“After 17 years, Bill Campbell steps down from Apple’s board,” Adam Lashinsky writes for Fortune. “The one-time Apple executive, who will be replaced by BlackRock co-founder Sue Wagner, reflects on his long association with the company and its co-founder, Steve Jobs.”
“Bill Campbell recalls Steve Jobs’ invitation to join Apple’s board of directors as the kind of request that ‘takes your breath away,'” Lashinsky writes. “It was 1997, shortly after Jobs had returned to Apple. Jobs and Campbell were neighbors in Palo Alto, and Jobs would frequently take walks on weekends and knock on Campbell’s door. Sometimes Jobs simply would wander into Campbell’s backyard and sit down by the pool. ‘He came by one day, and we sat on a bench by the pool,’ Campbell says, ‘and he said, ‘I’d like you to join the Apple board.’ The only time I’ve had a rush like that was when I was asked to be a trustee of Columbia University. I said, without hesitation, ‘For sure.””
“When Jobs approached Campbell, who turns 74 in August, he was CEO of Intuit, where he remains chairman of the board,” Lashinsky writes. “Having found his place in the business world, Campbell was well positioned to be a sounding board for Jobs, who had become a close friend. ‘I watched him emerge as a CEO in real time,’ Campbell says.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Sue Wagner joins Apple’s Board of Directors; Bill Campbell retiring after 17 years of service – July 17, 2014
Then why has Intuit’s ‘support’ for Apple products been so crappy?
Yeah, I’ve always wondered about that myself.
I guess we’ll have to read the book after Campbell passes on.