It’s too bad that Steve Jobs continues to have health challenges. Like the rest of you, I was worried when Apple announced that Steve is taking another medical leave. I was more worried about Apple’s stock price than I was about the future of the company. As I hoped, the rapid drop in share price turned out to be a good opportunity to buy, rather than the beginning of a rout. I believe that Steve Jobs has thoroughly inculcated his customer-centric and highly profitable brand experience into the entire Apple ecosystem—not just the employees, but customers, partners, software developers, etc. So the Apple ethos will live on—way beyond Steve’s tenure as CEO.
Thanks to Horace Dediu at Asymco for capturing Apple’s acting CEO Tim Cook’s reassuring Cook Doctrine:
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“We believe that we’re on the face of the Earth to make great products, and that’s not changing.
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We’re constantly focusing on innovating.
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We believe in the simple, not the complex.
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We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
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We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.
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We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot.
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And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change.
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And I think, regardless of who is in what job, those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.
~ Tim Cook, Acting Apple CEO, January 2009 FQ1 2009 Earnings Call“
Amen.
Apple can survive without Steve – if he’s done his job right. This company didn’t get where it is today on the back of one man. Hopefully, for all of us Apple lovers, Steve Jobs has created a culture of service that will live on. As this article (http://www.upyourservice.com/learning-library/customer-service-innovation/how-to-stand-out-from-the-crowd) points out, leadership in the service arena makes businesses stand out. Apple does this now and it should long after, Mr. Jobs.