“Like many, I have a habit of idealizing the ‘good old days’ with Steve Jobs,” Ken Segall writes for Observatory.
“Keep in mind that I’m an ad guy. It’s incredibly rare that people like me get to work directly with the CEO, and even more rare that the CEO is so passionate about doing great work,” Segall writes. “So when I look back, I tend to romanticize even the difficult times, even though I know darn well that the tense moments were … well, tense. Especially with Steve.”
“Need an example?” Segall writes. “Return with me now to the thrilling days of yesteryear, as the color iMacs were about to be unveiled.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Would that Apple today had more of what Segall describes.
Much more.
SJ’s finishing comments are priceless…as MDN says, Apple could use more of this….
Yes ! And this one..
“it’s just not acceptable. What the fuck is going on?!!?!”
Words, im sure, many of us have found ourselves screaming in our minds and thoughts very often… (in the past few years )
I haven’t met Cook, but there are anecdotes out there that illustrate very similar approach to solving urgent problems. He gets involved and, in his very calm, soft-spoken southern way, chews them out thoroughly. The one that comes to mind is a conversation with a senior operations executive who was explaining supply problems in China, at the end of which Cook asked him (deadpan): “So why are you still here?” The exec took a cab straight to SFO airport and took a flight to China (without even a change of clothes).
Steve was, of course, unique person, which is probably the main reason why Apple is now the largest company (by market cap) in the world. Cook definitively learned a lot from him.
Dear Tim Cook Apologist:
That single Cook anecdote happened a long time ago, before self-indulgent, time-wasting coffee table books, Christmas trees, Met Galas, multiple missed deadlines, interminable shipping delays, lack of product updates across the board, a confused Apple TV, etc.
A lot of people cover for Cook, no matter what, because he’s gay. That’s their agenda. I want an Apple CEO who’s focused on Apple products, making enough of them to satisfy demand, and marketing them successfully. I don’t care about the rest of Cook’s distracting SJW bullshit.
I’m not sure Cook needs anyone to cover for him. A lot of people, smarter than you (or me) seem to agree that Cook is among the most successful CEOs of today. Professional trade organisations generally all rate him among the best out there.
We can forever argue over your points (delays, product updates, etc), but both the stock market, as well as the global product market would very quickly punish a very successful company when CEOs don’t execute. You don’t need to look further than Blackberry (or Microsoft, for that matter, during Ballmer). All objective indicators out there show that Apple is still the most coveted, No. 1 brand in the world, with massive profits, even more massive war chest, cult-like loyal customers and stellar product reviews, not just by those customers, but also by (presumably) impartial professionals.
Just step aside, leave your preconceptions about Apple (and Cook) for a moment and observe the market and Apple’s place in it. It is implausible to argue that a company in such position has been run by an incompetent CEO for over seven years.
that brutal truth guy is a just a jealous homophobe thats angry someone with a lifestyle he doesn’t like is doing better then he is at life the universe and everything.
Couldn’t this simply be a case of the emperor’s new clothes? Apple’s success is dependent on the iPhone and the iPhone is simply dependent on not being completely utterly fucked up, which I’m willing to bet you could do easily.
That may well be the case, but it is highly implausible. No company can coast that long (seven years) on a single product, no matter how successful it is; and in Apple case, not just coasting, but continuing to grow profit and revenue.
The intemperate attacks on Cook are to be expected. Fans are pissed. The Apple of their eye has cooled to them, has shown interest in other sorts of paramour, and has descended from high-minded pursuits to tawdry flim-flam. As Cook personifies the corporate creature that once so beguiled them, he is the scapegoat to absorb their anguish. It is a mistake to apply logic, statistics, or sweet reason to persuade victims of passion that their feelings are misplaced. Feelings are never misplaced, especially those that were once ignited by the excitement of creative change, the sense of belonging to a family on a noble journey, the promise that love will never die.
Until it does.
I worked at Apple for 18 years, under Jobs, Scully, Tim Cook, and those other guys in between. I can’t honestly clearly share that I think that leader A was so much better than leader B or C, there are too many factors to consider.
The one thing I will share unequivocally is that, for better or worse, Apple’s culture today is nothing like the culture was when I started. Now, I am business savvy and I realize that businesses often must change with the times, but I simply don’t respect the company today in the same way that I did when the Mac was first released.
I remember a quote of Jobs where he told Ive that you don’t want people to love you but you wanted to make them do their best, that was their job as managers.
I couldn’t get that quote but here are some others:
article,
Why Jobs was so tough on others.
“It was his way of preventing what he called “the bozo explosion,” in which managers are so polite that mediocre people feel comfortable sticking around. “I don’t think I run roughshod over people,” he said, “but if something sucks, I tell people to their face. It’s my job to be honest.”
(do we see this missing in Apple today?)
and the ONLY PERSON WHO CAN DEAL WITH JONY IVE:
incident one:
“: “the returning Apple co-founder told him (Ive), “Fuck, you’ve not been very effective, have you?””
incident two:
” One Monday morning Jobs went over to see Ive. “I didn’t sleep last night,” he said, “because I realized that I just don’t love it.” Ive, to his dismay, instantly saw that Jobs was right. “I remember feeling absolutely embarrassed that he had to make the observation,”
Incident 3
On making coloured iMacs
” Ive was “driven crazy” by Steve’s choices, and eventually stormed out of the room to his holiday, shouting that Steve could choose any of the colours he liked but he was taking no more part in the discussion.”
Ive worked on the colours,
” “We’re going to do all sorts of colors!” he told them excitedly. When they left,Ive looked at his team in amazement. “In most places that decision would have taken months,” Ive recalled. “Steve did it in a half hour.”
NOTE: Jobs and Ive WERE BEST FRIENDS, these were just RARE instances but still, Jobs was ready to stand up to him and push him.
NOW TODAY, Ive is GOD and no one dares to confront him AND :
we’ve GOT THE APPLE TV REMOTE , Pro macs that you can’t upgrade the GPUs (Pcs 3-5 times faster in GPU performance), Mac Minis dropped from possible Quad to only Dual Core and soldered non upgradable RAM (to make it a inch or so THINNER. does a DESKTOP need to be thinner and sacrifice so much? ) the initial Apple Music Interface (Ive is Also in charge of Interface design now) so bad that they had to apologize and put out several instructional ‘how to’ videos three months later, coffee Table books, Christmas trees and fashion shows….
Does anybody see something missing here.
thinking about Jobs/Ive, there were a few boo boos under Jobs admin. like the Hockey Mouse and the elegant but overpriced Cube.
Thing is though, the mistakes go fixed FAST. The mouse disappeared quickly.
Here’s a steve hjobs anecdote you’ll enjoy.
Once, long ago, Steve said to me, “you know, I’m gonna be deaqd some day. And these assholes at MDN will try to convince you that they know a thing or two. But, they’re dumb pieces of crap and they are antithetical to my being.”
I said, “okay. Pass the hot sauce.”
Ass/u/me nothing.