And Apple's market capitalization has exceeded Microsoft's, a journalist from The Daily Beast spoke with former Apple Computer executive John Sculley, who drove Jobs out of Apple in disgrace. Sculley talked about the breakdown of his relationship with Jobs and how the relationship could have been saved. He is now confident that Jobs should have become Sculley's CEO and boss, and not the other way around. Other people who sat on Apple's board in 1985 also spoke to The Daily Beast about what they thought of Jobs then and what they think now. We offer a translation of this article into Russian.
“In the annals of bad decisions, this ranks somewhere between the publishers' decision to reject the first Harry Potter book and baseball umpire Jim Joyce's decision that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Gallaraga a perfect game. [Note translator - for US residents this is roughly comparable to the goal scored by Tofik Bahramov in the final of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.] It was the spring of 1985, when the board of directors of Apple Computer decided that the company no longer needed the services of Steven Paul Jobs.
Fate dealt those who kicked Jobs, known for his cockiness, a decent pig out of the company. This upstart has already surpassed their achievements by several orders of magnitude. Well, two weeks ago, Apple, led by him, surpassed Microsoft in capitalization and became the most valuable technology company in the world.
The main villain in this twenty-five-year-old tech soap opera was John Sculley, a former Pepsi executive. Apple's board of directors appointed him as chief executive in 1983 to guide Jobs and grow the company. Currently, similar functions are performed by Eric Schmidt at Google under company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Sculley was a whiz at marketing. He is the initiator of the Pepsi Challenge campaign. His tasks included increasing sales of Macintosh computers, as well as combating the creative chaos generated by Jobs. Eventually, Sculley realized he couldn't rein Jobs in and fired him.
Sculley now believes that Apple got to where it is today solely because of Jobs, and regrets how things turned out. “I haven't spoken to Steve in 20-plus years,” Scully says. “But despite the fact that he doesn’t want to talk to me, and it’s unlikely he ever will, I truly admire him.”
Of course, twenty-five years later, firing Jobs seems like a crazy move. Taking the reins at Apple in 1997, Jobs is now the most respected CEO in the world. On June 7, he spoke at the Apple WWDC developer conference and introduced the new iPhone. The devices launched by Jobs - the iPhone, iPod and iPad - are changing entire industries.
However, although Jobs's dismissal was not a prescient decision, in 1985 it was treated with understanding. Sculley and Jobs clashed openly. Moreover, it was Jobs who headed the Macintosh division a year earlier, when sales of these computers fell sharply. Then Sculley and the board members took the division away from him, leaving him with the representative position of chairman of the board.
Today, no one will be surprised by the fact that personal computers have been able to change our lives. There is also no question about the existence of eccentric founders who give companies a much-needed spark. Companies like Google and Facebook have achieved success by keeping their visionary geniuses at the helm. However, Apple's board of directors did not have these examples before their eyes.
Another Apple board member at the time was Peter Crisp, a senior partner at Venrock Associates, an investment firm founded by the Rockefellers. In an interview, Crisp recalled that Jobs and the Apple team could be extremely undisciplined and were not afraid to play pranks in David Rockefeller’s house.
Crisp, like Sculley, credits Jobs for Apple's recent successes. “Steve came back and confidently steered the company in the right direction,” Crisp says now. But Jobs' ouster remains a sore subject and Crisp, who served on the board for 16 years and left in 1996, still refuses to discuss the issue.
Sculley says he takes responsibility for his role and actions at the company, but also believes the board should have realized Jobs should have been left at the helm. “I think our relationship with Jobs would have been better if we had worked out a different chain of command,” Sculley says. “Perhaps he should have been the chief executive and I should have been the president.” This should have been decided ahead of time, and such issues should be dealt with by the board of directors.”
Now Sculley says his biggest regret is that when he was fired as chief executive, he did not try to bring Jobs back to the company. According to Sculley, this would help Apple avoid several years of hesitation and uncertainty. “I wish I could go back a few years and tell Steve, ‘Hey, I want to go home. It's still your company. Let’s figure out a way to get back together,” Scully says. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about it then.”
