Jobs: If you are a VP, you’re not a janitor anymore

Apple has been surfing on the giant wave of success for quite a few years now, as we all know. Basically, since Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, the company is doing better and better making more profit every business quarter.

Many say that Jobs’ way of leading the company and his way to work with all his employees is the key to the company’s success. His ingenious and perfectionist mind as well as his discipline and the discipline he requires from everyone of his worker-bees is said to be unique.

A little piece of information about how Jobs talks to newly promoted Vice Presidents proves just that.

Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky claims to know the key part of the conversation Jobs has with every new VP of Apple Inc. According to the journalist, Jobs tries to make the new VP understand what kind of importance and degree of responsibility he now has, by comparing him to a janitor or cleaner.

The CEO tells them that janitors are allowed to have excuses for not doing his job. If the excuse is reasonable, Jobs will understand and accept it. But if you are a VP, Jobs doesn’t care about any excuses for any mistakes or unfinished jobs.

“When you’re the janitor, reasons matter, […]”
“Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering,”

And that crucial boundary, for Jobs, is

“crossed when you become a VP.”

Article Via San Francisco Gate
Photo Credit: Publishing Services

I'm a writer and student from Germany, interested in all things Apple. I'm passionate about (new) technology and enjoy living in the day and age where the development of cool new things seems to be faster than my three year old MacBook. I tweet about pretty much everything as @ener