Visionary – genius – philosopher.
My life wouldn’t be the same without his ideas and inventions – I’m writing this on a MacBook while my husband is playing Sudoku on our iPad and surely a text will come in on my iPhone before I finish this. If I didn’t own a single Apple product, my life would still be impacted by what the company does – Apple is a game changer.
The Apple products I have would be good, but less great without the help of the people at Apple – the folks at the Genius Bar, my consultant Clifford who walked me patiently through an upgrade of my operating system without a hint of impatience and numerous others who have helped me, always with enthusiasm. The Apple employees I’ve interacted with almost always really listen, reassure, then act to help while teaching me something. This is priceless.
Then there is the board of Apple, the Board of Directors. I’m not in the room with them but when you see leadership continuity attended to as well as this case, you must give credit to the board as well as Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.
A charismatic leader is a thing to behold but one who also builds a culture of service and works with the board to ensure continuity is a truly rare and wonderful thing.
Thank you Steve, you have given us great tools, toys, and movies but you also have given us lessons that will last.