That's the one sure fire way to kill Apple once and for all! Apple is a design-centric company and its survival needs one at the helm that has the balls to get rid of garbage products or projects and can see/visualize a great product from the first idea. There aren't many people that can do that. Jobs certainly has his flaws but Apple's existence today is because of Jobs who knew what to do and had the power to get it done with the right people.
I agree complete that there aren't many people who can fill Jobs shoes! Who are your top picks as best Jobs replacement?
It's quite possible much of today's Apple spirit will die after Jobs, but Apple's gone down that path before. There was Pepsi's John Sculley (hey, I loved the Newton -- certainly ahead of it's time -- imaging what it could be today had it succeeded and evolved), and inside man Spindler, and Amelio (and accomplice Ellen Hancock; he did at least one thing right buying NeXT -- best money spent in retrospect -- and I mean the NeXT team and technology in addition to Jobs).
Sure, it's be great to have a clone of Jobs take over, but someone like him is hard to find. It's hard to name a successful individual today (maybe Mark Hurd? Is that heresy even mentioning that name?), not to mention the type of chance one would be taking with an unknown. I think in the changeover, less damage is done by a good experienced manager who has broader training than the excellent executives currently at Apple. They can't do any worse than Sculley, Spindler, or Amelio.
money.cnn.com
"Overall, 26 FORTUNE 500 companies boast founder-CEOs, a subset comprising the likes of Apple Computer (Research), FedEx (Research), and Cardinal Health (Research). (The list does not include Dell, Nike, Microsoft, and Starbucks, whose famous founders are now chairmen.)"
"Fahlenbrach has a few theories on why founder-CEOs seem to be better corporate stewards. One is that they simply care more. Their companies are their life's work, so they're more likely to embrace long-term strategies. Supporting the theory is Fahlenbrach's finding that founder-run companies have bigger capital budgets and invest considerably more in research and development than nonfounder-run firms."
"Fahlenbrach's other big theory on the founder premium: They tend to be industry experts, not managerial mercenaries. Sinegal started out in the supermarkets as a bagger, Kinder has 20 years in the energy biz, and L-3's Frank Lanza is an engineer by training who rose through the corporate ranks of Loral and Lockheed Martin before co-founding L-3 in 1997."
Unfortunately, most "industry experts" are poor managers, especially when it comes to a big ship like Apple. I say we look for a competent "managerial mercenary" over an "industry expert" who can't manage. Ideally, it would be both, and places like GE generate a lot of homegrown talent, but I don't see Apple doing same. Maybe a CEO of a smaller company (or not so small) like Ed Zander would consider the job. |
