Steve Jobs and the 1927 Yankees
It’s pretty much a daily occurrence: I start the morning with my coffee and flip through the news, and there are almost always several stories with a headline that’s some variation of: “What would Steve have done?” “This isn’t Steve’s Apple.” “Steve Jobs would never have let [insert maps, iOS6, iPad mini, etc.] ship.” “Steve would never have fired (or alternatively would have fired) [insert name of departed Apple executive here].
In short, pretty much everyone out there seems to know exactly what Steve Jobs would or would not have done had he faced almost any situation the company faces now. Forget that most of these opinionators never met Mr. Jobs, never knew him in any way, never shipped a product under his leadership. (That said, there is a growing cadre of former Apple employees who worked there when Steve wasn’t but who are still quick to offer their opinions about him.)
Forget even the fact that not every single product that Apple shipped under Steve’s leadership from 1997 to 2011 was perfect. (Of course, in the end it matters only that Apple was far more right than wrong in what it shipped.) There’s actually a more important issue: What does it matter what Steve Jobs might or might not have done? The question is meaningless.
There’s a great dialogue in one of my favorite TV shows, Sports Night. The lead character is asked by a viewer, “If the 1927 New York Yankees team played the 1998 New York Yankees team in the World Series, who’d win?.” He replies, “Leonard, get a grip. The World Series, by tradition, is contested by two different teams made up of players that are alive at the same time. But if you want an answer to your question, my guess is that the ’27 Yankees would be confounded by the jet airplanes flying overhead.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.macworld.com/article/2014428/steve-jobs-and-the-1927-yankees.html
