Accepting the hypothesis that he adopted an abrasive public persona in which he says crude things as a personal marketing technique, and doesn't actually believ

Accepting the hypothesis that he adopted an abrasive public persona in which he says crude things as a personal marketing technique, and doesn't actually believe the things he said about the value of women, the failure here is that neither he nor Apple predicted the fairly-obvious need for him to pivot away from that persona. A bit of public commentary along the lines of "I was trying to exaggerate what I saw as the flaws of this system, to draw attention to them; I know now that this approach didn't work for many people, and I'm sorry about that", and the upset of his imminent coworkers might have been diverted. But just being caught by surprise by it? Definitely someone screwed up. (The email to that journalist linked elsewhere is evidence that said hypothesis might be flawed. Certainly, the apparent unwillingness to make anodyne "I'm sorry for my past actions" comments is suggestive on that front.)