Most of us in the Apple news business know that Apple’s been going to great lengths to ensure that the company is in great hands if/when Steve Jobs decides to leave the company behind and retire. With strong leadership, and a huge war chest, most believe the company will be set up for success in the long run.
But, just because they’re in good hands now doesn’t mean that the company can’t do a little bit more to make sure that the Jobsian philosophy is deeply entrenched in the company from top to bottom.
According to Business Insider, Apple has set up internal management classes, taught by top executives like Tim Cook and Ron Johnson, and created by ex-dean of Yale’s school of management, as well as Harvard professor Richard Tedlow.
While it seems bizarre on the surface, after thinking on it for a bit, it sounds like a great way to educate management and further explain to them how some of the top executives handle the decisions they make on a daily basis.
According to the article, the company prepares case studies of major decisions that Apple executives have made throughout their history, such as why they decided to build Apple retail stores, or focus on having one factory in China manufacture the iPhone, and then they discuss them in class.
Man, would I love to be a fly on the wall in those classes. While this is interesting news in and of itself, it may also be a bit of an indicator that Apple’s bracing for the major change when Jobs decides it’s time to retire. Clearly they’re doing everything in their power to make sure that Apple remains the Apple that many have grown to love.
Article Via Business Insider
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Not amazing. Good business, but not amazing. Done all the time in great companies- one of the CEO's most important tasks is finding, developing talent. This is one way it gets done. And another reason Apple rocks. That people find this amazing, is to me, well, amazing. What it is, is cool.
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LikeI assume that these classes would give them the insight to revolutionize a market. There must be some secret sauce that determines when it is the right time to introduce something like the iPod, iPhone, or ipad. The other danger of successful companies is te time to know when to change the way you do business. Many successful companies missed the changing of the guard. I wonder if anyone would have the balls to correctly question something that steve jobs set in motion. For example, the decree that flash is bad. In reality, he probably mention that flash sucks in the mobile place right now. Sometime in the future you have to think that there has to be a time where flash would work quite well in the mobile space, but there are many factors in thus decision.
Overall, I too would love to be a fly on the wall in one of these meetings.
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