What happens to The Fab Four without Steve Jobs?

A few months after Steve died, Wall Street Journal and Fortune writer Brent Schlender was cleaning out the all the crap from his storage shed. As is typical of such an exercise, Brent found some lost treasure that had suddenly gained some currency of late: hours and hours of unedited tapes from his interviews with Steve. During some of these tapes, one can hear Steve's kids running around the kitchen as the two men talked. Occasionally Steve would hit the pause button before saying something that may come back and bite him on the ass. Most of the content of the "Lost Steve Jobs Tapes" was re-worded stuff he has previously told others, or it was sound but boring business advice that left me a little sleepy. However, there was one juicy morsel that I enjoyed most of all. It was the uncut version of Steve’s model for good management inspired by the Beatles: 

My model of management is the Beatles. The reason I say that is because each of the key people In the Beatles kept the others from going off in the directions of their bad tendencies. They sort of kept each other in check. And then when they split up, they never did anything as good. It was the chemistry of a small group of people, and that chemistry was greater than the sum of the parts. And so John kept Paul from being a teenybopper and Paul kept John from drifting out into the cosmos, and it was magic. And George, in the end, I think provided a tremendous amount of soul to the group. I don't know what Ringo did. [1]

Within five months of Steve’s death, the "Paul McCartney" of Apple, Tim Cook, trotted on stage and looked as if he may intro the new 4G iPad. Everyone drew a breath knowing that poor Tim ain't gonna woo the crowd the way that Steve did. Luckily, Tim copped out and handballed the task like a hot potato to his marketing dude, Phil Schiller - Apple's "Ringo Starr". Phil’s excited nerd-ologue worked better than Valium to put this author to sleep. So I may have missed the part where he admits that the fancy high-speed 4G functionality only works with Northern American 4G networks. Aussie customers were offered a well-deserved refund after finding out that the major selling-point is a major let-down. Imagine how they felt after days of lining up for this pricey gadget - the second time within a year - only to discover that it’s only marginally better than the last gadget? Perhaps I give too much credit to fanboys to think objectively when they are too busy Thinking Differently. 

Apple seems to be chugging along well in the competent hands of Tim - its best bean-counter; but what of Apple's creative soul? What about Apple's "George Harrison"? Jonathan Ive’s name is still on Apple’s site, so he doesn’t seem to be jumping ship. Jony spoke about working with Steve at his funeral. He smiled as he said that during brainstorming sessions Steve would often come up with a lot of “dopey ideas,” along with good ones too.[2]

When John Lennon died, Yoko went into publicity overdrive. However, Mrs Laurene Jobs has much more class than the pseudo-artist. Laurene has retreated even further from the public spotlight since she lost her husband. She appeared in the news media only once at Obama's State of the Union address. Laurene sat with Warren Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanekas. The President pointed out that Debbie pays a higher income tax percentage than her obscenely wealthy boss. He then boldly asked that the rich pay more tax. [3]

Laurene is now the 100^th richest person in the world with a net worth of $9 billion. She beat her late husband, Steve, who was only (only?) ranked 110 at 8.3 Billion. [4]


After Steve spent his career building a rep as a miserly Scrooge, it warms the heart to know that his fortune is now solely in the hands of probably the world’s most quietly hard-working philanthropist.

---

[1] Schlender, B. (2012, April 17) The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes. From From FastCompany.com. Retrieved from: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/165/steve-jobs-legacy-tapes

 

[2] Wingfield, N. (2011,October 17) Emotion, Music and Humor at Steve Jobs Memorial. New York Times.

[3] Earle, G. & Shields, G. (2012, January 25) O uses Buffett’s Gal Friday as a speech prop. The New York Post.

[4] Mac, R. (2012, March 7) Meet Silicon Valley's Richest Woman: Laurene Powell Jobs. Forbes Magazine

Tim Cook, Apple CEO? Seriously?

Apple Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, is really good at the really boring part of the Apple business. The default choice as Steve’s successor prefers to stand in the long shadow cast by his CEO rather than the spotlight. On his desk, next to a photograph of Bob Dylan is one of Bobby Kennedy. Tim admires the way the late senator "was comfortable standing in his brother's shadow and doing what he thought was right." 

Modesty is in his blood. Tim grew up in a small town "on the road to the beach," in the Heart of Dixie, Alabama.  The son of a shipyard worker is a long-time bachelor who enjoys a life so private that Jony Ive would turn green with envy. Inevitably, there are rumours that Tim is the most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley. If Tim were gay, it makes little sense that he would remain in the closet. An openly gay member of Apple’s top brass would only reinforce Apple’s painfully brand-conscious gay following.

Tim spent twelve years succeeding at IBM while Steve was failing NeXT.  Steve hired him during Apple’s rebirth. He cut inventory costs by halving the number of Apple warehouses. Tim said to Business Week, ''If you have closets, you'll fill them up.” [1] (Closets? Freud was right). Apple’s Ops guy is a hard worker and a boring speaker. Tim spaces his words out so painfully long that his audience is falling asleep before he gets to the point – if he has one. Listening to Tim speak about his work at Apple sounds no more exciting than working at a Hyundai factory. He is five years younger than Steve, looks five years older than Steve, and sounds ten years older than Steve. Worst of all, Tim lacks a signature outfit. The only regularity in his attire is the Nike sneakers he has to wear because he is on its Board of Directors. Suffice to say, Tim’s no rock star. Fortune Magazine profiled him:

Though he's capable of mirth, Cook's default facial expression is a frown, and his humor is of the dry variety. In meetings he's known for long, uncomfortable pauses, when all you hear is the sound of his tearing the wrapper of the energy bars he constantly eats.[2]

On January 17^th, 2011, Steve emailed his employees: 

Team, 

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company. 

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011. 

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy. 

Steve.[3]

If Tim is the best that Apple can come up with as a successor, then the company and Steve share the same mortal coil. Steve’s ultimate loss of control will arrive on his passing.

---

[1] [1] Burrows, P. (2000, July 31) Apple: Yes, Steve, you fixed it. Congrats! Now what's Act Two? Business Week.

[2] Lashinsky, A. (2008, November 10) The genius behind Steve. Fortune Magazine.

[3] Dowling, S (2011, January 17) Apple Media Advisory. Apple.com. Retrieved from:  http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/17advisory.html