“Steve Jobs had a theory about what makes some technology businesses succeed while others fail,” Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows report for Bloomberg. “‘Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people,’ Jobs told Businessweek in 2004. ‘But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together. Otherwise, you can get great pieces of technology all floating around the universe.'”
Satariano and Burrows report, “Tim Cook, Apple Inc.’s chief operating officer, will have to fill that role now that he’s taking the reins from Jobs. During his 13 years at Apple, the 50-year-old Cook has mastered an expanding list of operational roles, including manufacturing, distribution, sales and customer service. The thing he has not shown is whether he’s a product visionary.”
“While Cook was Jobs’s choice for successor, he hasn’t demonstrated whether he can rally the company’s about 50,000 employees as effectively as Jobs, who steered Apple into industries as varied as mobile phones, music downloads and retailing,” Satariano and Burrows report. “‘One of the costs of having a heroic leader is that problems get kicked upstairs,’ said David Bradford, professor emeritus at Stanford University, who has studied management changes. ‘When father knows best, that’s a great way to run a business.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“Now” nothing will translate to anything.
Cook proved through the years to be very dedicated to Jobs’ philosophy, so for the nearest few years Apple’s products expected to be about the same as if Steven would be at Apple.
Jobs was not able to present on design meetings, where he usually throws away, crashes good ideas to eventually find the best ones, in 2004, 2009 and 2011 years. Yes engineers and designers performed well, so the nearest years are safe.
If we all would be incredibly lucky (even though it is very improbable), then Jobs might be able to stay around for future years at least to advise and edit something. But if not, in like five years we will see if Cook’s skills will “translate” into a vision, not now.
Last I checked, Steve Jobs hand picked Tim Cook to run Apple. Not a board, not a vote, not a head-hunter. Steve Jobs picked the man that saw his vision and could carry out his vision. And Tim Cook has honestly been running Apple for a year or two already, I’m sure. Analysts are just stupid when it comes to Apple. The vision is already there. The projects are already decided for years to come and being built with Steve Jobs input. It’s not like they wake up and go, “Let’s make a phone today” and it’s done tomorrow. It’s decided a year in advance what to create. “Tis better to keep ones mouth shut to be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.” If you listen to analysts, you’re a moron.
It is amazing how little people seem to understand “the vision thing”. This is not some mystical power that steve jobs has. Steve Jobs is not a designer, he is not an engineer. He is a leader, and a guy with a low tolerance for crap. That’s it.
“Vision” is the skill of being able to push harder and to refuse to compromise on what’s important and to refuse to sell crap. It really is that simple.
Surround yourself with creative designers and engineers, and let them go wild, and when they bring things to you, figure out what problem it solves and whether it is a crappy solution or not. If its crap, don’t ship it, and have them improve it.
I think Tim Cook is capable of doing that, and given his 12 years as Steve Jobs’ apprentice, I think he’s developed a fine sense of what’s crap and what’s not.
Apple will do fine.
Its when we lose Tim Cook that we start to worry– will the other executives that served under Jobs still be around? Will the new ones have gotten it, or will standards drop?
Lets hope Time leads Apple for a long time to come!
It’s definitely that, and it’s also the ability to see what markets are ripe for disruption, and to have killer timing. These skills (as opposed to mystical powers) are reportedly what Jobs has been imparting in-house.
Clarity of vision, not clairvoyance.
To my mind, vision is a special form of creative imagination (what is sometimes called “thinking outside the box”). In the case of vision, it means thinking way outside the box. But real vision takes much more than that, just as composing great music takes much more than learning to play an instrument. It’s a gift, and very few people have it. A low tolerance for crap is definitely one of Steve’s defining character traits, but it has nothing to do with vision.
It’s all part of Apple’s fabled DNA. Success is programmed in. Does anyone Remember “As the Apple Turns”? Jack Miller’s blog-before-there-was-such-a-thing-as-a-blog about all things Apple/Jobs constantly made reference to Apple’s inevitable conquering of the planet – and his prediction seems to be playing out. No one would have believed Apple’s net worth would be this crazy, that they would one day be this powerful. But Miller had Jobsco. pegged. Steve’s greatest creation (as many (esp. Gruber) have pointed out) is Apple, and it will not, cannot fail.
Actually, Steven Jobs work as engineer at Atari and was even considered to be competent as standalone expert to be sent to Europe for equipment maintenance.
Also, Jobs engineered many things, even constructed a step (for a staircase, among other more than three hundred patents), as well as various detailed mechanics for moving LCD screen independently of iMac main body (versions of early 2000s iMac), let alone UI/software algorithms and purely designer things.
I love that these guys come up with ways that successful people should have to prove how successful they are.
Cook masterminded Apple’s infrastructure to pull off their huge success. Apple would not have been as successful as they are now with the 12 year effort Cook put into the business. Give credit where credit is due.
Jobs obviously is superb at what he does and is even better now than when he was younger because now he brings in the best talent to do the job he needs. Cook for managing the business, Fostell for software, Ive for design.
“The thing he has not shown is whether he’s a product visionary.”
So, these writers have sat in on all the meetings about products, marketing, customer service and knows, from being there, that Tom has never shown any vision. Interesting. A fly on the wall? A bug under the table? A mole?
Tell us how you know this, Adam & Peter.
” A fly on the wall? A bug under the table? A mole?”
Nope, just turds in the gutter.
From the Onion:
CEO Tim Cook called a meeting of shareholders and members of the press Thursday morning to announce that he envisioned printers as the company’s future. “Laser, ink-jet, double-sided, color, black-and-white—the future of technology is in printers. I am absolutely convinced of that,” Cook explained to a packed auditorium as a montage of printers and people using printers played on a screen behind him.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-apple-ceo-tim-cook-im-thinking-printers,21207/