Running head: Apple
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Apple
Rachelle White
LEAD 600
30 March 2013
Professor Doll
Southwestern College Professional Studies
Apple
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Abstract
In this paper we will discuss the various significant periods within Apple and the changes
that took place during those times. We will also discuss the leaders influence during those times,
the strengths and weaknesses of each leader and how their styles helped impact the organization.
We will also discuss how those various styles relate to other circumstances and the lessons we
have learned throughout the research of Apple and its leadership.
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Table of Contents
Title………………………………………………………………………………………………1
Abstract………………………………………………………………………….………………2
Table of
Contents……………………………………….……...………………………..…………………3
1977-1985………………………………………………..……………………………………….4
CEO leadership styles……………………………………………………………………6
Strengths and Weaknesses of Apple Leadership throughout the period…………………7.
1985-1996 ……………………………..…………………………………………………………8
CEO leadership styles……………………………………………………..……………..9
Strengths and Weaknesses of Apple Leadership throughout the period……………….10
1997-2011………………………………………………………………………………………11
CEO leadership styles……………………………………………..……………………12
Strengths and Weaknesses of Apple Leadership throughout the period………..………13
2011 to Present………………………………………………………………………………….13
CEO leadership styles…………………………..………………………………………14
Strengths and Weaknesses of Apple Leadership throughout the period………..………15
Personal experience……………………………………………………………………………..16
References….. ………………………………………………………………………………….17
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1977-1985
During this early period in Apple’s history it was less about leadership and more about
technology. Steven “Woz” Wozniak and Steven Jobs were two kids who loved dabbling with
electronics and discovering new things. They were both geeks in school who did not necessarily
fit in and found they had a lot in common while attending High School even though Woz was
several years older. They were a perfect pair and complimented each other but were complete
opposites. Steven Wozniak was the brilliant kid who turned in to a brilliant engineer. After
school he went to work for HP. He was addicted to video games and LOVED figuring out new
possibilities. Jobs' went to work for Atari and was found equally as bright. He did have a
problem getting along with other employees and was moved to the night shift. This worked well
for him. He brought his old friend, Woz, in and allowed him to play the games late into the
night. In return Woz would help him with some of the designs he was working on. Jobs', from
the beginning, was always looking ahead and had great ideas. Woz was less interested in fortune
or prestige and just wanted to be recognized for the things he was creating.
They both belonged to a Homebrew Computer Club and Woz started working on a very
crude computer that was little more than a motherboard. Jobs called it The Apple and found a
small amount of success selling it to engineers and local hobby stores. The computer itself was
an important step in their future. At that point they both new that they could both, improve on
what they had created, and that people would buy it. Woz and Jobs officially launches Apple
Computer on April fool’s Day in 1976.
It was apparent to both of these kids that Jobs had a tremendous amount of vision and
drive and Woz had a tremendous amount of engineering talent but neither had any business sense
or money. They would need to bring in help if they were to be successful. Mike Markkula had
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originally gotten rich working at Intel. He recognized that this was something special and
gathered the backing they would need. He also brought in a former co-worker from Fairchild,
Michael Scott, who became CEO. Scott was brought in to take care of the details and
manufacturing difficulties they would have in ramping up a company. He stayed as CEO from
the introduction of the Apple II in 1997 until after they went public in 1980. It was a time of
complete chaos and growth. His last year there, they were adding a quarter million square feet of
space to their total facilities every 3 months. It has been stated that Scott and Jobs constantly
argued over everything. Scott’s version of why he left was less about Jobs and more about the
fact that he did not have full support from everyone. Regardless, he was asked to leave in 1981
and a new CEO was needed.
Mike Markkula stepped down as chairman and became president until a new one could
be found. Jobs took over the job of chairman and Woz had already stepped out at this point.
Jobs' was the dreamer, Woz was the gifted bench-tinkerer, and Markkula was the planner
(Albrecht, 2012, P. 18). More importantly, Markkula was in an enviable position of Jobs
listening to him and thinking of him as somewhat as his mentor. This worked well because Jobs
tended to have extremely strong opinions about everything to do with the company and was
known to push everyone, including himself. Wozniak was a much quieter person and did not
like conflict and wanted to think of everyone as a happy family. He also admitted in an
interview that the Macintosh project probably would not have been successful had he been in
charge (Isaacson, 2012, p. 99). He had basically checked out soon after the Apple II was created.
