7 ms·

Steve Jobs wore a lot of hats (ruthless tastemaker and keynote impresario among them) not because the CEO must hold these roles but because he happened to be be

by irons 15y ago

Steve Jobs wore a lot of hats (ruthless tastemaker and keynote impresario among them) not because the CEO must hold these roles but because he happened to be best at them. Arguing that they must be held by the guy with the organizational power to fire anyone is daft. No one person replaces Steve Jobs. Tim Cook and Jony Ive know it.

donnyg107 15y ago
Agreed. And even further, Jony's ability to deliver a keynote tastefully does not indicate to me that he shares Job's talent for vision and taste.
rockarage 15y ago
Someone has to be CEO and for the long term is Tim Cook really the best person for the job ? Steve Job is an irreplaceable part of Apple's lore, but that does not stop Jony Ive from making his own major mark. He already has a rich history of designing great products. To understand Aarons point better you have to watch Steve Jobs interview, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg . There he says the only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. Steve recognize some questions it's importance, he says having good taste is important for Apple. According to Steve having good taste is key to Apple's culture and success, Steve Jobs said it. A company can have great financial success without good taste, Steve Jobs said that about Microsoft. But as Aaron mentioned in the article that is not how Apple works. Tim Cook is great at operations, perhaps he should have stayed COO. The interesting move would be to appoint Jonathan Ive's as CEO. Of course to many that would seem unconventional and perhaps even risky. But that would be authentic Apple, that would be thinking different.
- niels_olson 15y ago
  Implicit in your argument is that Tim Cook doesn't have good taste. I suspect he does. After all, look at his choice of employment.
  - rockarage 15y ago
    He recognize good design but he does not have great design taste to make the tough calls. That only comes with experience of designing, building products. Steve has the design experience so does Ive. When presented with competing designs, he has to have great design vision to chose the one that would be the most successful. Being and editor is not easy.
    - replicatorblog 15y ago
      Well he has been "designing" right along side Steve and John for the past 13 years right? While he might be "just" an ops guy, I'd argue that as much (or more) of Apple's design brilliance comes from the willingness to embrace and invent new industrial processes rather than the radius of a curve on a design. The candy colored iMacs required inventive injection molding at the time. The Cube, Unibody Macbooks, the Air, iPad battery life, etc. As nice as the ID is, it is the willingness to invest in and incorporate new processes that makes Apple's design special. Given that we know almost nothing about the guy except that Steve picked him as his replacement, I'd say he'll do ok:)
      - philwelch 15y ago
        According to an interview with Jony Ive in Objectified, part of industrial design is designing the manufacturing process. Of course, implementing and enforcing that process involves the ops team. On your second point, you're almost certainly right. Aside from the appointment of a certain Mr. Sculley almost 30 years ago, Steve's track record in hiring the absolute best people to work with is as good as his track record in shepherding innovative products into the marketplace.
        replicatorblog 15y ago
        You are right that industrial designers should specify the manufacturing processes. That said, it is rare to see designers have SO much sway over how things get built.
  - 15y ago
- irons 15y ago
  Someone has to be CEO and for the long term is Tim Cook really the best person for the job ? Yes. It has nothing to do with his ability to critique a product design. Jobs was sui generis.
- philwelch 15y ago
  Jony Ive is a great designer, and I guess if there's any company other than an outright design firm where a designer could be CEO it's Apple, but there are lots of points against Ive. There's no sign he's ever run any other aspect of the company--his team designs the products and designs the manufacturing processes, but the software and hardware technology are completely separate from that. Cook has had his finger in every pie. I don't know that Jony has ever been as commanding as Steve or Tim. But most importantly, Jony Ive is such a good designer that he's needed in that role without the distractions of the CEO role. Tim as CEO can still do the COO job plus whatever additional duties come from being CEO. That's what he's done for over a year now, off and on as Steve has taken leave.
kmt 15y ago
Precisely. How do you see Jony Ive be the tough negotiator for example?
- rockarage 15y ago
  I see him being a tough negotiator simply because that's part of most designers experiences. Especially when you are starting out, people wanting you to work for free, or less money or they don't want to pay. You have the confidence of saying no and sticking to it. see: http://vimeo.com/22053820 http://vimeo.com/22053820
georgemcbay 15y ago
"ruthless tastemaker" either has to be the CEO or be someone with 100% unequivocal support of the CEO even in the face of unpopular decisions, which is such a rare situation that practically speaking, it kinda does have to be the CEO.
- philwelch 15y ago
  I think Tim Cook knows as well as anyone that Apple needs an executive tastemaker and is willing to give that person all the support they need.
  - dlevine 15y ago
    I sort of worry that it's hard for someone to be the executive tastemaker unless he is at the top. With operations types running the company, it will be difficult for any of the creative types to be heard. Steve Jobs is irreplaceable - I'm sure that Apple will continue to succeed for a while longer, but it will be quite difficult for them to anticipate the next disruptive shift in the industry...
  - richcollins 15y ago
    Who chooses the tastemaker? If that person doesn't have taste then the tastemaker won't either.
    - cpeterso 15y ago
      Steve did; he hired Jonathan Ive.
      - Gring 15y ago
        More precisely: he did not fire him. Ive was there before Jobs.

