I don't agree with all of this, but I agree that senior management is unbalanced. Tim Cook is probably the world's best bean counter, and it's not hard to see why Jobs admired him so much. Apple's best-in-class manufacturing arrangements, its presence in other countries, its tax and financial positioning, etc. all wouldn't be what they are but for Cook's work. But under Jobs, all of that was secondary to the core mission of making the best products in the world. By contrast, it often seems now like the products are there to serve Apple's bottom line -- something that's inevitably true but cannot be the working mission.
Also, you're right that Ive is at his best when there is a check on his impulses -- in other words, design, though key to what Apple does, cannot drive the show. The best example of this is the famous "walk" that Jobs had with Ive before the "sunflower" iMac was introduced. Ive apparently had delivered a pristine design, but one that Jobs rejected entirely because of technological/useability concerns. The "sunflower," one of Ive's best designs ever, replaced that rejected design. And apparently, the rejected design had enough merit that it was retooled and improved for a later iMac. The lesson is that Ive was able to improve what he was doing when challenged by someone who, though not a designer, understood completely what the product should be about.