He was in a plane accident that took quite some time to recover and when he did finally return,
he made it clear that he was an engineer and running the company was something that he had no
desire to do.
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Even after Markkula took over, it was apparent that Jobs felt strongly about things and
was trying to control the company. In 1983 a new CEO was found and Markkula stepped out of
that role and again took a position on the board. That new recruit, John Sculley, was brought in
by Jobs himself and it was apparent from the beginning that they would struggle working side by
side even though he was personally picked by Jobs himself. Sculley had a great deal of respect
for Jobs and recognized his brilliance. But by this time many employees had complained about
Jobs’ tirades and abusive behavior. Sculley was increasingly having problems with employees,
Jobs, and the board and as much as he attempted to work with everyone it finally came to a close
when the Board insisted he attempt to rein in the company. Jobs continued to work behind the
scenes to control power and by 1985 he was asked to leave the company.
CEOs’ leadership style
There was a lot of political maneuvering and extreme growth throughout this period. The
very first CEO was Michael Scott and he had the business experience that the rest lacked. He
had a strong background in processes and attempted to put order to a start-up company that had
never had structure. Much is blamed on Jobs’ directing style and it seemed that Scott was also
finding himself working within that same leadership style. Both individuals were strong minded
and believed they knew the right things for the company. Neither liked to be collaborative, and
therefore it made it difficult to have them work side by side. Eventually it did not work and
Scott was asked to leave.
Markulla was the next CEO if for no other reason but as a default. He had a strong
presence from the beginning and was on the board of directors. He stepped in until a new one
could be found. Markulla was a smart businessman in his own right and had more of a
collaborative style. He had the ability to placate Jobs at the same time he could keep the
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employees relatively happy. It also helped that Jobs thought of his as a mentor and even wrote
Jobs a memo urging three principles. They were empathy, focus, & impute. Jobs took those
works to heart and worked hard to put them in to his design of products (Isaacson, 2012).
The last CEO was John Sculley. He was recruited by Jobs himself and had a great
accommodating and collaborating style of leadership. He continued to work with Jobs’ to come
up with a workable leadership approach that would allow both of them to stay with the company.
In the end it was decided for Sculley by the board since he was not getting the results he needed.
It was at that time that Jobs’ was asked to leave.
Strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s leadership throughout the period
Scott’s biggest strength was in his knowledge of business. He set up much of the
structure with the company that the rest did not have any idea how to do. He also took the
challenge of taking the company public. His last year there they were adding a quarter million
square feet of space to their facilities every 3 months. His weakness was in how he dealt with his
situation. Charles Green calls attention to the fact that the causal arrow between leader behavior
and followers may run in the opposite direction, suggesting that follower performance may shape
the amount of consideration and initiating structure behavior exhibited by the leader (Pierce &
Newstrom, 2011, p. 238). In this case I think it was true. Jobs was absolutely doing his unique
visionary thinking and making decisions without consulting others. I think that Scott was also
doing this same thing in a sort of retaliated way. His decisions themselves were not bad but he
did not have as much transparency as he should.
Markulla’s strength came in his influence over Jobs and the rest of the team. He had a
gift of knowing who had talent and what directions needed to be taken. His weakness was in the
fact that he lacked the strong leadership needed to run a company day to day. He was good on
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the board when he could advice but he was not necessarily the hands on, take charge leader that
Apple needed to go forward.
Sculley was a great collaborative leader but it may have been the wrong environment for
that type of leadership. He recognized Jobs talent and worked very hard to collaborate with him
in making the right decisions for Apple. His weakness during this time is that he struggled to set
those clear accountability lines that would have prevented much of the political maneuverings
that were going on behind his back. Another weakness was his lack of technical knowledge. He
had great marketing and leadership skills but didn’t fully embrace the innovative side of Apple.
1985-1996
This ten year period also saw a lot of CEO’s come through Apple. John Sculley was still
CEO from the last period and the company business was going strong. By 1988, over one
million Macintosh computers had been sold. The company was still growing at an extremely
rapid pace but the profit margins were eroding. Several things caused this to happen. The
company had over 14,000 employees, costs were getting higher to build, and they had to produce
smaller cheaper models with lower profit margins. Sculley attempted to downsize but the results
were not completely what was necessary and the Board of Directors chose Michael Spindler to
replace him in 1993.
