“Is Steve Jobs so unique that it would take three executives to fill his shoes at Apple? Despite the IT industry’s wealth of management talent, that’s what the company’s former executive VP for human resources claims in a soon-to-be released book that outlines a vision for Apple in the post-Jobs era,” Paul McDougall reports for InformationWeek.
I am continuously asked what would happen if Steve Jobs left Apple, or as he sometimes put it, if he ‘got hit by a bus.’ I tell people that Steve is not replaceable as a charismatic, visionary leader of a consumer-product-centric company, but that he can be replaced by a triumvirate to carry on his legacy.
Timothy Cook is clearly the leading contender to take the reins of the company, as he has now done; he has proven himself in this role since he has already kept all the separate pieces functioning during Steve’s absences. [Senior VP for Industrial Design] Jonathan Ive, the modest Brit who breathed life into the designs of the iMac, iPod and iPad, will continue to dream up designs for products everyone wants to use and own. [Senior VP for Worldwide Marketing] Phil Schiller will continue to dream up product concepts, laying the path for the future of technology. – Jay Elliot, former Apple executive VP for human resources
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Eerily, the following was written about a year before Steve Jobs announced he had been diagnosed with an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor:
What happens when Steve Jobs dies?
I was going to call this article, “What happens when Steve Jobs retires?” or “Apple after Steve Jobs,” in deference to taste, but then I decided that I wanted as many people to read it as possible, so… I succumbed. I just want you to know that I felt a pang of guilt typing that headline on a Mac.
Steve Jobs is Apple. Apple is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs without Apple still managed to produce the foundation for what Apple became NeXT (after they paid him $400 million) while, in his spare time, heading a movie studio that only produces runaway box office hits. Apple without Steve Jobs produces Performas.
As a very minor Apple stockholder, I get the proxy statements, I check off the “yes” boxes to give Steve jets, millions of options, jet fuel, more options, whatever he wants, and I wonder what in the hell happens if Steve gets hit by a bus biking on over to the Palo Alto Apple Store some Saturday.
Steve Jobs is 48 years old. Reportedly, he is a vegan and in very good health. May he live to be one hundred! May he live forever, but that’s probably unlikely. So, I’m back to the beginning; what happens when Steve Jobs dies? Or, a bit more hopefully, when he doesn’t feel like leading Apple Computer, Inc. anymore and decides to kick back and relax? Since Jobs returned to lead Apple, every Apple shareholder, employee, and avid company watcher has asked themselves this question at some point, “whither Steve Jobs?”
Pixar has John Lasseter and a crop of young, talented directors to carry on post-Steve. But, who will lead Apple? Is Steve grooming someone, yet? Is it too early to worry about it? And what about that bus, God forbid?
I mean, come on, we all lived through the Scully, Spindler, and Amelio years; Apple barely did. On the face of it, the closest Apple has to a successor-in-grooming is Phil Schiller. No offense, Phil, but the RDF hasn’t rubbed off. Leading Apple is a very tricky proposition. Only one man so far has pulled it off successfully. Twice. The key ingredients seem to be a quest for perfection, a passion for the technology and the company, and the ability to relate Apple’s ideas to the world with style. Jobs is truly the charismatic force that propels Apple forward in the face of tremendous odds.
Right now, it looks like Apple’s best hope, and a very good one at that, is Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Vice President of Industrial Design, the London Design Museum’s “2003 Designer of the Year,” and chief designer of the original and current iMacs, iPods, iBooks, PowerBooks, Power Mac G5, and more. He seems to work well with the engineers responsible for the hardware. He is obviously a meticulous genius. And he has “that certain something” which, importantly, comes across on camera and in person. Whether he has the extremely rare “vision thing” that Jobs possesses; well, that’s still an open question.
Watch Ive in the Power Mac G5 intro video. Ive first appears about 40% in, at the 2:50 mark of the 6:33 minute video. Note that he is almost wearing a black mock turtleneck already. Contrast his presentation style and enthusiasm with the other Apple presenters. Can you sense the almost Jobsian, call it Junior Jobsian, aura? Ive has “it” while all of the other Apple employees in the video are just nice people talking about a computer. And Ive should only get better with time. Could we be watching Steve Jobs’ successor, Apple’s future CEO, in the 31-year-old Ive? Watch and see if Ive begins to join Steve on stage during keynotes soon.
Jonathan Ive, Apple Computer CEO circa 2025. It has a pretty nice ring to it, doesn’t it? You heard it here first. I think Mr. Ive could pull it off. And I think Jobs thinks so, too; in about twenty years, bus drivers willing. – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, August 20, 2003
& Ive wants to move back to England
Let him. He can work out of his house for all I care. As a shareholder, if we voted tomorrow, Schiller gets my nod. Cook is the best man for the job he has, but he needs a frickin’ pay raise!
But that would massively increase annual wages by $2.
Naw, they’d have to share the $1!
