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January 2012

Hill Resident Publishes Book About Apple’s Post-Jobs Future

Rheba Estante

Apple’s prospects have been the subject of speculation ever since Steve Jobs died last year. Fortune Magazine’s senior editor at large in San Francisco and 20th Street resident Adam Lashinsky offers some insights into the company in his new book Inside Apple, which reveals how the high-tech enterprise is preparing for a future without its founder. The book emerged from a May 23, 2011 Fortune article written by Lashinsky, a seasoned business journalist who has covered Silicon Valley extensively. Interviews with Apple insiders and industry executives form the basis of the book.

Jobs’ 1997 return to Apple resurrected the company, which had expanded into office equipment – such as printers – but had been reduced to a bit player in the personal computer market. The company was rumored to be close to bankruptcy. Jobs refocused Apple on PCs, concentrating on what Apple did best: create superior computers and design innovative products to enhance the laptop experience, such as music and videos, from which the iPod and iPad emerged. Jobs created products that people wanted and eventually felt they needed, cultivating a consumer who bought into the Apple brand and lifestyle. Jobs made sure that new product details weren’t released until the day the new item was offered for sale, as a way to build up expectancy.

Lashinsky’s book focuses on Apple’s creativity, and the company’s culture of secrecy.  “When teams at Apple are developing or designing new products they are sectioned off. People work on a project, but others in the company may not know what it is,” said Lashinsky. This creative incubation led to the most innovative of Apple’s designs, according to the author.

Lashinsky suggests that it’s too soon to know how much of Apple reflects Jobs’ personality. The company’s secretive environment often meant that Jobs alone made final decisions on product design. It also made it difficult for executive management to control the creative process because only Jobs knew what sectioned-off teams were working on.

Jobs had the final say on everything. He could unilaterally terminate or change a project or team at the last minute. Some employees only reported to Jobs even if they had a different direct report in the company hierarchy. “Jobs worked to institutionalize his thinking and creative process,” said Lashinsky. “It is unknown what blueprints he left behind.”

Secrecy appears to be one element of Apple’s culture that will live on past Jobs. While Jobs left behind institutional outlines and a pipeline of projects, it’s unclear whether this stock of concepts and innovation is enough to enable Apple to thrive. “The consensus is that there was a structured pipeline of Apple products in development for the next 18 months to five years,” said Lashinsky. “Planning is in place. Jobs was known to kill projects at the last minute because he was never firm on anything until it was approved. This may not be the case now.”

Inside Apple describes how Jobs tried to train people to be innovative. Whether he was successful in teaching his staff to think like him is yet to be seen. “Apple is going about like its business as usual,” Lashinsky said. “Jobs was gone for most of 2011 and was in and out of the company’s daily operations. However, his spirit was everywhere, and now people feel his absence. Steve was whom people would reference to because he had the final say. Now that is gone.”

According to Lashinsky, Microsoft has struggled since Bill Gates left. Now there’s talk of Gates returning to rescue his company. Companies without the spirit of the leader who made them can find themselves in precarious positions. However, Lashinsky is optimistic about Apple. “Most everything was about product for Steve Jobs. It still had the feel of a start-up when he died,” said Lashinsky. “Yet Walt Disney survived some tough years after Walt died, as did IBM and Polaroid after their founders were gone. Edwin Land, who began Polaroid, was fired as CEO but the company remained. Jobs idolized Land.”

Lashinsky’s book describes how Jobs founded Apple University in 2008 as part of his vision to institutionalize the innovation process after his death. Jobs tasked chief operating officer Joel Podolny, former dean of Yale Business School, with developing Apple University.

“Jobs was a strong willed founder and was a role model till the end,” said Lashinsky. “He made sure there were plans in the drawer to keep what he created alive.”

 

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