Joke of fate
In the spring of 1985, Apple’s board of directors decided not to let Steve Jobs serve them.
Fate made a joke with these men (they are all male). Although they fired the combative Jobs, a few years later, this "upstart" who was fired by them at first eclipsed them in many ways. One of the most famous is that Apple's market value surpassed Microsoft two weeks ago to become the world's most valuable technology company.
A quarter of a century ago, Sculley became an important villain in the biggest soap opera in the technology industry. In 1983, Apple's board of directors recruited Sculley, who was then an executive at Pepsi-Cola, to serve as CEO, responsible for managing Jobs and leading Apple's growth. Scully is to Jobs what Eric Schmidt is to Google's two co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. As a marketing wizard who successfully launched the "Pepsi Challenge" series of ads, Sculley not only had to deal with the sluggish sales of Macintosh computers, but also set some rules for the chaotic creative atmosphere that Jobs created. Scully discovered that he could not restrain Jobs. Therefore, he decided to let Jobs leave.
Today, Sculley appreciates all the achievements that Jobs led Apple to achieve, and he still regrets what happened back then. "I haven't spoken to Steve for more than 20 years." Scully said. "Although he has never spoken to me, and I hope he never said it, I still admire him greatly."
Restore the historical environment
Of course, today, 25 years later, people will definitely think that firing Jobs was an obvious stupidity. Since returning to the charge of Apple's commander in 1997, Jobs has become the most respected CEO in the world. He stepped onto the stage of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this Monday to show loyal Apple fans the latest generation of iPhones. A series of successful products launched by Jobs-including iPhone, iPod and iPad-reshaped the entire industry.
Dismissing Jobs may not be a wise move, but in the first place, it was far from condemned. At the time, Jobs was in charge of the department where Macintosh computers were located, but sales in that department had stagnated a year earlier. Scully clashed with Jobs because of this. Therefore, Sculley and Apple's board of directors relieved Jobs of his duties in the Mac computer department, and only let him symbolically serve as chairman.
Today, the transformative role of personal computer technology has been widely accepted, and it also reflects the reality that the potential of the eccentric founder is a valuable asset for the company. Companies such as Google and Facebook have achieved great success by relying on these visionary talents. But Apple's board of directors did not have any examples for reference.
graffiti at Rockefeller’s house
As one of the Apple directors, Peter O. Crisp is currently the general partner of Venrock Associates, a venture capital company founded by the Rockefeller family. In an interview with "Daily Beast", Crisp recalled how difficult it was for Jobs and Apple's early employees. They were unapologetic even after the graffiti of David Rockefeller's residence.
Crisp said that to celebrate Apple's IPO (initial public offering), Rockefeller held a cocktail party and invited Apple management and some bankers to attend. The next day, Rockefeller told Crisp that he enjoyed gatherings with Jobs and other Apple executives, but he added: “Tell them not to put the Apple logo on the bathroom mirror next year.” Apple Some of its loyal employees seem to carry stickers with Apple's color logo.
Like Scully, Crisp affirmed the success that Jobs brought to Apple. He said: "After Steve's return, he did lead Apple to make good progress along the road in recent years." However, the expulsion of Jobs was still a sensitive topic, so Crisp did not directly discuss this issue. . After serving on Apple's board of directors for 16 years, Crisp officially resigned in 1996.
Scully’s "confession"
Scully said that he accepts his own responsibilities, but he also believes that Apple’s board of directors should understand that Jobs should be the manager. "My feeling is that if we find different responsibilities, then the relationship between Jobs and me may never break." He said, "Perhaps he should be the CEO and I should be the president. These should all be in advance. Arranged, and this is what a good board should do."
Scully’s biggest regret now is that he didn’t try to invite Jobs back when he was unable to be the CEO. For Sculley, this may help Apple avoid years of turmoil. "I really want to go back in time and say to Jobs,'Hey, I'm leaving, this is your company. Let's find a way to get you back.'" Scully said, "I don't know when I was Why didn't you think so."
Arthur Rock, a venture capitalist who helped found Intel, also served as a director of Apple. In his opinion, Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Steve Wozniak) were "very Unobtrusive person". When he talked about the history of venture capital at the University of California, Berkeley, he said: "Just like now, Jobs will wear Levi's jeans to work. But the situation at that time was very different from now. I remember that he kept goats. Hu He has long hair and just went to India for 6 months. He may be exploring the meaning of life. I'm not sure, but he must have not bathed in a long time." Locke declined to comment, and Apple did not comment on this. Response.
After ousting Jobs, Apple is trying to show the outside world that even without the co-founder and visionary helm, they can still restore the status quo. The 1985 Apple Annual Report is a very eye-catching document, with a large statement printed on the cover: "We have to act quickly. We did, and the effect is gradually showing up." For the text of the report, Apple adopted a defensive strategy and provided copies of some forged internal memos (according to the report, this "is actually not a memo" but "represents the real communication of management"). These forged memos are all postmarked and written by Sculley himself. It also contains the content of another executive requesting reorganization. The executive wrote: "I very much agree! Let's talk-John."
Apple will go further
To be fair, the "Jobs Gospel" is now very clear. But in 1985, even high-tech enthusiasts were exploring the use of "home computers." Word processing and building a menu database were the most popular options at the time. Jobs believed at the time that personal computer technology can leverage the energy of our brains, "just like a bicycle of our thinking." This also prompted him to develop his vision for Apple products wholeheartedly. But these dreams have indeed surpassed their era, and it is indeed irresponsible for shareholders to face losses.
Apple's board of directors have already left one after another, and a group of new directors, including former US President Al Gore, have joined. At the same time, Jobs can bathe in the warm sunset and enjoy the new round of praise from "Apple's market value surpasses Microsoft" and the launch of the new iPhone. "Apple has earned both fame and fortune," Scully said: "Steve's strict adherence to the norms that he used back then is the same. Now, he is wiser and has become a better corporate manager. "
"I guess," Scully added: "Apple will not only surpass Microsoft in market value, it will go further."
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