Apple COO on Apple
| posted by Nick RiceHere are some snippets from Tim Cook’s speech at the Goldman Sach’s Technology Investment Syposium from late Feb. (from Mac Rumors)
How do you keep innovating?
…I would say is our corporate culture is a very simple culture. We hire people who want to make the best products in the world and provide an atmosphere to challenge each other to make the best products. And that’s deeply embedded in the DNA of the company. …. I can tell you this is why people come to work at Apple.
How do you view the market for the iPhone?
The traditional way that all of us were taught in business school to look at a market was you look at the products you are selling, you look at the price bands that are in the market, you think of the price band that you product is in and assume you can get a percentage of it, and that’s how you get this addressable market. That kind of analysis doesn’t make really great products. The iPod would not have been brought to market if we had looked it that way. How many $399 music players were being sold at that time? Today the cell phone industry, a lot of people pay $0 for the cell phone. Guess why? That’s what its worth! If we offer something that has tremendous value that is sort of this thing that people didn’t have in their consciousness, it was not imaginable… I think there are a bunch of people that will pay $499 or $599 and our target is clearly to hit 10 million and I would guess some of those people are paying $0 because its worth $0 and willing to pay a bit more because its worth more.
How do you handle the loss of a senior exec?
Apple is an amazing company, and I didn’t fully understand until I got there, how amazing it was. And the feeling of not getting weighed down by bureaucracy, and politics and all the ancillary things that any businesses are. So this atmosphere is a very very unique kind of atmosphere and frankly, we don’t have an issue attracting people to work there, and we have so many things going on and innovation is so deeply embedded in this place. While you may see 5-6 or 10 people being most visible, the company is full of off-the-charts smart people. We’ve had some executive departures, but as a grown-up company does, we planned good succession, and I think you can see from our results, the products have kept coming.
It’s obvious how much Apple respects their customer (or should I say legions of mac addicts) and their employees. I’m continually amazed, given their formula of success, how other large companies scoff at Apple. In today’s world cost-cutting is viewed as an innovation. It’s bad enough to focus your efforts internally for growth (as compared to what really drives top line growth - delivering what customers desire on top of an outstanding experience), but when you skip right past your people and only look for cost targets how do you ever expect to right the ship.
I know there’s not an easy or a quick fix. But today’s executives have to actively evolve their corporate culture, their internal DNA, to focus on real long term growth strategies. You only need to focus on two things - your customers and your employees. And by stating that “our employees are our greatest asset” in your mission statement doesn’t cut it. You have to prove you mean it. Set your employees free to innovate, let them really converse with customers. Then you’ll see loyalty and growth from both parties.
If you don’t believe me, look at the Fortune 500 list from 1995. How many of those companies are still on there? How many are still in existence? Einstein said it best, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
Do something different or accept your fate as the dinosaur grazing while a meteor is barreling down with you in it’s crosshairs.
Nick Rice • Lexington, Ky • nick@cre8tivegroup.com • www.cre8tivegroup.com
