“Without question, any investor wants competent and creative management running the company with which they’re sharing their hard-earned dollars. What should be questioned, however, is whether you want to tie up your funds with a company based almost entirely on who’s in charge,” Chris Nichols writes for TheStreet.com.
“If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t think anyone could successfully steer your favorite company as well as whoever currently is, you might reconsider where you’re parking your cash,” Nichols writes. “People die every day, sometimes unexpectedly. Sometimes, these people are CEOs, CFOs or founders.”
“Whether Jobs should have or even could have been more forthcoming about his health isn’t the point here. Maybe he really did give shareholders all the information he had as soon as had it. Then again, maybe he didn’t. The debate there isn’t going to end,” Nichols writes. “What should end is this — the baseless notion that Apple isn’t going to be capable of continuing without Jobs.”
Nichols writes, “Yes, he’s a strong personality, yes, he’s one of the founders, and yes, he does matter. But eventually, every long-lasting successful company has to deal with a management transition, and Apple will, too. Maybe that will be this year, maybe it will be in 2019. For now, let’s just not write any obituaries, either for Jobs or for Apple.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
So that’s why 2019 looked so dystopic in Blade Runner – Steve had just left Apple!
People LOVE soap operas, and this my friends is a soap opera. Weez all just a bunch of immature little beotchz.
We should all be very, very happy that a guy named Steve Ballmer isn’t second in command at Apple right now.
Lost amid all the rancor this morning is one important thing: a man is obviously very sick. But what matters to Wall Street and the punditry isn’t how a man feels or what he is suffering. It’s all about greed, plain and simple.
Compassion and understanding is the loser in all this. It’s trumped by the absurd notion that people have a right to know everything about a public figure. In this case, Steve Jobs is not a human. He is an object, something to be possessed by people with money, used at their whims. He is not allowed to have feelings or privacy. His family is immaterial.
It is sad to think that this notion has been lost. Perhaps someday, when the individual accusers suffer similar pains from disease and old age, they might come to understand. But not now. It’s all about money.
“Maybe he really did give shareholders all the information he had as soon as had it.”
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That is the quote of the day. Just stop malicious speculations and implications about/in Job’s words and acts.
No of his wrongdoing was established concerning to health matter.
Apple has real depth on their bench, which is cause for optimisn even in the face of a worst-case scenario: Steve’s permanent departure for whatever reason.
COO Tim Cook is in some respects the anti-Jobs: he has a smooth Southern manner without the sharp edges of a Steve. He’s been largely running the show on a day-to-day basis anyway, and few would argue with his success.
Marketing VP Phil Schiller may not quite have the Zen-master thing down yet when giving a keynote, but he’s a likeable guy with an appealing personality. Sort of like a non-technical version of Woz.
Senior VP Ron Johnson is the guru of retail, where Apple has done an unquestionably bang-up job. In person, he has an almost Jobsian presence. You don’t hear much about him, but he’s a real asset.
VP Jonathan Ive may be the “Steviest” of the bunch. He’s probably best utilized in his current Industrial design capability, but could certainly project a British flavor of the legendary Jobs RDF when needed at a product launch.
VP Scott Forstall has proven he can do the RDF thing in public too. Though he’s not quite a Jobs-level RDFer yet, he’s obviously an extremely smart guy who’s a big part of the Apple DNA.
A modest proposal: bring Guy Kawasaki back into the fold. He’s as good as Jobs at the presentation thing, and has the brains, wit, and personality to be a great successor to Steve as the public face of the company.
Of course, when Jobs returns in June, fatter and sassier than ever, all this will be officially mooted.
Get well, Steve. We’re pulling for you.
RG
“Lost amid all the rancor this morning is one important thing: a man is obviously very sick. But what matters to Wall Street and the punditry isn’t how a man feels or what he is suffering. It’s all about greed, plain and simple.”
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Of course they do not care. They all are basically implying that Jobs had to ask them to forgive him because he became ill. 8|
Because no other guilt of his is established, if we will not take into account malicious speculations.
Mind you, those “experts” and “analysts” even mostly consider themselves “moral” or even pertaining to religious confessions, while allowing to themselves to besmirch a suffering person with their insinuation about his words and doings, judging him as liar.
They make it as if they forgot basic moral and religious principles “do not judge”, as well as “prejudice is ignorance”.
They didn’t stop selling Fords when Henry died!!!!! Get over it people
and move on.
i am just shocked that thestreet.com had something logical to say for once. At the same time they may be watching their AAPL shares take a hit after manipulating it to the 80s anyway. Who knows.
But AAPL is running… and they likely have in place a doomsday scenario. It doesnt seem hard from here for the next few months. Refresh Macs… Refresh iPods (especially the touch)… Refresh iPhone… Eventually open iPhone to T-Mobile and Verizon…
And there you go. The culture of Apple has already predicated the way products are also brought to market.
But i for one dont care about AAPL prices as long as the company itself is stays healthy still making stuff i want to use.
Hope Steve gets better… maybe a consultant role is in the offing.
@Random Guy
You profiles of Apple’s bench are right on. The myth that Steve is beginning and end of Apple hasn’t been true for a long time.
Sure, Steve has greatly influenced product design, but Jonny has been the one bringing designs to market. And he’s become more and more responsible for that over the past 5 years.
Phil is responsible for one of the most effective ad campaigns in history and for personifying the Mac experience.
Ron brought the greatest devices on the planet to the masses in a way that no other computer manufacturer could. The Apple Stores are HUGE.
The fact is that Jobs has had influence in just about every aspect of Apple’s resurgence. He also knew he needed to bring in the best and brightest in their respective disciplines to make it happen and to carry it forward.
People freak out about Apple because Jobs is the only identity they associate with the company. IMO Job’s greatest strength is his ability to recruit and inspire extraordinary people. That’s a strength that will outlive Steve Jobs and ensure the success of the company regardless of who’s running it.
@MacAdvocate
The “It’s All Jobs” aspect of Apple’s public persona arose gradually as a combination of Steve’s formidable skills as a presenter coupled with his laserlike intellect, passion for the products, and not inconsiderable ego. I have little doubt that the company made a decision to nurture the Super-Jobs meme as an effective way of getting their message out. Apple doesn’t have to hire Jay Leno to do a product event because they’ve got the biggest rockstar in the world of tech on the payroll already.
Jobs’ current health situation has made his company a victim of its own successful strategy at the moment, though I expect most insightful observers to come to their senses over the next few days or weeks.
The best long-term strategy is probably to spread the Steveness out among several top execs, letting each make the most of their individual skills. Apple already seems to be moving in this direction.
Nobody can replace Jobs, any more than Disney could call up a New Walt fback in late ’66. But the House of Mouse survived, and so will Apple, informed with insights from Disney’s example of what (and what not) to do.
Here’s hoping that the need for any strategy is still years in the future, and that Steve will be back a few weeks early, hosting the iPhone v3 intro in early July.