Michael Spindler stepped in the hopes that he could make that difference. He was
another of Markulla’s recommendations early on and started in foreign markets in 1980. He rose
through the ranks in European operations and they felt his technical background would help put
Apple back where they needed to be. He did this by drastically reducing the divisions to get the
company back to the profit margin that they felt they needed. It worked but at the cost of a huge
backlog of computers that needed to get out to new customers. He was not well liked and his
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missteps did not help. Moral dropped and he only spent 3 tumulus years at the helm. Gil
Amelio stepped in to replace him in 1996.
CEOs’ leadership style
Sculley had been CEO since 1983 and was personally recruited by Steve Jobs to take
over the reins. Sculley, for his part, found Jobs to be a brilliant, innovative gentleman that he
was fascinated with. For this reason, and his laid back personality, he was extremely
accommodating when dealing with Jobs and other leaders after Jobs’ left. Sculley believed in
politeness above all else and was the absolute polar opposite of Jobs who felt it was his duty to
confront people in order to obtain the best out of them. His background was business and
marketing and that is where he centered his time. He had an impressive wave of success but
toward the end of his reign he had numerous products not produce the selling results that they
expected. Add to that the continuous decline in profit margins and he found Apple to be
struggling. In the end, his accommodating leadership led to his demise. He simply did not hold
people as accountable as he should because he expected but did not demand that people did the
jobs they held responsibility for.
Spindler, like Jobs, was a brilliant strategist but lacked the management and people skills
needed to get the job done. The one thing he did not have was any of the charismatic
characteristics of Steve Jobs and made very few public appearances when starting the leadership
role. What he did do was implement a re-organization and dropped many of the benefits to their
current employees that did not go well.
Amelio was a supplier who was approached by Apple to join their Board of Directors.
He joined in ’94 and was asked to become the CEO when Michael Spindler was let go. He was
tech driven and had an emphasis on development. He also only held this position for 500 days.
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A lot of that reason is because of his affiliation with Steve Jobs. He helped convince the board to
purchase NeXT from Steve Jobs for $429 million. Because of this Steve Jobs was brought in an
advisory mode and by 1997 he had convinced the board of directors to let Amelio go so that he
could replace him. They agreed and he was named interim CEO. When Amelio wrote a book
later he was quoted as saying "The success I was creating threatened to get in the way of his
plans. Betrayal, assassination, trashing of reputations are all part of the everyday tool kit of a
person obsessed with power, control, or revenge." (Amelio & Simon, 1999, p. 269)
Strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s leadership throughout the period
Sculley had an incredibly impressive background with Pepsi and knew how to run a
business. What he lacked was the tech knowledge of an innovative startup company. This is
where Sculley and Jobs could truly make a magnificent team had either been able to work
together. Sculley had the knowledge of business and people and Jobs’ had the innovative ideas
and passion to get them done. They also blended well in that Jobs could push people in a way
that would make them furious and Sculley had a more off-hands approach to management where
he trusted each to do their own jobs. Together, they may have worked well but separately
neither leadership worked. The company’s board of directors considered Sculley too much of a
visionary, an excessively starry-eyed technophile, to make the hard decisions necessary to
shepherd Apple through the 1990’s (Levy, 1994, p. 281).
Spindler was a great visionary and had strong marketing presence as well. What he
lacked was the structure for day to day processes that were needed to get his strategic visions
accomplished. He also did not have the charisma and presence needed to get the organization
behind him. He did have the ability though to make the hard decisions and made many
unpopular decisions to help the company out financially.
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Amelio’s strength was in his tech driven, innovative background. This was something
that was again needed in Apple. He also recognized the value of purchasing NeXT and bringing
back Steve Jobs. His weakness was in that same area. Profits were again way down during this
time frame. Certainly the cost of spending such a massive amount for Jobs’ company did not
help. His profitability was sliding and Steve Jobs was talking with the company about changes
that needed to be done. His disadvantage was in not taking control of the situation.
