“My boss asks me what I really think of him. HR advises me to tell the truth. I’m fired.”
From Jean-Louis Gassée’s 50 Years in Tech, Part 13: Firing Frankness.
In a Palo Alto restaurant in January 1990, John Sculley and I have what turns out to be our last dinner together as fellow Apple employees… with the VP of HR in attendance. Over dessert, Sculley asks me what I think of his performance as Apple CEO, do I trust his decisions, think he’s leading the company in the right direction? Politely but frankly, I tell him.
I recall the moment’s emotion: I felt I was performing a good deed, being helpfully clear and honest, hoping to clear the executive suite’s unbreathable air. Indeed, before the dinner, HR VP Kevin Sullivan… had encouraged me to forgo the expected courtier’s dissembling and, instead, to “help” Sculley by speaking straight.
As we wait for our cars, Sullivan puts his arm around my shoulder: “Jean-Louis, I’m proud of you…” After half a decade in Cupertino, I know what this means: What I have done is irreparable. [more]
My take: Gassée, who took over the Mac division after Steve Jobs left Apple, has been using the excellent Monday Note blog to serialize his 50 Years in Tech. This is a good one.
The Mac ci is one of my all-time favorite machines (along with the Ti PowerBook.)
Gassée understood that “it’s the OS, Stupid”. His BeOS would have worked just as well (in the beginning) as NeXT. Had Sculley listened to Gassée’s constructive criticism at that dinner Apple’s fortunes might have been very different.
Posting here because there is no other place.
AAPL at the Close is down 0.77% from Friday Close
DOW at the Close is down 2.33% from Friday Close
S&P 500 at the Close is down 2.39% from Friday Close
Nasdaq 100 at the Close is down 2.57% from Friday Close
Russell 2000 at the Close is down 2.39% from Friday Close
Nikkei, Dax, FTSE, CAC, Euro Stoxx 50 and Hangseng are all down for the day.
AAPL did well considering the worldwide selloff.
wrong thread but, pretty funny that on one hand, i’m ped public enemy #1 and on the other hand, my aapl trading has been crystal ballin’
#justsaying
Okay, I’ll bite, Victor. What does your “crystal ball” say is going to happen next with AAPL? Let’s say over the next 1, 2, 3, and 4 quarters.
Here’s an easy one: Relative to it’s revenue estimate, what will Apple actually report for the present quarter? And what will it’s revenue estimate be for Q2 fy ‘19? Finally, what will be the market’s reaction when this is all released in six weeks?
thanks bland. let me circle back.
ps – you and PED are the only two i’d do this for. funny enough, i used to do these exercises when i cared about money. i’m curious to answer these questions myself so, let me write it up.
philip, can/should we make this an article?
ok, i’ll write a column on one condition.
one week paywall. deal PED?