The Steve Jobs effect: Former Apple employees say culture changed for the worse after Jobs
THE iconic co-founder of Apple Steve Jobs was certainly one of a kind.
He was known for his volatility and angry outbursts almost as much as he was for his vision and attention to detail. But according to former Apple employees, it’s been the latter that is sorely missing from the company in recent years.
Steve Jobs passed away in 2011 after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly a decade. He was succeeded by current CEO Tim Cook and two employees who worked under both men have spoken publicly about the different culture
Under Steve Jobs, Apple ushered in groundbreaking products such as the original Mac, the first mass-produced computer mouse, and of course, the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
But since taking over the world’s most valuable company, Tim Cook has had to deal with whispers that Apple has lost its innovation mojo.
Speaking to NPR this week, two former employees seemed to agree.
Bob Burrough is a software engineer and a manager who worked on the team that helped create the iPhone. He said that with the co-founder at the helm, every employee was encouraged to take personal responsibility for improving the products.
Under Jobs, “it was all about we’re all working towards the same goal,” Mr Burrough said. “We’re all working on the same product and if there’s something that you see that needs to get done you basically just stepped in and took care of it.”
He recounted a story about realising thousands of iPod Nanos from the very first shipment had accidentally had their batteries drained. So he informed the distribution centre and made them pull them all out of the boxes and charge every one of them before they were sent to the customer.
Jobs’ strict attention to detail and devotion to the product seemed to permeate through the staff.
But the culture has apparently changed under new leadership, according to Mr Burrough.
Instead when encountering a problem “the way that I was expected to deal with it was shut my mouth and do my job, and take care of whatever my assigned responsibility was,” he said. “Not worry about what others were doing.”
Mr Burrough left Apple in 2014 and thinks the culture shift has affected the products because employees feel less personally invested in them.
Another former Apple employee, Bryson Gardner, shared a similar sentiment with NPR. He worked at Apple for nearly a decade and was one of the team leaders for the iPod and iPhone development.
Steve Jobs, he said, loved to foster debate about how to make the product better. He would invite lively debates before making a decision.
“His clarity of vision was very effective,” Gardner says. “It actually made my job very easy in retrospect.”
On the other hand, Tim Cook is simply a different — more traditional — kind of CEO and tended to build consensus in a more pragmatic way, Mr Gardner said.
These days the iPhone brings in 70 per cent of Apple’s revenue and all eyes will be on the company for its impending launch of the iPhone 8 — the 10th anniversary of the device.
Apple is expected to launch the new flagship smartphone in September, with analysts and fans alike hoping for big things.
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview66:41
For 17 years thought to be lost, this candid in-depth interview with the late visionary was filmed in 1995. Steve Jobs discusses his early days, career battles and vision for the future, just two years before he would retake control of Apple.
Originally published as The Steve Jobs culture at Apple
