Former Apple CEO John Sculley: Forcing Steve Jobs Out Was a 'Mistake'

[proline]

For what possible reason would he "not want to talk about it?" That just makes no sense.

Class. There are plenty of ex-Apple execs who don't work Jobs into every interview they do, even though they certainly get asked every time as well. Fadell and Oppenheimer come to mind. These guys at least try to sell their products on their own merits. Forestall has also chosen to develop his next product away from the media and without trying to attach Jobs' name.

In general, the more an ex-exec mentions Jobs, the more washed up they are. Sculley and Woz are perfect examples.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Class. There are plenty of ex-Apple execs who don't work Jobs into every interview they do, even though they certainly get asked every time as well. Fadell and Oppenheimer come to mind. These guys at least try to sell their products on their own merits. Forestall has also chosen to develop his next product away from the media and without trying to attach Jobs' name.

In general, the more an ex-exec mentions Jobs, the more washed up they are. Sculley and Woz are perfect examples.

Blech. Really. Rather than ask you to prove your point, I tried a search of my own. The only story I could find where Sculley mentioned Steve Jobs was the one linked to this article. I found literally dozens of articles about Sculley and his Obi project, in none of which did he mention Jobs. In only one did even he mention Apple.

I think the issue here is some feel that when he left Apple, Sculley should have bought an island in the Bahamas and gone into self-imposed exile. The fact that this Bad Man has not disappeared from the face of the Earth seems to be inherently irksome.

 

[proline]

Blech. Really. Rather than ask you to prove your point, I tried a search of my own. The only story I could find where Sculley mentioned Steve Jobs was the one linked to this article. I found literally dozens of articles about Sculley and his Obi project, in none of which did he mention Jobs.

Sculley brings Jobs up 2-3 times a year, its his 'thing'. The following are all different interviews:

June 2010
Oct 2011
Jan 2012
Sep 2013
and of course Apr 2014

I never said anything bad about Sculley in any of my posts, nor have I said I want him to become a hermit. What I have said is objectively true- he gets publicity by name dropping and his current product is otherwise underserving of media attention (there are plenty of other cheap phones being foisted on Indians these days).

 

[IJ Reilly]

Wow, five times in four years. That's practically 2-3 times a year.

 

[proline]

Wow, five times in four years. That's practically 2-3 times a year.

As I said in my post, that was a simple Google search, something you couldn't do, and not an exhaustive list by any means. Of course when you realized you'd been schooled you decided to click the report abuse button and get the moderator to edit my post. However, it's your post you should be worried about. It clearly shows you can't operate Google if you missed four easy references. Now go talk to the mods again...

 

[xnu]

Oh John

In other news… deciding to have just one more beer, driving a car on the sidewalk, running from the police, pulling a toy gun out, pew, pew, pew, also mistakes…

I read Scully's autobiography 20 years ago, that was also a mistake…. can't erase that either.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I'm not sure about your belief at everything has a reason. Rather I see infinite paths humanity can follow, those paths are taken often by chance. The idea that there is a reason for everything would imply that we have no self determination which I find to be highly objectionable.

That's my biggest issue with many religists and right wingers. They some how believe that they were 'destined' to sit on the couch and watch Duck Dynasty every night. Religists believe that some deity will swoop in and save their lives, and that everything is 'planned' to happen.

It kind of makes life a joke. A sad joke.

Apple would have likely failed if Steve had stayed. The board was against him. Sculley would have sniped him at ever moment. Steve's ego would have mushroomed and subsumed Apple.

I mean, look at what happened at Next! If not for Apple, Next would have been broke and dead. It makes me wonder what changed when he was brought back into Apple. Was his ego satiated by the ruthless way he fired and ruined so many of the people that stabbed him in the back?

Did Woz play a role in Steve reining in his ego? Did Steve feel odd coming back? Did he feel vindicated? Did Pixar and the battles there help take the edge off? Was his personal life what changed him?

It's hard to know.

*Something* happened to Steve Jobs, and it helped focus him in a more creative way. Sure, he started to flare, but he created a company that was agile and creative. Other companies can only hope to be like that. If that *something* hadn't happened, We would likely not be typing this into Apple computers, and using iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

Apple would be dead.