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Apple's Former Safari Chief Don Melton Reflects on Steve Jobs

Nice read and I guess the writer is correct. If you can deal with Jobs, there is probably no one out there who can intimidate you. However I would like to know what Forstall told him on how to meet with Jobs for the first time.
 
Peace said:
I thought he was a great role model. As did his wife and kids I'm guessing.
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It seemed (according to his biography) that he had a "complicated" relationship with all of his kids. Especially his first daughter. Great role model? You'd have to ask them. Perhaps in terms of being successful in your goals. But for most of his life, I don't think he was a great role model in terms of interpersonal relationships.
 
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In this forum, it is amazing at times that in one paragraph, Tim Cook gets so much bashing and Steve Jobs gets so much praise.

Do these Steve Jobs fans forget that Steve Jobs personally picked Mr Cook to be his successor? How in all respect for their idol, Steve Jobs, can they now think they know better?

Do they actually know what goes on behind the closed and locked doors at Apple Inc.

Do they actually know more than Steve Jobs knew?

Cant wait to see when these bright people build their own multi-billion company.
 
See Flat said:
In this forum, it is amazing at times that in one paragraph, Tim Cook gets so much bashing and Steve Jobs gets so much praise.

Do these Steve Jobs fans forget that Steve Jobs personally picked Mr Cook to be his successor? How in all respect for their idol, Steve Jobs, can they now think they know better?

Do they actually know what goes on behind the closed and locked doors at Apple Inc.

Do they actually know more than Steve Jobs knew?

Cant wait to see when these bright people build their own multi-billion company.
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The problem is that in addition to being a CEO, Steve Jobs was a rock star. The thinking seems to go that nobody who isn't a rock star can run Apple. Other companies don't need rocks star leaders to be successful. Only Apple does. Apparently.
 
See Flat said:
In this forum, it is amazing at times that in one paragraph, Tim Cook gets so much bashing and Steve Jobs gets so much praise.

Do these Steve Jobs fans forget that Steve Jobs personally picked Mr Cook to be his successor? How in all respect for their idol, Steve Jobs, can they now think they know better?

Do they actually know what goes on behind the closed and locked doors at Apple Inc.

Do they actually know more than Steve Jobs knew?

Cant wait to see when these bright people build their own multi-billion company.
Click to expand...

The same Steve Jobs who said Tim isn't a product guy. He may be a CEO, but he's not a product guy.
 
ghostface147 said:
The same Steve Jobs who said Tim isn't a product guy. He may be a CEO, but he's not a product guy.
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Really? He openly mentioned that Tim wasn't a product guy? Do you have a link.

Not questioning you but just curious - didn't think he would say something like that.

Thanks!
 
SJism23 said:
He was a visionary tech leader, but come on… Steve Jobs was far from a personal role model.
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Few of us could ever be considered personal role models for our whole lives. We've all made mistakes in our interactions with other humans in personal lives, and SJ made some really bad ones. His treatment of the mother of his first child, and that child are but two examples. But he was more than just a visionary tech leader. He was a role model for bringing passion, accountability, critical strategic and tactical thinking and vision to more than just the tech industry. I predict that a time will come when many of his practices as a manager will be taught, and that managers for many decades will try to find a way to distill the essence of the reasons behind his success, and that of his company.

I think that the OP's point was not that SJ was a warm and fuzzy guy, but that his value to this world as a visionary and manager could be very beneficial if more managers could capture his style effectively. Alas, I think it was just too innate in him, and that it's something that has to be organic, and not "trained" into someone.
 
rdlink said:
...
I predict that a time will come when many of his practices as a manager will be taught, and that managers for many decades will try to find a way to distill the essence of the reasons behind his success, and that of his company.
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I doubt it.
There are many mgmt styles that can lead to success. Each personality is different. Most managers, especially business leader are ego driven and want to focus on their own vision and method.

Did SJ learn management at college ?
No, he found something he was passionate about and then led by example, passion, intimidation, tantrums and anything else that would lead to the light of his tunnel vision. He didn't lead by committee or consensus.

We all loved him, and let's face it, most of us only knew him through his keynote speeches, because he gave us cool products that enhanced our lives. If he was leading an auto parts company, we couldn't care less.

We love rock stars because we love how they make us feel listening to their music. SJ knew how to make us feel passionate about the products he envisioned, but yet many other people's brain power and hard work brought to fruition. He knew how to inspire and pressure them just right.
 
Crosscreek said:
Cook has nowhere the focus or vision Jobs had.
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actually, you have no idea, because you dont know either of them. youve probably never been in the same room with either man, let alone worked beside them to get an understanding of their work discipline. me, i dont believe a guy becomes CEO of the biggest, most profitable, most successful technology company in the history of the planet by not being focused.

