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Jobs' departure, though hopefully temporary, had to happen sooner or later

Written by: Dennis Sellers

Article Overview: Whether or not Steve Jobs is leaving Apple temporarily or not (and I'm betting this is the beginning of a long-term transfer of leadership), the iconic leader will leave the company sooner or later. And it's time people accepted this.

Jobs' departure, though hopefully temporary, had to happen sooner or later

I'm not shocked but was saddened with the recent announcement that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence (purportedly for six months) and Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is taking over day-to-day operations at Apple.

Obviously, there's gloom and doom forecasters out there who note that Apple went to hell in a handbasket years ago after Jobs' first departure. And Apple's stockwas halted shortly before Apple released an email that Jobs sent to employees outlining his decision. When the stock resumed trading, it was down more than 10 percent in after-hours trading.

Of course, our favorite CEO isn't stepping down as CEO and says he hopes to return in June. I hope he does and, being a religious man, I'll pray for his good health. However, whether he returns or not, at some point in time, whether this year or 10 years from now, Apple will have to carry on without Jobs. Any company whose success depends entirely on one man is doomed to eventual failure.

The first time Jobs left Apple, he was ousted. This time around those carrying the load (whether for the short or long term) have been hand picked by Apple. Let's hope that they share his vision and goals.

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Article Tags: 10 years, apple ceo, chief operating officer, email, eventual failure, forecasters, gloom and doom, good health, hell, leave of absence, medical leave of absence, point in time, religious man, six months, steve jobs, stock, tim cook, time jobs



Related Forum Posts
Re: Citizen Journalism: There's no such thing - This clearly shows that if Steve Jobs sneezes the price of the stock will drop. Since Apple is a great company why do they have to link the rise and fall of the stock to one man? So eventually when Steve passes on what is going to happen to Apples stock?
Re: Citizen Journalism: There's no such thing - [quote="ideasuniversity":2zpdpyk9]This clearly shows that if Steve Jobs sneezes the price of the stock will drop. Since Apple is a great company why do they have to link the rise and fall of the stock to one man? So eventually when Steve passes on what is going to happen to Apples stock?[/quote:2zpdpyk9] That's a very good point. He needs to appoint a successor now or in some way affirm that the company will exist even if he goes under!
Re: Forum Issues - What happened to the EC.com Forum branding? is this temporary?
Re: What works for you? - Hi, There is an old saying and it goes something like ‘if you love what you do then you never work a day in your life’ and I firmly believe that. When I was fifteen years old I took a temporary job as a whitesmith which meant I had to select different lengths and pieces of iron and cut them, grind them, drill and finish them off and I used to get all my days work in the morning and worked until finishing time and I loved it. Why you might ask, this was a temporary job and a stepping stone for me but I was doing a job I enjoyed, I had responsibility without a boss breathing down my neck but at the end of the day I had made several important pieces of machinery that were all my own work. Before I was sixteen I changed to my chosen profession which was an electrical engineer and moved thru the ranks until I became a manager with all the pressure and responsibility that can bring so I was unable to ‘enjoy’ the work and eventually left to pursue my own business. I suppose that is why we all want to be independent and maybe work from home because we will get back that bit of enjoyment and independence that we once had when we were young and before all life’s pressures and responsibilities were placed upon us. just my thoughts, regards, Mal.
Re: What If Steve Jobs Hadn't Returned To Apple In 1997? - Thanks for sharing with us Yinko. Steve Jobs is definitely a visionary. Not only his products are innovative in a technological sense, but he's managed to turn a tech-company's products into a lifestyle.... a lifestyle!! [quote:zfqoq43n]Fast Forward to today. Apple has the sexiest products in the business: iMacs, Macbooks, iPhones, iPods and more.[/quote:zfqoq43n] I think not only tech would be different (music players and phones), but ways we can think of marketing and branding. What Steve Jobs did was of course no easy task for the smaller businesses, but he did start somewhere. What I did not know was that Apple is worth about as much as Google. How do you think Apple accomplish what they did? In terms of strategy wise? If you could advice Steve on one thing, what would it be?


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