The head elf runs the North Pole and Santa’s workshop, but he is not Santa Claus…. */
Exactly. Symbolism in its true light.
Even if all Steve did for the past 5 years was the keynotes— that would be enough for public perception.
@ MacNugget,
I completely agree that Apple is a team effort, and your comparison to a movie is a good one. For Apple to do what Apple does it must have many very talented people executing the company’s mission. I never said that Tim is doing anything other than a great job, and that in Jobs absence he wouldn’t be able to run the company well.
What I am saying is that Apple doesn’t succeed JUST because it is run well. It is also run differently. Apple does things that other companies in the industry don’t do. They were a computer company that decided that it wasn’t (and still isn’t) in their DNA to make $400 hardware aimed at the desks of paper pushers but it is in their DNA to make music players, sell movies, and design cell phones. They have long and semi public fights with IBM, Sony, Foxconn, EMI, and others. They make bold and unexpected changes with the conviction of people who cannot even conceive of their failure.
Without Jobs, Apple can continue to make money, and his influence will be apparent in their products for a long time, but he does shape the company’s philosophy and strategy, and without that shaping the company will change. I know that Apple is run by very smart, dedicated people, not all of whom are Steve Jobs, but can you tell me that anyone who isn’t Steve Jobs would would lead Apple the way he has? Some of Steve’s decisions, especially those fueled by his ego, have been arguably bad for the company. Maybe when he is gone things won’t be worse, but I think it is safe to say it will be less interesting.
Of all the other CEO’s of other companies, and of all the other employees and execs at Apple, only Steve would have the guts and vision to say:
“We’re dumping the floppy drive”
“We’re halting clone licensing”
“We’re chucking the iPod mini”
“We’re switching to Intel”
“Nice try on the iPhone but we don’t have a product yet”
etc. etc.
Steve is Apple. Without him the company will coast for years, successfully but aimlessly.
Remember when the Wizard was revealed in the Wizard of Oz because the dog ran behind the curtain? Well, Apple’s curtain has been lifted and church is out. Cook is the guy bringing the goods while Jobs does whatever he does.
Fanbois, put your knives down.
Jobs didn’t write the code to OS X, any of the apps Apple sells and he doesn’t design the hardware. That’s done by the talented team of people working at Apple- not Jobs.
The Church of Apple will now begin vetting candidates for Deity in Chief on Monday…
You know what, I used to work at a company where the CEO took all the credit for things I thought of and executed. I know this to be a fact. I would have an idea, and I would think it though, plan it all, and then tell him about it, and then he’d talk to the media as if it were his own idea. And I’d execute it. Same with some other guys I worked with, although I had the most ideas.
I got paid a huge salary and great stock options and so I didn’t care to claim credit. But I am saying it here now just to add to this discussion.
I’m writing here anonymously, so this isn’t bragging. To brag you’d have to be want to be known. But I don’t. Just sayin’.
I don’t agree with Steve that Apple can’t make a computer under $500 that isn’t crap.
iPod touch.
I would suggest that Tim Cook has been running the show since Steve Jobs got sick the first time, and that Steve has been free to do the creative work and marketing magic that he is really good at ever since.
My, my. There certainly are a *lot* of people who know everything about how Apple works–without ever having been on their campus.
@The_Wzrd,
I do and I have been.
MW: wish, as in I wish I could tell you more.
“Dude: if Steve was EVERY thing at Apple, he would have to be an android.”
That’s IT!!! Clone Steve!!! Problem solved.