You need a concept and vision to design.
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Cook is not a product designer, nor does he need to be. few CEOs are designers, Jobs was an outlier. id be surprised if could you name any others w/o googling. most CEOs are operational, not product.
 
See Flat said:
In this forum, it is amazing at times that in one paragraph, Tim Cook gets so much bashing and Steve Jobs gets so much praise.

...
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I don't think Tim gets bashed, people just state that he isn't Steve.

He has all my respect for committing to a job where he knows that he almost certainly can't match his predecessor.

Apple is still up and running, so I would say he is doing a pretty good job so far. That's everything but easy.
 
IJ Reilly said:
And you know this how, exactly?
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mdelvecchio said:
actually, you have no idea, because you dont know either of them. youve probably never been in the same room with either man, let alone worked beside them to get an understanding of their work discipline. me, i dont believe a guy becomes CEO of the biggest, most profitable, most successful technology company in the history of the planet by not being focused.



Cook is not a product designer, nor does he need to be. few CEOs are designers, Jobs was an outlier. id be surprised if could you name any others w/o googling. most CEOs are operational, not product.
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Let me comment to both of you at the same time. The genius of Jobs was not I have a idea so lets build it.
The genius was seeing pieces of other peoples ideas and even other products that have already been produced and envision a grand scheme of using those ideas and other products to design and build in a simplistic extension to use to enhance the human experience and our quality of life.
No he was far from a engineer but he could see into time and what could be.
Apple has lost that. That visionary skill that touches outside the "box".
Apple now follows the trends when they use to set the trend.
I'm just a old retired engineer but I know genius when I see it and it was Jobs.
 
Crosscreek said:
Let me comment to both of you at the same time. The genius of Jobs was not I have a idea so lets build it.
The genius was seeing pieces of other peoples ideas and even other products that have already been produced and envision a grand scheme of using those ideas and other products to design and build in a simplistic extension to use to enhance the human experience and our quality of life.
No he was far from a engineer but he could see into time and what could be.
Apple has lost that. That visionary skill that touches outside the "box".
Apple now follows the trends when they use to set the trend.
I'm just a old retired engineer but I know genius when I see it and it was Jobs.
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If I understand what you are saying, and I'm not sure I do, it's that nobody else of the tens of thousand of people who work at Apple have any sense or vision. It was all just Steve commanding his people to create, otherwise they wouldn't have had a clue. I am skeptical of this kind of analysis, if for no other reason than it doesn't seem to be the formula at any other successful company.

Nobody seriously questions the genius of Jobs, but at the same time we know that he was hardly always right, and that he hardly did it alone. We don't actually know that Apple has lost anything but the rock star persona of Steve Jobs, for better and for worse.

In any case, truly successful companies can't be run as cults of personality, at least not forever. At some point either they've developed a culture of success, or not. I'd like to think Apple has, and it's way too soon to claim otherwise.
 
Interesting how he goes out of his way to point out how great Scott Forstall was. In the media we just assume that he was some sort of oddball who ultimately didn't fit in.
 
IJ Reilly said:
If I understand what you are saying, and I'm not sure I do, it's that nobody else of the tens of thousand of people who work at Apple have any sense or vision. It was all just Steve commanding his people to create, otherwise they wouldn't have had a clue. I am skeptical of this kind of analysis, if for no other reason than it doesn't seem to be the formula at any other successful company.

Nobody seriously questions the genius of Jobs, but at the same time we know that he was hardly always right, and that he hardly did it alone. We don't actually know that Apple has lost anything but the rock star persona of Steve Jobs, for better and for worse.

In any case, truly successful companies can't be run as cults of personality, at least not forever. At some point either they've developed a culture of success, or not. I'd like to think Apple has, and it's way too soon to claim otherwise.
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Yes, it took all those other people to make his genius work. He drove the vehicle and had it worked on until it was perfect.

And yes, a lot of misses and more we don't know about.

What really made Apple great was trendsetting products that were well engineered and top quality with great customer support.

That is where the success came from.
 
Crosscreek said:
Yes, it took all those other people to make his genius work. He drove the vehicle and had it worked on until it was perfect.

And yes, a lot of misses and more we don't know about.

What really made Apple great was trendsetting products that were well engineered and top quality with great customer support.

That is where the success came from.
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You're shortchanging the incredible marketing machine at Apple.
 
SJism23 said:
He was a visionary tech leader, but come on… Steve Jobs was far from a personal role model.
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Agreed. I'm grateful for the products he pressured his staff to produce and he clearly understood that making technology easy, accessible and fun empowers the user instead of the combative approach and attitude at Microsoft.

But it sounds like he's not someone I'd want to know or enjoy working for . Unless you were one of his few "confident" friends you were pretty much nothing to him or the company even if you produced good work. The comment that it was an honour if he even knew your name is telling and evidence of a real arrogance. Dare I say he even seems to have psychopathic traits.
 
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