by irons 15y ago

donnyg107 15y ago

Agreed. And even further, Jony's ability to deliver a keynote tastefully does not indicate to me that he shares Job's talent for vision and taste.

rockarage 15y ago

Someone has to be CEO and for the long term is Tim Cook really the best person for the job ? Steve Job is an irreplaceable part of Apple's lore, but that does not stop Jony Ive from making his own major mark. He already has a rich history of designing great products. To understand Aarons point better you have to watch Steve Jobs interview, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOgOP_aqqtg . There he says the only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. Steve recognize some questions it's importance, he says having good taste is important for Apple. According to Steve having good taste is key to Apple's culture and success, Steve Jobs said it. A company can have great financial success without good taste, Steve Jobs said that about Microsoft. But as Aaron mentioned in the article that is not how Apple works. Tim Cook is great at operations, perhaps he should have stayed COO. The interesting move would be to appoint Jonathan Ive's as CEO. Of course to many that would seem unconventional and perhaps even risky. But that would be authentic Apple, that would be thinking different.

niels_olson 15y ago
Implicit in your argument is that Tim Cook doesn't have good taste. I suspect he does. After all, look at his choice of employment.
- rockarage 15y ago
  He recognize good design but he does not have great design taste to make the tough calls. That only comes with experience of designing, building products. Steve has the design experience so does Ive. When presented with competing designs, he has to have great design vision to chose the one that would be the most successful. Being and editor is not easy.
  - replicatorblog 15y ago
    Well he has been "designing" right along side Steve and John for the past 13 years right? While he might be "just" an ops guy, I'd argue that as much (or more) of Apple's design brilliance comes from the willingness to embrace and invent new industrial processes rather than the radius of a curve on a design. The candy colored iMacs required inventive injection molding at the time. The Cube, Unibody Macbooks, the Air, iPad battery life, etc. As nice as the ID is, it is the willingness to invest in and incorporate new processes that makes Apple's design special. Given that we know almost nothing about the guy except that Steve picked him as his replacement, I'd say he'll do ok:)
    - philwelch 15y ago
      According to an interview with Jony Ive in Objectified, part of industrial design is designing the manufacturing process. Of course, implementing and enforcing that process involves the ops team. On your second point, you're almost certainly right. Aside from the appointment of a certain Mr. Sculley almost 30 years ago, Steve's track record in hiring the absolute best people to work with is as good as his track record in shepherding innovative products into the marketplace.
      - replicatorblog 15y ago
        You are right that industrial designers should specify the manufacturing processes. That said, it is rare to see designers have SO much sway over how things get built.
- 15y ago
irons 15y ago
Someone has to be CEO and for the long term is Tim Cook really the best person for the job ? Yes. It has nothing to do with his ability to critique a product design. Jobs was sui generis.
philwelch 15y ago
Jony Ive is a great designer, and I guess if there's any company other than an outright design firm where a designer could be CEO it's Apple, but there are lots of points against Ive. There's no sign he's ever run any other aspect of the company--his team designs the products and designs the manufacturing processes, but the software and hardware technology are completely separate from that. Cook has had his finger in every pie. I don't know that Jony has ever been as commanding as Steve or Tim. But most importantly, Jony Ive is such a good designer that he's needed in that role without the distractions of the CEO role. Tim as CEO can still do the COO job plus whatever additional duties come from being CEO. That's what he's done for over a year now, off and on as Steve has taken leave.

kmt 15y ago

Precisely. How do you see Jony Ive be the tough negotiator for example?

rockarage 15y ago
I see him being a tough negotiator simply because that's part of most designers experiences. Especially when you are starting out, people wanting you to work for free, or less money or they don't want to pay. You have the confidence of saying no and sticking to it. see: http://vimeo.com/22053820 http://vimeo.com/22053820

georgemcbay 15y ago

"ruthless tastemaker" either has to be the CEO or be someone with 100% unequivocal support of the CEO even in the face of unpopular decisions, which is such a rare situation that practically speaking, it kinda does have to be the CEO.

philwelch 15y ago
I think Tim Cook knows as well as anyone that Apple needs an executive tastemaker and is willing to give that person all the support they need.
- dlevine 15y ago
  I sort of worry that it's hard for someone to be the executive tastemaker unless he is at the top. With operations types running the company, it will be difficult for any of the creative types to be heard. Steve Jobs is irreplaceable - I'm sure that Apple will continue to succeed for a while longer, but it will be quite difficult for them to anticipate the next disruptive shift in the industry...
- richcollins 15y ago
  Who chooses the tastemaker? If that person doesn't have taste then the tastemaker won't either.
  - cpeterso 15y ago
    Steve did; he hired Jonathan Ive.
    - Gring 15y ago
      More precisely: he did not fire him. Ive was there before Jobs.