Board member Arthur Rock, a venture capitalist who helped found Intel and other companies, described Jobs and fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak in their early years as “very unattractive people.” “Jobs came to work the same way he does now - in jeans. But back then it wasn’t accepted at all,” Rock said in an interview for a UC Berkeley student project on venture capital. “And it seems to me that he had a goatee, a mustache and long hair - and he had just returned from a six-month stay in India with a guru, where he was learning the meaning of life. I'm not sure, but maybe he hasn't showered in a while.” Rock declined to comment when preparing this material. Apple, in turn, also ignored requests for comment.
After Apple ousted Jobs, the company tried to show that it could achieve things without its co-founder and leading creator. The company's 1985 annual report is a remarkable document that begins with a bold statement on the cover: “We had to act quickly. That's what we did. And it worked." On the pages of the report, Apple posted several “fake” messages from internal correspondence (“not real memos,” but “those that give an impression of how management conducted the correspondence,” the report says). These pseudo-records, however, are complete with dates and Sculley's handwritten notes, and include another executive's call for company restructuring, including this note: “Completely agree! Let's discuss this - John.”
In truth, The Gospel According to Steve is finding more fans now. But in 1985, even high-tech experts were still trying to figure out what to do with “home computers.” (Popular answers included working with documents in Word and storing recipes.) Jobs dreamed that personal computers would become “bicycles for the mind.” However, this idea, which shaped his view of what Apple devices should be, was too far ahead of its time. In addition, Jobs was unable to convince shareholders, who saw that the company was losing money.
Members of that board of directors have long since parted ways with the company. Now it includes, for example, former US Vice President Al Gore. Meanwhile, Jobs can bask in the glory of the “Apple is bigger than Microsoft” articles and ride the new wave of iPhone mania. “Apple is in a winning position,” Sculley says. – Apple is now guided by the same principles that Jobs was guided by twenty-five years ago. But now he is much wiser and a better business manager.”
“I suspect,” Sculley adds, “that Apple will not only overtake Microsoft in market capitalization, but will leave the company far behind.”
As Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the new iPhone and Apple's market capitalization has surpassed Microsoft's, The Daily Beast spoke with former Apple Computer CEO John Sculley, who kicked Jobs out of Apple in disgrace. Sculley talked about the breakdown of his relationship with Jobs and how the relationship could have been saved. He is now confident that Jobs should have become Sculley's CEO and boss, and not the other way around. Other people who sat on Apple's board in 1985 also spoke to The Daily Beast about what they thought of Jobs then and what they think now. We offer a translation of this article into Russian.
"In the annals of bad decisions, this ranks somewhere between the publishers' decision to reject the first Harry Potter book and baseball umpire Jim Joyce's decision that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Gallaraga a 'perfect game.' [Note translator - for US residents this is roughly comparable to the goal scored by Tofik Bahramov in the final of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.] It was the spring of 1985, when the board of directors of Apple Computer decided that the company no longer needed the services of Steven Paul Jobs.
Fate dealt those who kicked Jobs, known for his cockiness, a decent pig out of the company. This upstart has already surpassed their achievements by several orders of magnitude. Well, two weeks ago, Apple, led by him, surpassed Microsoft in capitalization and became the most valuable technology company in the world.
The main villain in this twenty-five-year-old tech soap opera was John Sculley, a former Pepsi executive. Apple's board of directors appointed him as chief executive in 1983 to guide Jobs and grow the company. Currently, similar functions are performed by Eric Schmidt at Google under company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Sculley was a whiz at marketing. He is the originator of the Pepsi Challenge campaign. His tasks included increasing sales of Macintosh computers, as well as combating the creative chaos generated by Jobs. Eventually, Sculley realized he couldn't rein Jobs in and fired him.
Sculley now believes that Apple got to where it is today solely because of Jobs, and regrets how things turned out. “I haven’t talked to Steve in 20-odd years,” says Scully. “But even though he doesn’t want to talk to me, and I don’t think he ever will, I really admire him.”
Of course, twenty-five years later, firing Jobs seems like a crazy move. Taking the reins at Apple in 1997, Jobs is now the most respected CEO in the world. On June 7, he spoke at the Apple WWDC developer conference and introduced the new iPhone. The devices that Jobs initiated - the iPhone, iPod and iPad - are changing entire industries.