After comparing Apples to oranges at my local Best Buy, I am extremely glad I use Macs rather than those horrid, plastic PC’s and very grateful that Jonny Ive works for the company. As an art/music creative myself, I would be very concerned if both Steve and Jonny were gone. I believe in science, technology, evolution- but more than anything- I believe in Art.
No wonder why this guy does not work for Apple.
To suggest Eric Schmidt or former HP CEO Mark Hurd ( OhmyGod )
shows why McDougall is not at Apple.
Article is dead wrong – guessing there is a reason this person is Ex-Apple..
Schmidt is an evil weasel – he was all ready removed from the Apple board. He can barely manage Google, let alone Apple. No way he is next CEO.
Hurd is so wrong a fit it isn’t even funny. HP is in decline, he did little to stop that and it could be argued he accelerated the fall alienating key internal players.
An IBM exec running Apple? don’t be silly, talk about a train wreck. Culture shock – not gonna happen.
Apple is unique – They do not work the way the rest of the industry does, none of the people mentioned is a visionary, none are noted for innovation anywhere. Cook is a supply chain inovator and guru.
Apple needs to be run with the people Steve put there, they are uniquely positioned to stay the course and follow the 10-20 year plans Steve has in the pipeline. They will not look outside, that is what led to their near demise in the 90’s. Don’t look for that mistake to be repeated.
Outsiders tend to alienate and try to come in and change things to leave their mark. Apple is not at a point where this is needed, or likely wanted. They are firing on all cylinders and all signs point to that continuing.
Yeah, Jonny Ive is a great ‘DESIGNER.”
Designer’s are artists, and artists rarely make great CEO’s.
Totally agree with you. Former spouse was a great designer but no businessman. Didn’t have the big ego or business sense.
But if “operational technician” like Timothy Cook will be at the top of Apple, not conceptualist like Ive, then Apple might expire all of it’s magic much sooner than with Ive.
Ive absolutely is comfortable in front of the camera. However he’s never been out to do a on stage demo. Now why is that? He seems passionate about the products he talks about and not in that I’m a PR or sales guy and I absolutely love whatever it is I’m selling to you sort of way. So what gives? Has he been kept off the stage on purpose? Is he ok in front of a camera where the dynamic is more one on one and not in that one to many experience on stage? Steve Jobs has that unique quality of the steel-trap mind of a business man/engineer and the enthusiasm of a child for the art of life. That intersection of the arts and sciences he referred before runs right through the center of Apple and more particularly right through the center of Steve. It’s uncommon in our world.
Ive seems a bit pretentious if you ask me, I’ve seen him speak a couple of times. He is definitely talented, but he strikes me as more of a rock star personality than a leader and daily grind guy. Scott Forestall (SP?) he has charisma in a geeky sort of way, I would put him ahead of IVE. It’s telling that Steve trots him out in front of the cameras for events. Phil is a marketing guy, you don’t let those guys run the business. Honestly Cook is the natural choice if you ask me.
Forestall strikes me as hard-nosed enough but his exuberance comes off a little to enthusiastic if you ask me. If de were to dial that down a little I could see him doing the presentations but I don’t know enough about him to say if he would have been able to come up with strategic use of Apple’s cash for parts the way Cook has or even be able to see that as a useful vector when presented with it. For me all of these guys have their biases that serve them well in their specific roles. Jobs has been very good at refereeing those biases which at time may seem diametrically opposed. The big question is who can act as that referee or more importantly has someone already been playing that role. My guess based on the available information is that Cook may have been playing that role to some extent but who knows. Another person that rarely gets mentioned if at all has been Ron Johnson. Have you seen what his compensation is and compared it to the rest of the executive team:
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=AAPL.O&officerId=168806
His salary isn’t out of line but the options!
Maybe – but then again he is in charge of retail operations. I bet he accumulated all those options as a direct result of his stellar results with the Apple stores. APple makes more per square foot that MOST in retail, there is something to be said for that. Just not sure I see that transitioning to CEO. Maybe though..
Your referee point is quite valid however, VP level people tend to drink their own koolaid and think their stuff don’t stink. With that many strong personalities a good CEO has to be a referee at times just to manage the personalities.
Yeah of course, artists are rarely great CEOs but for Apple businessmen weren’t either. In Apple designers are much higher in the hierarchy than any other tech company. Apple needs someone who does not see increased market share as the ultimate goal like Ballmer and the gang…
Ive could NEVER be CEO. It’s Cook, Schiller, Forstall, or Serlet.
definitely like Ive
whose name is /not/ in my spellcheck dictionary. had add manually….
The next permanent CEO of Apple Inc has already been selected and notified.
His name is Tim Cook.
Here is how you can know that is the truth.
Tim Cook still works for Apple.
End of story.
I think it’s very likely that Cook or Forestall could become the next CEO but I could definitely see Ive doing on stage presentations. He does have a certain charisma and passion for the hardware. Just because Steve is CEO and also does the presentations doesn’t mean they’d have to continue that practice. They could tap Ive for that or maybe some one else entirely, some super charismatic person.
Jobs is 58, not 48.