October 4, 2024

Steve Jobs is No Longer Micromanaging Apple

Posted August 2, 2011 at 10:16pm by iClarified · 13944 views
Steve Jobs is still making the strategic decisions at Apple but he is less involved in micromanaging every aspect of the business, according to a MercuryNews report.

In mid-2004, Jobs was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas and underwent surgery to have it removed. On January 14, 2009, Jobs announced a six-month leave of absence to allow him to better focus on his health. Then, in April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant after which he returned to Apple. In January, Jobs again went on what is now his third and longest medical leave.

MercuryNews quotes Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies who regularly speaks with upper management at Apple.

"I don't think you can draw too much from the length of the absence," said Bajarin. "We saw him at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and to me he looked the same as he did in March when he introduced the iPad 2. I think the process he's going through is recuperative, which means he probably needs to be more at home and less physically active. But I don't believe that's diminished his role in any way."

"They tell me he calls in regularly. He talks to Tim, he talks to the top guys, he talks about the Apple stores," Bajarin said. "But while he used to micromanage everything in ways that most CEOs would not, right down to issues with the company cafeteria, the big change with his latest leave is that there's less micromanagement and more management of his executive team and the big-picture issues."

Read More [via MacNN]