Apple leadership - page 3

When Apple fires an executive, the company is rarely straightforward about the situation. Apple never puts out a press release stating plainly that the executive was canned. So Tuesday’s unexpected announcement that Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s head of retail, is leaving in April led many to suspect she was fired.

That’s because the announcement came as a surprise and seems rushed. She’s certainly not retiring or quitting to join another company. The press release phrase “new personal and professional pursuits” sounds like code for “canned.”

Apple tapped Deirdre O’Brien to be its new retail boss today in light of the news that Angela Ahrendts plans to leave the company.

While O’Brien may not be a household name to most Apple fans, she’s been with the company for more than three decades. From the days of Steve Jobs saving Apple from bankruptcy to watching Tim Cook leading the company to a first-ever $1 trillion valuation, O’Brien has seen huge changes during her tenure with the iPhone-maker. Now she’s set to be one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.

Here are six things you didn’t know about the new Apple retail boss.

Amidst a seemingly never-ending barrage of criticism, Siri is once again looking for a new team leader. After reports of infighting and disagreements about how to advance Siri last year, the internal development team is without direct leadership … again. This time, though, the move was self-inflicted and strategic.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was known to be incredibly demanding. But one retired Apple executive said when it came to standing in line in the company cafeteria, Jobs waited his turn like everyone else.

This would not be a surprising revelation about most people, but Jobs’ mercurial nature is the stuff of legend. The late Apple exec’s moods and commands have been the source material for books and movies. His character is even sung about on the opera stage.

Jony Ive went for that Wanted Poster look for his executive profile picture, but now he looks like an adorable puppy — thanks to Memoji makeovers of Apple execs.

Never has the leadership page on Apple’s website been so fun to peruse as today, when executives used the new Memoji feature in iOS 12 to create the cartoonish avatars to celebrate World Emoji Day.

Would you have liked to be the person to tell Steve Jobs that something about his company sucks? If not, you may not have enjoyed the experience of working with him.

In a recent Medium post, San Francisco-based marketing pro Andy Raskin relates a story overheard from a well-known (but unnamed) CEO. The CEO described the somewhat unorthodox, but effective, way that Jobs rooted out problems at Pixar, the company he ran alongside Apple. Here’s what he did.

Due to Apple’s secrecy, and the company’s marketing-driven need to stay “on message,” interviews with senior execs can often be frustratingly free of revelations. That’s not the case with the recent in-depth interview the Washington Post did with CEO Tim Cook, however.

Here are the 10 most interesting tidbits we learned from Cook’s most revealing chat yet.

In a surprising move, Apple Music senior director Ian Rogers has left Apple — just two months after the new streaming service was launched.

Rogers was key in shaping Apple’s online radio strategy, leading to the launch of Beats 1. Prior to joining Apple in August 2014, he worked as CEO at Beats Music.

Tim Cook had enormous shoes to fill when he took over as Apple CEO. After Steve Jobs’ death in 2011, doubters questioned whether the Southern engineer could keep Apple relevant. But Cook has led Apple to become the world’s most valuable company — he might be even better at running the company than Jobs ever was.

Now Fortune has named Cook the “world’s greatest leader” and published a profile full of exclusive details about Cook’s journey as Apple CEO. In the interview, Cook reveals how he developed thick skin, why he’s giving all his money to charity, and the real reasons he opened up about his sexuality.

The massive profile is well worth a read, but we’ve picked out the most interesting bits for you below.

A few days before he died, Steve Jobs asked Tim Cook over to his house to watch a movie together.

The movie he selected was Remember the Titans, a football drama starring Denzel Washington. It’s set in the South, and concerns the struggles of integrating a racially mixed team during the civil rights’ era. Cook was surprised by Jobs’ choice of movie — Jobs had little interest in sports — but he said they talked about it afterward.

Why would Jobs, who had recently stepped down as Apple CEO and appointed Cook in his place, want to watch this movie with his successor just a few days before he died? Was he trying to pass on some crucial knowledge?

I re-watched the movie last night and have a pretty good idea.

In an open letter addressed to the Apple Community, Steve Jobs said Monday that he has an easily treated hormonal imbalance. The statement, designed to quiet rumors spurred by the Apple CEO’s increasingly gaunt public appearances, came a day before a high-profile keynote at Macworld Expo that Jobs handed off to a colleague.

“A hormone imbalance … has been ‘robbing’ me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy,” Jobs wrote. “Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.”