However, although Jobs's dismissal was not a prescient decision, in 1985 it was treated with understanding. Sculley and Jobs clashed openly. Moreover, it was Jobs who headed the Macintosh division a year earlier, when sales of these computers fell sharply. Then Sculley and the board members took the division away from him, leaving him with the representative position of chairman of the board.
Today, no one will be surprised by the fact that personal computers have been able to change our lives. There is also no question about the existence of eccentric founders who give companies a much-needed spark. Companies like Google and Facebook have achieved success by keeping their visionary geniuses at the helm. However, Apple's board of directors did not have these examples before their eyes.
Another Apple board member at the time was Peter Crisp, a senior partner at Venrock Associates, an investment firm founded by the Rockefellers. In an interview, Crisp recalled that Jobs and the Apple team could be extremely undisciplined and were not afraid to play pranks in David Rockefeller’s house.
Crisp, like Sculley, credits Jobs for Apple's recent successes. "Steve came back and confidently steered the company in the right direction," Crisp says now. But Jobs' ouster remains a sore subject and Crisp, who served on the board for 16 years and left in 1996, still refuses to discuss the issue.
Sculley says he takes responsibility for his role and actions at the company, but also believes the board should have realized Jobs should have been left at the helm. “I think that our relationship with Jobs would not have gone wrong if we had worked out a different chain of command,” says Sculley. “Perhaps he should have been chief executive and I should have been president. This should have been decided ahead of time, and such issues should have been dealt with.” namely the board of directors."
Now Sculley says his biggest regret is that when he was fired as chief executive, he did not try to bring Jobs back to the company. According to Sculley, this would help Apple avoid several years of hesitation and uncertainty. “I wish I could go back a few years and tell Steve, ‘Hey, I want to go home. It's still your company. “Let’s figure out a way to get back together,” Scully says. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about it then.”
Board member Arthur Rock, a venture capitalist who helped found Intel and other companies, described Jobs and fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak in their early years as "very unattractive people." “Jobs came to work the same way he does now—in jeans. But that wasn’t the norm at all back then,” Rock said in an interview for a UC Berkeley student project on venture capital. “And I think he had a goatee.” , mustache and long hair - and he had just returned from a six-month stay in India with a guru, where he learned the meaning of life. I'm not sure, but he may not have showered for some time." Rock declined to comment when preparing this material. Apple, in turn, also ignored requests for comment.
After Apple ousted Jobs, the company tried to show that it could achieve things without its co-founder and leading creator. The company's 1985 annual report is a remarkable document that begins with a bold statement on the cover: "We had to act quickly. We did. And it worked." On the pages of the report, Apple posted several “fake” messages from internal correspondence (“not real memos,” but “those that give an impression of how management conducted the correspondence,” the report says). These pseudo-records, however, are complete with dates and Scully's handwritten notes, and include another executive's call for company restructuring, including this note: "Totally agree! Let's talk about it - John."
In truth, The Gospel According to Steve is finding more fans now. But in 1985, even high-tech experts were still trying to figure out what to do with “home computers.” (Popular answers included working with documents in Word and storing recipes.) Jobs dreamed that personal computers would become “bicycles for the mind.” However, this idea, which shaped his view of what Apple devices should be, was too far ahead of its time. In addition, Jobs was unable to convince shareholders, who saw that the company was losing money.
Members of that board of directors have long since parted ways with the company. Now it includes, for example, former US Vice President Al Gore. Meanwhile, Jobs can bask in the glory of the "Apple is bigger than Microsoft" articles and ride the new wave of iPhone mania. "Apple is in a winning position," says Sculley. "Apple is now driven by the same principles that Jobs was guided by twenty-five years ago. But now he is much wiser and a better business leader."
“I suspect,” Sculley adds, “that Apple will not only overtake Microsoft in market capitalization, but will leave the company far behind.”
Translated by Dmitry Reading
Apple has always been surrounded by rumors, some of which are sometimes hard to believe. The specificity of the work of the Cupertino team creates, and the history of the company has completely turned into an inexhaustible source of myths and legends. Exposing the latter is a very thankless task, because many of them are indeed true, but recently someone who was directly involved in the formation of Apple has been actively involved in this. Of course, we are talking about Steve Wozniak.
The other day, Woz, known to the public not only as the co-founder of Apple, but also a bosom friend of Steve Jobs, left a very interesting message. Wozniak claims: contrary to popular belief, Jobs did not leave the company under pressure from John Sculley, but made this decision on his own.
