APPLE: WHAT IS STEVE JOBS UP TO?
On September 13, 1985, after financial troubles and boardroom maneuvering, Steve Jobs resigned from Apple Computer. Shortly thereafter, he founded NeXT with a few other former Apple employees. At the end of 1996, Apple acquired NeXT, and Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor.
In March 1997, Peter Burrows of BusinessWeek magazine wrote a piece on Jobs’s return. It’s an interesting look at business decisions, politics, and personal relationships from fifteen years ago:
As [then Apple CEO Gil] Amelio hunts for $400 million in expense cuts, he’s following Jobs’ advice by targeting Apple’s advanced research group. Jobs argued hard for cutbacks, saying Apple should use its best brains to build snazzy new Mac products rather than futuristic gee-whiz technologies. Apple managers say Amelio is now considering slashing the advanced R&D group, which spent $30 million last year, by more than 50%. “The whole focus is to get lean, mean teams doing great things again,” says one manager. “That’s the Steve Jobs influence, and that’s good.”
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In early February, for example, Jobs sat through a detailed review of an advertising campaign backed by Amelio. He listened intently, then launched into a speech about why advertising was a waste of money given the bad press that still plagues Apple. Amelio still approved the media campaign. “Gil doesn’t take all of Steve’s advice or all of anyone’s advice,” says Fred D. Anderson, Apple’s chief financial officer. “With all due respect, we have some seasoned executives here.” As for Jobs’s popularity at Apple, if Amelio is ruffled, he isn’t showing it. “If the price for getting Apple healthy is involving Steve…I’m O.K. with that. I’m a big boy,” he says.
Besides, Amelio says he’s all for getting tougher himself. He concedes he underestimated the challenge of reining in Apple’s unruly culture. “I didn’t realize it, but people would listen to me, say ‘Gee, that was a nice speech,’ and go do what they wanted,” says Amelio, 54, who came to Apple from National Semiconductor Corp. “This time, I’m going to use the two-by-four approach. I’m going to put this place through the most gut-wrenching change it’s ever had.”
I really liked the introduction:
On the wall of a cubicle in Apple Computer Inc.’s Infinite Loop engineering campus hangs a picture of Steven P. Jobs, the 41-year-old high-tech superstar and legendary Apple co-founder. Above the photograph are the words: “I was here when Steve came back.” In the adjoining cubicle, the same picture is tacked up on the wall with the caption: “He’ll be here when Gil leaves.”
Although the best part of the article is easily this quote:
“People keep trying to suck me in,” says Jobs. “They want me to be some kind of Superman. But I have no desire to run Apple Computer. I deny it at every turn, but nobody believes me.”
This article was published in March 1997. In July 1997, Jobs would stage a coup to oust Amelio as CEO of Apple, and in September Jobs became the interim CEO.