CNET: Why has Forrester’s CEO become an Apple doomsayer?:
With so much of the management and design team being people who were there under Jobs, they retain a lot of the good aspects of that era—and while Jobs was undoubtedly a huge direct influence as a tastemaker, there’s a case to be made that having a CEO who employees arenot terrified of being trapped in an elevator with is, in the long run, a good thing.
(Via Coyote Tracks)
This is a brave assertion, but I have to agree. The only thing about Tim Cook that will need to play out over time is his sense of vision. Will he see the next big thing when the time comes? So far, we have no evidence that he’ll be able to match Jobs’ sense of that. But we have no evidence that he won’t be able to, either.
As far as running the company goes, he’s going to be just fine. And no one else would do it better.
The biggest thing Apple has to watch out for now is its own sense of complacency. Once you’re the top dog, and Apple is certainly going to be top dog for at least the next half decade, you become your own worst enemy. I think Tim Cook knows this well. Forget the competition, focus on what makes you great, and resist the urge to own every market, even when those markets make no sense.
