Why Apple hasn't collapsed in its 8th year away from Steve Jobs?

1. The Jobs Stay Puzzle

Many businesses, at one time or another, have faced the dilemma that after the founder passes away, the business can quickly fall into depression, mediocrity, and ultimately death.

For example, after the death of Walt Disney, Disney, the oldest animation company, could no longer produce great animated films until it acquired Pixar, and the company was slowly revitalized.

Sony, Japan's largest consumer electronics company, seemed to have lost its soul after founder Akio Morita lost his mind, and its ability to innovate greatly diminished, even to the brink of bankruptcy at one point.

After the death of Steve Jobs, many people also worried that Apple, would suffer from"Founder Dependency"The

In fact, on the eve of Jobs' death, he himself worried about this.

He was serving as a director of Disney at the time and knew how badly the company had fallen into after losing its powerful founder, Walt Disney.

As a result, he has been giving his colleagues around him, and especially his chosen heir apparent Tim Cook, a heads-up that Apple must not be allowed to fall into a Disney-like quagmire.

That was the first problem he gave his successor, Cook.

Years later, Cook stood at the same lectern where Jobs once stood - the Stanford commencement - and recalled the pressure he felt at the time:

"I have never felt such a tremendous sense of loneliness in my life."

In fact, at the time, almost no one was bullish on Cook, and many believed that Jobs' death was the beginning of Apple's decline.

Lately, Booklist has been readingLeander KaniwritingsBiography of Tim CookIn his book, the veteran journalist, who has watched Apple closely for nearly 20 years, chronicles Cook's persona and how he handled this conundrum left by Jobs.

After reading the book, Booklist realized that perhaps most of us have underestimated the taciturn Cook.

Now that Apple has gone through its 8th year without Steve Jobs, it has not only not declined, but has become more and more prosperous, with a market capitalization exceeding a trillion dollars, doubling its profits and doubling its revenues.

And Cook, the hero behind the legend.

So, how exactly did he do it?

That said, before Cook even officially took the stage, there were many experts, including Apple users, giving Cook ideas.

The idea most people give is: imitate Steve Jobs.

This reference, unfortunately, was dismissed by Jobs himself before it even got started.

Toward the end of his life, he told Cook that he didn't want the company to make decisions thinking about "what Steve Jobs would think".

This is not only because Steve Jobs has always been a proponent of "don't live for others", but also because he knew better than anyone.Steve Jobs simply cannot be imitated.

Bill Gates once half-joked about it:

"Don't imitate Steve Jobs so easily, many people only learn his asshole side but not his genius side."

If you can't imitate Steve Jobs, how about finding a different "Cook model" to replace the "Jobs model"?

It seems like that's all that's going to happen.

But Cook knows thatSteve Jobs can't be imitated, in fact, more irreplaceable, at least in a decade or two, Steve Jobs will definitely be the absolute spiritual pillar of Apple.

Taking this pillar away would be tantamount to taking the soul out of Apple, and would only lead the company to rapid mediocrity and death.

Cook was faced with such a "paradox": he could not imitate Steve Jobs, but must continue the charm of Steve Jobs.

Contrary to all expectations, Cook danced a marvelous ballet on the tightrope of this "paradox".

2. The "Steve Jobs myth"

On the surface, that is to say, in all public occasions, Cook has been playing the role of Jobs' number one fan, everywhere the only thing Jobs looks up to.

He said Steve Jobs is the constitution of Apple, and then he said he is the DNA of Apple, and every time he added words like "always", "should", "must" to show his absolute obedience and loyalty to Mr. Joe. Jobs' absolute obedience and loyalty to the master.

In 2017, a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter asked him what Steve Jobs' legacy was, and he said "all of Apple, and the validity of that answer is forever", adding that "the DNA of Steve Jobs will always be the foundation of Apple", and that "Steve Jobs is Apple's constitution, its guide, which can never be changed and must be respected".

He touted Steve Jobs to the point of knee-jerk licking, not at all like a business leader in business, but like an oily politician voting for his predecessor.

Just listening to these lines, you'd think that Cook has no personality and is a puppet of Steve Jobs.

I thought at first that this might perhaps be a sign of Cook's genuine admiration and love for Jobs; after all, he even offered to donate his liver to Jobs during his serious illness.

But after reading this biography of Tim Cook, as well as a great deal of material, I realized that Cook's touting is far more complicated than we thought.

Cook's admiration and love for the Joes genuinely can't be said to be absent, of course, but the more important reason is that Cook has long since come to the profound realization that theFor Apple, Steve Jobs can not, but the "Steve Jobs myth" must not.

All of his seemingly politicized bluster is designed to maintain the "Steve Jobs myth".

A more obvious manifestation is that his evaluation of all the biographies and articles that undermine the "Steve Jobs myth" are all negative, either saying that what they write is "nonsense", or outright denounced as "bullshit! ".

You read that right, Cook, who is mild-mannered on other occasions, was just so rude in his wording on this.

For example, in 2014, former Wall Street Journal columnist Yukari Ivatani Kane spent three years interviewing nearly 200 people to write "An Empire in Trouble: Apple Without Steve Jobs," which Cook described as "bullshit.

The best-known Steve Jobs biography on the market today, Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs, is, in his opinion, "hogwash".

Jobs' neighbor, close friend, "Fortune" magazine cover story reporter Brent Schlander, and Jobs know more than twenty years, longer than Cook know Jobs, he wrote "Becoming Steve Jobs", should be said to be very high credibility, but in the eyes of Cook, is still "bullshit".

In fact, Cook does not want the public to know the real Steve Jobs, only want to leave the public a "deified Steve Jobs".

Because he knew that Steve Jobs left Apple's biggest legacy, which is the "Steve Jobs myth", as well as the countless crazy followers and consumers behind.

If this myth is busted, then with the death of Steve Jobs, Apple must be in a soulless state.

Now, eight years after the mythic protagonist's death, the myth remains intact, with the greatest credit going to none other than Cook.

3. Lizzi

So, Cook, who touted Jobs so much on the stage, even treating him as Apple's "constitution", is really the only one who looks up to Jobs in practice?

It's safe to say that's not the case. Unlike the blow-by-blow from the stage, Cook's management style is that of Cook's own style, not a poor imitation.

For example, in 2012, Apple Maps had serious problems and was named the most embarrassing and least useful software ever. For the first time ever, Cook, as Apple's CEO, publicly apologized to users, acknowledging the problem and promising improvements.

Putting down the pride and admitting mistakes to users is a typical "anti-Jobs" move. You know, in 2010, even if the iPhone 4 as serious as the "signal door" incident, Steve Jobs has not apologized.