Leading Apple With Steve Jobs: Management Lessons From a Controversial Genius

Apple University

Steve and I imagined a university that would promote novel management ideas, have a staff of people who were unique for the new type of corporation, and would be able to offer advice and counsel to its participants. Some of what we lined up was unique in corporate history. First, we had some very prominent professors, including Rosebeth Moss Kanter, who held (and still holds) the Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, where she specializes in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. Her book Change Masters had caught my eye and made me believe she could help and could fit into the Apple culture. Her book was about how innovation had to become the key in American industry. In those days it was projected that the typical American family would soon have a Toyota in the garage and several Sony products in their home. I knew her take on this would really resonate with Steve.

We also had to find a new style of training that would fit our needs to be open. I saw a segment of the popular television investigative program 60 Minutes where a woman, approached on the street, was taught how to play tennis in 15 minutes by the author of The Inner Game of Tennis, Tim Gallwey. This book was about not getting caught up in how you thought you were supposed to hit the ball. Tim had found ways to focus the mind of the player on direct and nonjudgmental observation of the ball, the body, and the racquet in a way that would speed learning, heighten performance, and ...