I think their biggest disadvantage and weakness was the culture within the top
management and board of Apple. Throughout both periods it appears that there are more
political moves than positive actions for change within the company. Throughout the history it
appears that the board is consistently going behind leadership to talk with, negotiate, and
conspire to not support whoever the current leader is. The second problem was the fact that,
with the problem, it was always difficult to really know who was in charge. Right after Apple
bough NeXT, Amelio and Jobs flew together to vision Microsoft, but Gates had trouble figuring
out who was in charge. Gates later called Jobs and asked what was happening. Gates suggested
that the situation would be resolved soon. (Isaacson, 2011, p. 324) Once again they had
difficulties determine who was really running the company.
1997-2011
Steve Jobs absolutely had a knack for his innovativeness and knowing how to make a
profit. In this period as CEO he certainly exhibited this ability. During the stockholders call in
2011 it was announced that for the 2nd quarter they posted revenue of $24.67 billion and net
profit of $5.99 billion. Steve Jobs stated during the call “With quarterly revenue growth of 83%
and profit growth of 95%, we’re firing on all cylinders” (apple.com). Unfortunately it was also
during this same period that Jobs’ started having health problems. He was diagnosed with cancer
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and had several periods when he needed to be away from the company to deal with his personal
health. During this time Tim Cook stepped in as acting CEO but Jobs was always in the
background. He fully stepped down in 2011 and Cook stepped in.
CEOs’ leadership style
Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 and became CEO in 1997. He was more than just
another CEO trying to improve upon a corporation. He was an icon, symbol and reminder of
how the company was started and the innovations that they accomplished. For what reason, he
already had a jump start on inspiring his workers to produce results. Add to that his incredibly
insightful ability to know what people wanted in designs and he was a force to be reckoned with.
When he created the “Think Different” ads and the iMac in his first year people knew that they
were back on track being innovative.
He still had yet to prove his leadership skills. That is where he really failed the first time
and where he needed to prove himself. He admitted to being somewhat of a bully and tyrant the
first time around. I think he was still very controlling and demanding but time (and health) had
put things in perspective for him. I think he worked harder to have more intellectual conflicts
instead of one sided tirades. An intellectual conflict is the thought that we are going to have this
verbal argument, and we aren’t going to hit each other, and both of us will get certain rewards for
participating in this flexing of our intellectual muscles (Hocker & Wilmot, 2011, p. 23). It was
how he originally worked but it was only the truly strong and dominant individuals that could
compete and put up with that type of environment. This time I think he tempered it which
created an even more innovative environment than before. Significantly more lessons are
learned from challenging assignments than from any other event cluster, and different
assignments sharpen different leadership abilities (Velsor, et al., 2010, p. 69). Everyone will
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fully admit that he brought the best out of them. I do think that his extremely strong, energetic
(and yet, pushy) personality made all of them exceed beyond what they thought was possible.
Strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s leadership throughout the period
I think the strength was that the culture never really changed from the type of culture
Steve Jobs’ promoted when the company was first started. By putting him at the helm, the
leadership was finally on the same page with the rest of the organization. I don’t think that any
of the previous CEO’s successfully changed that “renegade, again the establishment” type
atmosphere. The dark side of Apple’s Peter Pan corporate culture has been its rejection of “adult
supervision.” In fairly quick succession it rejected John Sculley, the re-born technology
visionary; Michael Spindler, the insider, and Gilbert Amelio, the well-intended rescuer. All of
which, until now, has deprived Apple of sustained leadership-a necessity for building a great
company (Champy, 1998, pp. 6).
The weaknesses are more difficult for me because I can point out the flaws of Jobs very
easily. The problem is that those weaknesses did not seem to have a negative impact on him or
the company. He was extremely aggressive, arrogant, and harsh when dealing with staff, media,
& competitors. And yet, it is impossible to deny the results that he obtained throughout this
period. When asking what motivates employees, 500 managers ranked “recognition for good
work” as # 1. They were wrong. A multiyear study of workers marked progress as #1 (Amabile
et al., 2010). Perhaps this is what I have been struggling with all along. People put up with all
of his negative behavior because he did produce progress and that is everyone’s goal.
