Health scare a reminder of Jobs' icon status

[Mac Reporter]

Kentucky.com reports:
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Steve Jobs expects a full recovery from his cancer surgery, but news of his health lapse still raised the question of how his companies Apple Computer Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios would fare without the executive -- whom some consider the companies' soul -- at the helm.


``What makes him very hard to replace is his charisma. He's someone who can get in front of an audience and sell refrigerators to Eskimos,'' said industry analyst Rob Enderle. ``That charisma is unmatched in the industry.''
Read more.

[danieldy]

If Steve Jobs dies, I have a feeling Apple will never be the same again. Steve's tenacity to make things work exactly the way he wants it to is unmatched by anyone else. I feel that Steve is the kind of person who comes up with a great idea and won't rest until his idea is a reality. As always, the consequences of Steve's mentality are both good and bad. I'm not sure how to explain it. Good, like iPod iMac Powerbook good. Bad, like Cube bad. Hope you get the point. hehe :lol:

[Kelvin]

Then the next challenge for Steve is to create a culture in the company that can match his personal vision, tenacity and obsession for quality. Although the post-Steve Jobs Apple is at risk of deteriorating, he is in the perfect position to start looking for a successor.

I say Apple is at the risk of deteriorating since American Corporate History has shown that companies with ultra-charismatic, highly-centralized leadership eventually faltered when the CEO retires (or dies). Leaders such as Steve, fortunately or unfortunately, is the glue that holds the company together, and taking him out of the equation without a substitute of equal abilities (either a management team or an individual), will be very dangerous for Apple's long term stability and growth.

[Absinth]

I wonder who'd succeed Jobs. Ives maybe? I kinda noticed Steve on the malnurished side in the Newsweek article.

[ultratramp]

Originally posted by Kelvin
Then the next challenge for Steve is to create a culture in the company that can match his personal vision, tenacity and obsession for quality. Although the post-Steve Jobs Apple is at risk of deteriorating, he is in the perfect position to start looking for a successor.

I say Apple is at the risk of deteriorating since American Corporate History has shown that companies with ultra-charismatic, highly-centralized leadership eventually faltered when the CEO retires (or dies). Leaders such as Steve, fortunately or unfortunately, is the glue that holds the company together, and taking him out of the equation without a substitute of equal abilities (either a management team or an individual), will be very dangerous for Apple's long term stability and growth.

there's actually a book on this. it shows how companies that survive and thrive are those which are built on vision and principle not a cult of personality. the former becomes the common thread that permits the company to weather changing times and leaders while the dependence on the skills or charisma of one man most often dies with him.

a simple case closer to home would be san miguel corporation which i think is entirely dependent on danding cojuangco's character and not sound vision and principle. once the guys gone its all up for grabs, partly due to the vacuum that his absence will cause.

lets hope that steve jobs manages to bottle his essence in some sort of corporate philosophy that can carry apple forward without him.