Steve Jobs On Medical Leave, But Still At The Helm

[MacRumors]

Steve Jobs has been on medical leave for more than six months and in that time Apple's stock price has risen more than 20 percent. Since he's been gone, according to the San Jose Mercury News, Steve Jobs has relaxed and focused on the big picture -- rather than micromanaging every tiny detail:

"They tell me he calls in regularly. He talks to Tim, he talks to the top guys, he talks about the Apple stores," [analyst Tim Bajarin with Creative Strategies] said. "But while he used to micromanage everything in ways that most CEOs would not, right down to issues with the company cafeteria, the big change with his latest leave is that there's less micromanagement and more management of his executive team and the big-picture issues."

Corporate CEOs are traditionally concerned with big-picture issues. Jobs, though, is famous for being a micromanager: insisting on overseeing even the smallest of details. His detail-oriented focus has seen him actively participate in a number of projects at Apple, efforts that have even resulted in his name appearing on dozens of Apple patent applications.

Since Steve Jobs has been on medical leave, he's leaving more of the day-to-day work to Tim Cook and Apple's hand-picked upper-management team. If Apple's growing stock price is any suggestion, shareholders think having Jobs focus on the big picture is just fine.

Article Link: Steve Jobs On Medical Leave, But Still At The Helm

 

[levitynyc]

"Let the fools have their Tar-Tar Sauce."

 

[res1233]

It'll be interesting to see how they pass off the role of CEO to (probably) Tim Cook. They have to do it just right or the stock could tank, not that it would do any permanent damage or anything.

 

[Apple OC]

is this not the same story from months ago?

 

[Stang68]

Even though I know you hate my smartphone platform of choice, I still love you, Steve.

 

[King Flamez1]

truly an inspiring, revolutionary figure. IMO, his presentations are the best I've ever seen, he saved a company from bankruptcy and he's now the CEO of that company, being one of the best CEOs in the world

 

[fishmoose]

Makes sense, good opportunity for Cook to get used to the CEO helm while Jobs still makes sure nothing big goes wrong.

 

[usptact]

Sure, Jobs is not the only driving force at Apple, but anyway - I am very curious to know what will happen to the company in 2-5 years without him...

 

[*LTD*]

is this not the same story from months ago?

It is.

It's also a reminder of Jobs' "big picture" role, which is good. He can get creative and leave the day-to-day stuff to Cook et al.

Whether or not he's on leave we tend to see him at big events.

 

[ouimetnick]

I wish Steve the best. I hope he recovers more, so he can be CEO again. But then again, I hardly think about it, as he still does the Keynotes.

Get well Steve.

 

[Nicolas4ever]

wish the best for steve jobs.i love him really , if Tim cook become the CEO i won't be happy , i want Steve jobs to be the CEO for ever

 

[rdowns]

is this not the same story from months ago?

No, he added in 3 obligatory hyphenated terms (and our first double hyphenated term) and a typo, as usual.

I get the idea of the blog but at least put a little effort into the subject matter. Wasteful post.

 

[taylortm]

Glad he cares about the cafeteria!

"But while he used to micromanage everything in ways that most CEOs would not, right down to issues with the company cafeteria."

I've eaten at that cafeteria. It rocks. Great food. Complete (big) lunch for like 5 bucks.

Most notable thing: discarding your trash is challenging due to the fact there are separate bins for garbage, recycle, and compost!

 

[TsunamiTheClown]

A chance for a break from the reigns of power...CEO's need to delegate too.
GL Steve!

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

Wish more CEO's had as much passion in their company as Steve does. It really is his child.

 

[aknabi]

"Let the fools have their Tar-Tar Sauce."

And cake

 

[the8thark]

Quality rumours is better then quantity of rumours.
Just like quality of PC's (Apple high quality) is better then quantity of PC's (everyone else).

A lesson Apple learnt a long time ago. And one MacRumors needs to learn still.

 

[aknabi]

wish the best for steve jobs.i love him really , if Tim cook become the CEO i won't be happy , i want Steve jobs to be the CEO for ever

and ever and ever... hi I am like 13 years old and put hello kitty stickers on my iPhone... and wait every night for Steve Jobs to call me on it

 

[AriX]

Why is this under Mac blog?

 

[schaffinosx]

The way I see it, Steve Jobs simply doesn't want to accept that he's eventually going to have to let the company run without him. And I don't blame him. He's the heart and soul of Apple, and all of his accomplishments in his life can be summed up by one word: Apple.

I know very little about Tim Cook, but I trust that Steve Jobs won't let any random individual take over his baby. Whoever he picks to succeed him, I trust that that individual will do an excellent job running the company.

 

[dscuber9000]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Even though I know you hate my smartphone platform of choice, I still love you, Steve.

Are you rocking the ESPN phone?

 

[R0bert]

It'll be interesting to see how they pass off the role of CEO to (probably) Tim Cook. They have to do it just right or the stock could tank, not that it would do any permanent damage or anything.

Tim Cook is an operations guy, not a visionary leader. A better choice would be Steve Jobs apprentice Scott Forstall but he's not ready yet.

 

[Steve's Barber]

I can't believe all the lipstick smeared on this story.

A guy surrenders day to day operations of a company and the stock goes up 20% in value.

What am I missing?

 

[davie18]

Just like quality of PC's (Apple high quality) is better then quantity of PC's (everyone else).

Lol 'everyone else'.

Nice to see you just put so many companies together there, presuming they all have the exact same goals.

 

[fishmoose]

Tim Cook is an operations guy, not a visionary leader. A better choice would be Steve Jobs apprentice Scott Forstall but he's not ready yet.

Cook know he's not a visionary, which is why he has learned what have made Apple successful under Jobs and now he can emulate that. Cook is the best bet for next Apple CEO.