Nobody kicked Steve out. The first Macintosh simply failed, and Jobs couldn't stand it.
Of course, by “failure” Wozniak means some miscalculations by Apple in launching the model and the subsequent shift of the PC market towards horizontal integration, where the computer Olympus was quickly conquered by Microsoft Corporation. In fact, he laid the foundations of modern personal computers, although he was not the first of his kind. And it itself, quite possibly, owes its existence to Mac OS.
However, let's return to the topic. Wozniak's opinion surfaced in the midst of discussions about the new biopic "" with Michael Fassbender, in which the engineer took part as a consultant. But the most interesting thing is that this picture is the first Apple-themed movie approved by Wozniak since the release of the famous “Pirates of Silicon Valley” in 1999. As Woz notes, he liked the quality of the acting, as well as the emotional component, which allowed him to look at Jobs from a different, unknown side. 
Of course, understanding all the details of Jobs' departure may be an impossible task, since sources (including several former Apple employees) vary widely. However, the new version echoes the opinion of John Sculley, the then CEO of Apple, who is usually accused of dismissing its legendary founder from the company. According to him, the latter simply did not forgive John for his removal from the Mac team, which the board of directors demanded. Everything would be fine if the information from Sculley and Woz did not contradict Jobs himself, who described that period as follows during a speech to students at Stanford University:
We had just released our greatest creation, the Macintosh, and I was thirty years old, and suddenly I was fired,” he recalled. — How can you leave your own company? It's simple: when Apple began to grow rapidly, we hired someone who I thought was talented enough to share the management burden with him. We actually worked well together at first, but when we were divided on the future of Apple, the board of directors sided with him. That's how I was fired.
As we see, it’s too early to put an end to this story. But be that as it may, the formation of the legendary company will occupy the minds of enthusiasts for a long time. Fortunately, there are plenty of “blank spots” in her chronicle.
This man is known for two facts in his biography. Fact one: John Sculley headed the famous PepsiCo. The second fact is that he fired its founder Steve Jobs from Apple. In a new interview with BusinessInsider, Scully talks about those times - of course, the truth and only the truth.
Why was Steve Jobs fired from Apple?
According to John, by the mid-1980s the corporation had fallen on hard times. The corporation made money on the Apple II computer, but Steve's favorite, the Macintosh, was not doing well. Jobs was extremely disappointed by this circumstance and came up with the following idea: transfer all of Apple's marketing power to the Macintosh, reduce its price to $500 (a lot of money at that time - editor's note), and abandon his best-selling computer.
John Sculley, who then joined Apple, did not agree. Such actions did not fit into his understanding of business. What was the point of giving up “the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he asks? Therefore, at that time, Sculley invited Jobs to speak at the next meeting of the board of directors and present his positions.
After hearing from opponents, the board asked Vice President Mike Markkula to explore both positions. A week later, Markkula spoke at the next meeting and said: “I agree with John and disagree with Steve.” Hearing this, the independent directors asked Jobs to resign as head of the Macintosh division. But even after this, Steve remained on the council. He left the company only after five and a half months. So, Sculley emphasizes, it was not he who “fired” Jobs.
However, Scully admits that today he sees Steve’s dismissal as a big mistake. It was impossible to lose the founder of the company, much less the founder of a technology company (such is the specificity of the industry).
Sculley on Steve Jobs' principles
“...While he was not a seasoned executive in his early 20s, [but over time] he became perhaps the most successful CEO ever.”
Scully notes that he made mistakes, like everyone else, but his phenomenal talent was obvious even then. Steve also had successes: he turned the unsuccessful NeXT into a successful software company, and then sold it to Apple for $400 million. And Apple should thank him for this - after all, only after this deal did the Apple corporation receive the operating system it deserved.
Both before leaving Apple and after returning, Steve relied on the same thing: a detailed product experience, a bet on design, a desire to make the direct presence of technology imperceptible. And, of course, “no compromises.”
All Jobs lacked in the 80s was experience.
"... Experience is often gained through mistakes, and Steve outside of Apple made more mistakes and learned from them, and ultimately became an incredible leader."
Is Scully the “Apple Destroyer?”
