Change At Apple: Is It Time For A Successor To Steve Jobs?

OPINION: Like it or not, love it or don’t even think about it, Apple’s fortunes, for good or bad, are tied to Steve Jobs. A healthy Jobs means a healthy Apple. Is it time for Steve, the Board of Directors, and Apple’s legions of product owners, shareholders, to begin plans for a successor?

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs announced (via email) to company employees that he had cancer surgery Sunday to remove a tumor from his pancreas. Prognosis? Good. Steve said he’d take off the month of August and be back at work in September. No chemo or radiation would be required. A full recovery is expected.

Consider this a wake up call. Whither Steve goes, so goes Apple. From the beginning, Steve Jobs has been the driving force behind one of the most creative and colorful American technology companies ever. When Steve was forced out after launching the original Mac back in the mid-80s, Apple’s sales grew for a number of years (thanks to sugar water salesman and Steve’s hand-picked successor, John Sculley) but the company eventually lost its way, stumbled, and had to be rescued.

Computer users everywhere should be thankful that Steve was there to bring something back to Apple and bring Apple back from the brink.

Jobs came back in 1997 and the company once again is innovating well beyond the competition. Apple product owners are “cool” again (we always were “cool” but sometimes in the shadows of Windows), the products are cool again, and everything is selling well.

So, does Apple need a successor to Steve Jobs?

Yes. At 49, Jobs is relatively healthy (cancer surgery notwithstanding), a noted vegetarian, and, by all accounts maintains a very sane day-to-day schedule and family life while running both Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios. Still, the current and future value of the company, perhaps both companies, is too heavily intertwined with Jobs’ fate.

That must change.

If the CEO of Coca-Cola, or GM, or American Express, were to die during an emergency surgery, would Wall Street notice? Perhaps, but all those companies maintain a succession strategy and have a short list of mature executives waiting in the wings, on call as needed. Does anyone reading this even know who runs those companies?

If Jobs goes away, who runs the show at Apple?

Who has the charisma, marketing savvy, and technology understanding of Steve Jobs? Is Apple such a different company that it requires a “different” kind of leader? Could anyone on the current executive team step in, walk in Steve’s shoes, and still keep that big train on track, on course, and with a full head of steam?

Maybe.

Maybe, though, isn’t sufficient. So much of Steve Jobs shows up in Apple that perhaps the two have become one and the same. We talk of Jobs’ renowned keynote addresses where he introduces new products as “Steve-notes.” Jobs’ infamous “reality distortion field” (RDF) actually changes time, erases memories, and bridges the gulfs between new product announcements, scheduled new product delivery dates, and actual product deliveries.

Name another CEO of a major technology company that gets away with what Steve Jobs does?

And we love him for it. We love Apple. We love Macs. We love the way Apple’s products work. We love the drama. We can’t wait for more.

Although some media folks noted that Steve didn’t look good in recent appearances, his announcement of the cancer surgery on Sunday came as a big surprise. Steve Jobs eventual departure from the company he co-founded in 1979 (25 years ago, folks) should not ever come as a surprise. For the sake of customers, shareholders, and the technology industry, succession of his magnitude should be planned, orchestrated appropriately, perhaps even expected.

Who should succeed Steve Jobs?

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