2011 to present
With Steve Jobs passing came a lot of questions and concerns. He had grown the
company at an astonishing rate and everyone, rightfully so, is curious if Tim Cook, the current
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CEO will have the same magical touch as Jobs. He certainly has posted the results. In the
stockholder call announcing first quarter 2013 results they posted quarterly revenue of $54.5
billion and a net profit of $13.1 billion. That is considerably better than at any other time in
Apple’s history. Time Cook stated on the call that “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over
$54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter. We’re very confidence
in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in
the world.” (apple.com). It is recognized that much of these results were set up during Jobs’
tenure but it appears that Cook is continuing the success, dedication, and innovativeness of his
predecessor. Time will be the true test.
CEOs’ leadership style
Mr. Cook is a completely different leader then Steve Jobs. Cook is a better
communicator than Jobs was and he has been much more forthcoming to the board and staff
about where they are and what they are planning for the future. Jobs liked to keep things very
compartmentalized. Not only did it give him a little more control but more importantly, it also
kept secrets safe until their unveiling. This was an important strategy for Jobs and Apple.
The other difference is the lack of cockiness that came with Apple under Jobs. Jobs had
many times said that the customer didn’t know what they wanted until he told them. He also was
known to respond the same way to customer complaints. When the iPhone 4 came out and a
customer complained about the reception his response was “just avoid holding it that way”
(Bradshaw, 2012, p. 17). That is not the same response Cook has given about the problems with
the Maps app. He issued a company apology signed by him for the problem. One analyst said
“I’m not saying Tim is less of a perfectionist, but he seems to be a bit more detached and realizes
that saying sorry is the right thing to do, not just to show respect for your users, but from a
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business perspective.” (Bradshaw, 2012, p. 17) To also show the difference, he insisted that the
team also be involved in the apology. When Scott Forstall, Head of Mobile Software, refused to
sign the letter, he was let go. This may seem harsh but I think it is an extremely telling signal to
the rest of the company that Cook is no push-over and they are all going to be part of the same
team.
Strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s leadership throughout the period
Cook has several strengths when leading Apple. He is wholeheartedly being endorsed by
the board and the shareholders which is a great start. He worked side by side with Jobs and I do
believe that he got the best from him. At this point Jobs recognized that he would need to work
with someone to ensure that the company that he birthed himself would live on. He is not the
same person and that could be a good thing if the employees and board embraces it. He has a
quieter personality and I think he will expect that of his employees. That is not to say that he is
laid back by any means. In a recent scuttle with his leadership team a few individuals have left
the company. The shake-up demonstrates Mr. Cook’s resolve to tackle thorny personnel issues
that Mr. Jobs let fester (Lessin, 2012). I see this being a scary but necessary move for Apple.
Those same people that backed Jobs were an important part of the culture within Apple. They
produced the amazing technology that they have. But if they can’t get over the fact that Jobs is
no longer in charge and that they have to embrace something else, they do need to be gone. It is
a tough decision but everyone has to be on the same page in order to be successful.
The real question will be in keeping the innovation and culture alive. Jobs had many
faults but in this one aspect he truly excelled. Keeping the priority on the innovation, focusing
on the select few and reigning in the many personalities within Apple will be a challenge. Cook
needs to find a way to inspire his team like Jobs did and convince them all to be the visionaries
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that they were in the past. The company had an incredibly charismatic, visionary leader but he
did not do it alone.
Personal Experience
This has been an amazing corporation to research. They have produced many amazing
products and have had a wealth of the most talented and intelligent engineers throughout the
world work for them at some time or another. They have also had changes come about in their
leadership throughout their history. For me, this was something that hit very close to home. I
also work for a company with very fast growth. I have seen firsthand how difficult it is to
manage growth in such short time spans. It is difficult to hang on to the culture and values of
that small company when your pace is so rapid. I think that all of the leaders were working so
hard to manage the growth and innovation that they simply were not working as hard on
managing the culture of their company. It sounds simple but I can understand how difficult it is.
Because of our large growth, I have had 8 leaders in two short years. I have been lucky that each
have kept to the very strong vision, values and mission of the company. But with each change
comes a new leader with new initiatives, strengths, and weaknesses. All have been very good in
their own right but it takes time and focus away from priorities to get everyone on the same page.
I think the biggest take-away for me was not in the lack of talent of any one of the leaders but in
the lack of alignment with their own culture that made Apple struggle.
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