Power Shift – People Running Companies by Apple?

4 thoughts on “Power Shift – People Running Companies by Apple?”

  1. That corporate egalitarianism at Apple apparently was not just a random thought put out there in this commercial either, but part of the corporate culture. Here is a great quote from Steve Jobs,

    “Apple was a very bottom-up company when it came to a lot of its great ideas. We hired truly great people and gave them the room to do great work. A lot of companies — I know it sounds crazy — but a lot of companies don’t do that. They hire people to tell them what to do. We hire people to tell us what to do. We figure we’re paying them all this money; their job is to figure out what to do and tell us. That led to a very different corporate culture, and one that’s really much more collegial than hierarchical.”

    You can listen to the interview yourself at: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/06/141115121/steve-jobs-computer-science-is-a-liberal-art

    I love pairing this with the Lowes’ example of the floor salesperson unintentionally driving $1 million in additional paint tray sales. It shows how great people are throughout an organization, and social software provides them with a communication channel that values their input.

    1. Hi Phil! Thanks ever so much for the wonderful feedback and for the insightful commentary! Somehow, I am not just surprised *at all*… And perhaps I’m becoming more of a fanboi now!

      That *excellent* quote reminds me of a recent blog post that I put together over here as well under the heading “Social Business – Where Ideas Keep Fighting Hierarchy” where Steve Jobs comments very much along the same lines on the power of ideas vs. hiearchies and how he manages teams as crews assembling for work, exchange of ideas to get the job done vs. being top down corporate driven! Just brilliant! And spot on, in my opinion, on that thought about giving knowledge workers enough autonomy and decision power to get them to excel at what they do best!

      RE: Lowes’ example, absolutely, which is one of the reasons why I always keep telling people to stop rejecting ideas just for the sake of doing it, because there is a great chance that very same idea you are rejecting could well be the next biggest thing! That example from Lowes is just another one to add to the list!

      Thanks a lot, once again, for dropping by and for the feedback!

  2. And so it was with many companies, but few if any stuck it out long enough to wait for the right tipping point. 20+ years to get to it, that is a long road which few want to travel.
    Vision was there, technology was behind. Now technology is there and vision is left behind sometimes.
    Do what you love, the rest will follow.

    1. Hi Keith! Fascinating times, aren’t they? I keep reminding myself when are we going to be born into a time where both vision AND technology would be walking along nicely and everything hehe I certainly agree with you that in today’s currently Wall Street mentality of quarter after quarter it’s tough, and getting tougher to find businesses which are looking more into the bigger picture of where they would want to be in the next 30 to 50 years. Perhaps that’s why the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies out there haven’t been in business for more than just 15 years. Merely and barely.

      Oh, well, truly *loved* your last sentence, which I think summarises rather nicely why most of us are doing what we are doing: what we love, regardless of what happens next! Onwards! 🙂

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