And this is also another myth, says John. Over the 10 years that he worked at Apple, the company's budget grew from $800 to $8 billion. When Sculley left the company (in 1993 - editor's note), the Cupertino team already had $2 billion in cash for any operations, and it was selling the most computers in the world.
The only thing that Scully failed at that time was the Newton project. The product did not find acceptance in the market. But the technology remained behind him - ARM processors were subsequently made from it. And today 6 billion devices run on ARM processors—almost as many as there are people on Earth.
And all these devices could belong to Apple:
“I was fired from Apple because I would not give the technology away for licensing, as it would bankrupt the company. And what do you think? They (apparently Apple's board of directors - editor's note) licensed this technology... and then Steve Jobs returned - if he had not returned, the company would have simply disappeared. What was his first decision? He canceled the licensing of the technology...”
Sculley is glad that Walter Isaacson wrote a book about Steve Jobs - from it, among other things, you can find out that John did not fire Steve. Someday, Sculley said, people will also see that four years passed between his departure and the arrival of Jobs (Steve returned to Apple in 1997 - editor's note). And all of Apple's problems occurred precisely during these four years. Without Steve, but also without John.
Lasting values from outgoing Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He leaves, but not at all where many would like. At least not now. He is a fighter. But the fighters do not give up. If only because it contradicts his principles, here are the main ones:
It's better to be a pirate than to serve in the navy. [ Quoted in the book Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1982].
I have a plan to save Apple. The ideal products and the ideal strategy to suit the company. But no one there will listen to me. [ Fortune, 1995]
Looking back, I can say that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that ever happened to me. I let go of the baggage of being a successful person and regained the ease and doubts of a beginner. It freed me and marked the beginning of my most creative period. [ ]
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. [ Stanford commencement address, 2005]
Creativity is simply making connections between things. When creative people are asked how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't actually do anything, but just noticed it. This becomes clear to them over time. They were able to connect different pieces of their experience and synthesize something new. This happens because they have experienced and seen more than others, or because they think about it more. [ Wired, 1996]
When you're young and watch TV, you think that the TV companies are in cahoots and want to make people stupid. But then you grow up and the understanding comes: people themselves want it. And that's a much more frightening thought. A conspiracy is not scary. You can shoot the bastards, start a revolution! But there is no conspiracy, TV companies are simply meeting demand. Unfortunately it's true. [ Wired, 1996]
“Don't be evil” is complete nonsense [ About Google’s corporate slogan “Don’t be evil”, 2010]
It is very difficult to create a product using focus groups. Often people don't know what they want until you show it to them. [ BusinessWeek, 1998]
The problem is that I've gotten older and realized that technological innovations can't really change the world. Sorry, but it's true. This understanding comes with the advent of children. You are born, you grow old, and then you die. And this has been happening for many years. And nothing will change that [ Wired, 1996].
It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. Only technology in alliance with the humanities produces results that make our hearts sing. Now many people are entering the tablet market and looking at them as new PCs. Hardware and software are made by different companies. They talk about speeds as if they were regular PCs. But all our experience and every bone in our body says that this is the wrong approach. [ At the presentation of the iPad 2, 2011]
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today was the last day of my life, would I do what I planned for today?” [Stanford Alumni Address, 2005]
I don't want to be the richest man in the cemetery. [ The Wall Street Journal, 1993]
Remembering that I will die soon is a great tool that has helped me make all the most important decisions in life. The thought of imminent death is the best way to get rid of the illusion that you have something to lose. It's like you're already naked, and there's no reason not to follow your heart. Death is the best invention of life.” [ Speech to students at Stanford, 2005]
Other principles
* * * * *
Steve Jobs announced his resignation as Apple CEO on August 24, 2011. He will retain his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors and remain on the company's staff.
Over the past 10 years, Apple has brought a range of iconic products to market, from the MacBook and iPod to the iPhone and iPad, and increased its revenue 12-fold. On August 10, 2011, Apple became the most valuable company in the world for the first time in history.
Jobs founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak. In 1985, as a result of a conflict with management, he lost his post as CEO and returned to the company only in 1997. In 2003, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The disease turned out to be operable, and Jobs later returned to management. In 2009, the media learned that the head of Apple had a liver transplant, and in January 2011, Jobs went on indefinite leave.