The Search For The Next Steve Jobs

Great way to garner hits. Well done in that respect. As to some of the personality traits you mentioned, you may be right What you seem to miss is that to achieve the things Jobs has, he is necessarily a much different person than you or I. You sit in your press box and opine, you don't actually do too much. Flapping the yapper is a lot different than actually having consequences arise from your opinions. Your line of work is virtual, his is real.
BTW, bringing Ballmer into this just does not serve your argument.

Dear Mr. Lyons,

Just who do you think you are? A mere columnist, only judging issues from the sidelines, creating nothing by yourself. And to have the gall to refer to Mr. Jobs as "a petulant narcissist", who has made many people's lives more enjoyable with technology, is just abhorrent. Who do you think you are badmouthing anyone so disgustingly? I think that you're just a frustrated wannabe who can only get attention by criticizing others.

You owe Mr. Jobs an apology.

And then just go away, or mend your ways.

David Forjan

I would actually argue the reverse. The long and winding goodbye of Bill Gates basically sucked a lot of oxygen out of the company. Not only did he leave Microsoft in the hands of a career employee who seems at best enthusiast and at worst blind, but his prolonged handoff reduced Ballmer's influence to caretaker. Gates essentially acted like a father unable to let his kid drive on his own. Instead, he sat shotgun with his son for the latter's first few years with a driver's license.

In Apple's case, we still don't know and I think that's a good thing. Jobs remains in charge because he is. What if Apple follows Dan Lyons advice? If he picks Ive or Schiller or Cook in advance, it might reassure markets temporarily, but it would inevitably invite questions about the new leader and his direction. And if Jobs lingered as chairman, the new CEO would be a chief in title only. The tribe would still be following jobs. But that wouldn't be the only problem. The naming of an heir apparent would also influence Apple as it send a message downstream to all employees. I think the inconvenient truth is that we don't like succession plans, but we don't like mysteries, either. Frankly, I think the only ones who really care are a few journalists who have whipped market analysts into a froth over nothing.

To put it bluntly, I think any of the above successors would be far more visionary and capable than Steve Ballmer. And he seemed OK for Microsoft and the markets. I think Apple is in fine hands whomever takes over after Jobs.

The problem is, Steve Jobs IS the PC industry. People like Bill Gates are merely plagiarizers, bit players in his game. Steve, out of shear will crafted what we know of modern communications today. Huge things like the World Wide Web, the PC, WiFi, Fonts, Laser Printing, iPhone, iPod on and on, were popularized by his keen intellect coupled with intense zen principles.

Personally, I think Steve is going to live for quite awhile longer, the guy is energy personified... but... expect more of a Howard Hughes secrecy, rarely seen, but still will have a massive affect on society as we go forward.

I think 5 years from now, Steve Jobs will be relevant as ever in technology. Not sure I can say the same about the journalistic endeavors of Daniel Lyons.

Dan Lyons is right-on, as ever.

When will these Apple fanbois learn? The rest of us -- the vast majority -- are just laughing at your petulant whining.

I'm not saying that the Steve Jobs/Apple situation could not be improved upon but comparing the two makes very little sense since the operate under entirely different cultures. MS is an operational powerhouse but cautious and downright slow in virtually every other aspect of a "technology" company. They haven't had a successful product launch in 11 years (The Xbox Division is still $15 billion in the red) ... Apple on the other has managed during Steve Jobs 20 years there (not consecutive of course) managed to build or create 4 DIFFERENT markets where there was none before or not a rapid growth market (personal computers, desktop publishing, DAP/MP3 players & smartphones) ... at MS, it's one bureaucrat handing off to another - the situation is vastly different at Apple ... it's like Ferdinand Porsche handing the reins to his successor.

You are such a loser Dan!!! ( and i don't even like Jobs... )

I've had it with this crap. I find it so offensive I'm cancelling my subscription- this guy has an agenda to get rid of Steve Jobs, and should be fired immediately. He is not a credible journalist- in fact- he's a mean-spirited moron.

Dan Lyons gets paid to write this crap? Check out this rebuttal..

http://www.edibleapple.com/dan-lyons-gets-paid-to-write-for-newsweek-pt-iii/

Companies don't publish their succession plans for numerous reasons. The most obvious being that they don't want people who are valuable in their current positions but denied the top job to seek employment elsewhere. Jack Welch's executive managers are currently scattered all over the US other than the one who got the job. The other obvious reason is you don't know how long the CEO is willing to stay. If he or she leaves five years from now the answer to who the heir apparent will be may change dramatically. Now...you can't be ignorant enough not to know this so my question for you is this...Did Steve steal your lunch money or just what exactly happened that you would write a piece like this.
Sometimes in celebrating the works of the Mother Theresa's of the world (deserved in her case) the world misses the contributions of the creators and inventors who make millions of lives across the entire planet better, more productive and maybe just a little more enjoyable. .

