Analysis of Being Steve Jobs Boss Article - Assignment Example

Current Event Summary: Being Steve Jobs Boss The feature article en d Being Steve Jobs Boss written by John Sculley and published in the Bloomberg Businessweek proffered Schulley’s insights on being the CEO of Apple, a corporation co-founded by Steve Jobs. The article focused on “his first extensive interview on the subject, Schulley tells Cultofmac.com editor Leander Kahney how his partnership with Jobs came to be, how design ruled—and still rules—everything at Apple, and why he never should have been CEO in the first place” (Bloomberg, 1).

In this regard, the essay aims to provide a summary of the article and stipulate one’s personal contention on whether to agree or disagree with the John Schulley’s assertion. The interview started with a discussion on Steve Jobs’ methodology as an entrepreneur. Schulley averred that Job was basically focused in industrial design, a passion they both shared. He added that Jobs “always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do, but the things you decide not to do” (Bloomberg, 1).

Jobs’ methodology actually starts “with the user and looking at the entire end-to-end system” (Bloomberg, 2). Schulley revealed Jobs’ admiration for Sony, which became the basis for his Mac factory, tailored to Sony’s elegance and design. He identified Dr. Edwin Land, co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, as one of Jobs’ heroes. Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems, and Akio Morita, builder of Sony, were likewise explicitly looked up to by Jobs as his great inspiration and heroes.

The interview likewise discussed Schulley’s strategy to focus on marketing Jobs’ products in the market. However, his humility made him express that “Steves brilliance is his ability to see something and then understand it and then figure out how to put it into the context of his design methodology—everything is design” (Bloomberg, 4). He acknowledged making two mistakes: not having working with Intel and not going back to Steve. Schulley ruminated that “Why dont we go back to the guy who created the whole thing and understands it?

Why dont we go back and hire Steve to come back and run the company?" (Bloomberg, 5). In hindsight, Schulley was convinced that “if Steve hadnt come back when he did—if they had waited another six months—Apple would have been history. It would have been gone, absolutely gone” (Bloomberg, 5). One shares the same contention and agree to Schulley in the discussions proffered in the article. No one knew the company more than the co-founder, Steve Jobs’. Further, future of the corporation rests in Jobs’ vision and entrepreneurial skills in employing his methodology.

Since John Schulley’s background was basically into marketing, any technical matter should have initially been referred to Jobs’ to solicit the appropriate information prior to decision-making. However, when Schulley averred that he took absolute no credit for Apple’s growth (“Schulley helped increase Apples sales from $800 million to $8 billion annually during his decade as CEO” (Bloomberg, 1)), it was definitely an understatement. The collaborative skills, knowledge, abilities and expertise of both Jobs and Schulley were instrumental in making a legendary success for Apple.

The growth and success of an endeavor relies on the collaborative efforts of all facets of organizational operations, taking into consideration the technical aspects of product design, to marketing, financial considerations, human resources management, and social responsibility. The mistakes of Schulley were appropriately acknowledged and corrective measures were immediately instigated to ensure that Apple corporation, with Steve Jobs as CEO, remain to manufacture and produce one of the most remarkable revolutionary products in the market today.

Work CitedBloomberg. “Being Steve Jobs Boss.” Businessweek. 20 October 2010. Web. 27 October 2010. < http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_44/b4201096309840.htm>