Bill Gates wouldn't have done any of that helping the world's poorest people crap if he hadn't met Melinda. She is the one that should be remembered. As for succession it doesn't matter who will follow Jobs, Apple will do fine because the company has a culture of excellence and innovation. Microsoft has the opposite mentality - mediocre products copied from elsewhere and muscled into the marketplace. Microsoft doesn't have the nimbleness to last long term in the Moore's Law computing environment. Having a succession "PLAN" now Isn't nimble, Making that decision in the Moore's Law future is. Jobs will make the right succession decision at the right time which isn't now.

Bill Gates wouldn't have done any of that helping the world's poorest people crap if he hadn't met Melinda. She is the one that should be remembered. As for succession it doesn't matter who will follow Jobs, Apple will do fine because the company has a culture of excellence and innovation. Microsoft has the opposite mentality - mediocre products copied from elsewhere and muscled into the marketplace. Microsoft doesn't have the nimbleness to last long term in the Moore's Law computing environment. Having a succession "PLAN" now Isn't nimble, Making that decision in the Moore's Law future is. Jobs will make the right succession decision at the right time which isn't now.

It is hardly narcissism to want to keep your job. And its hardly egotism to want to keep your health problems a private matter. Jobs heath problems are not relevant to his role at Apple, providing that they don't compromise his ability to do his job, and, apart from his non-attendance at MacWorld, they don't appear to have done this.

Jobs is a visionary, whose still has plenty more to offer Apple - long may his role their continue there. Of course, all credit to Gates for the excellent work that he's doing in Africa, but it simply doesn't follow that, just because one of Jobs' fellow visionaries has chosen to do this, that it's suddenly the only dignified way to go.

It strikes me that Jobs has handled his heath problems with a great deal of dignity, and the only thing that I can see that is undignified about this situation is the kind of opinions expressed in this article, that do not credit to an otherwise highly regarded publication.

No. Jobs is the classy one. Steve Ballmer is an idiotic freak. Gates gave up, Steve continues to strive for excellence in his company. His salary is $1 annually, and he does not intend to play petty cat-and-mouse games with ridiculous reporters like you, he's just sick. He will be fine by spring, at which time you will regret saying any of this because Steve is absolutely not egotistic or selfish like you said, he cares about Apple with his whole heart, and you must understand that.

Wow, Daniel.

Do arrogant, destructive "I am Dan, seer of the truth" declarations prove interesting to your readership? Here's a clue from one former fan.

Your rants worked better in a humorous "Jobs" blog than they do in NewsWeek . I loved your blog because you hit a few and missed a few, but it was mostly very funny, nonetheless.

When your paid for your opinions (not rants), they are supposed to be somewhat well reasoned, fair, and thoughtful (I think that's part of the NW brand.). I read this article as an unwelcome intrusion and unfairly slanted.

For instance, your readers might be mystified by your citing Gates for his orderly secession to Ballmer when it's becoming all too obvious that Ballmer has only a few years to turn msft around and that the doubts about his leadership increase every quarter.*

* - see Vista, Zune, BotNets, Paid_Shills_Nation, stagnant/declining Share Price, and (wait for it) the much delayed rollout of Windows 7

Notorious Microsoft shill, Daniel Lyons, post another in his re-write of tech history series. Microsoft-good, Apple-bad. Bill Gates, genius, gentleman, Steve Jobs, supreme egoist. Bill Gates devoting his life to the poor, Steve Jobs clinging to past glories while APPL burns.
We get the picture, Newsweek, you lying, shilling creeps.

Another great observation from a man so consumed by envy that he pretended to be target of his own venom.

What do you expect to find in a successor. An incompetent buffoon that shoots of idiotic comments only to have eat them in a few months? A clueless oaf who has failed in every attempt to enter a new market? A marketing expert whose idea of creating excitement and attention about a product is to rename it and show his enthusiasm by hopping around dripping with sweat and yelling at the top of his voice what a lucky person he is working for his company?

Would you like the job? I am sure, in that case, the first order of your business will be to find a successor. Why don't you go criticize a CEO that is ruining his company instead? It seems when one is successful there is no shortage of people giving him advice. But no one offers anything to a loser.

Please seek help. You are a sick man.

Wow. Steve Jobs -- the man who basically invented the graphical user interface, saved a company that's a way of life for pretty much every creative professional on the planet, and singlehandedly transformed the music industry (and now the cellphone industry) -- is "a petulant narcissist with a grandiose sense of his importance and a sadly limited view of the world around him."

You, sir, are a slime bucket. With an even more limited view of the world around you. Feel good in your profession as an Apple-bashing click troll? Is this what you wanted to be as a child?