Apple's Steve Jobs

As I'm sure most are all aware of, Steve Jobs has taken a medical leave of absence for an unknown period of time and for unknown reasons. Here is the email Steve sent to all of Apple's employees:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

-Steve

(http://www.businessinsider.com/breaking-steve-jobs-medical-leave-of-absence-2011-1#ixzz1CNJy2TJQ)


The strategic timing of this email is very interesting. On the day that Jobs announced his medical leave of absence, was on January 17th, otherwise known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This was very strategic because the U.S. stock markets were not opened on this holiday and to add to the suspense, the very next day Apple reported its first quarterly earnings, which was the highest ever at Apple. This definitely counteracted the mayhem that could have potentially occurred. 


"Apple today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2011, corresponding to the fourth calendar quarter of 2010. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $15.68 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion, or $3.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38.5 percent, compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, and international sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple's quarterly profit and revenue were both company records."


(http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/18/apple-reports-record-1q-2011-6-billion-profit-on-26-74-billion-in-revenue/)




Nonetheless, most people think that Steve Jobs is Apple, and him leaving means that Apple will not be able to succeed without his leadership. This has been demonstrated when Steve Jobs left the company back in 1985. Not until 1997, when he came back as CEO, did Apple begin to turn into what it is today. Jobs retained Apple's image and with the advent of the iPod, iTouch, iPhone, and MacBooks, it was clear that without his return, Apple would have headed towards disaster. 


Now the question remains, is Apple in a position where it can sustain itself and reproduce successful results? In Jim Collin's book, "Good To Great", one of the distinguishing factors that make a company Great as opposed to just Good is the fact that they had Level 5 Leaders. One major characteristic described for a Level 5 Leader was being able to set up successors for success. Hopefully Steve Jobs has learned and has been able to select a successor just as capable and as innovative and bold as Steve Jobs. As of now, Apple's COO, Tim Cook has some hope since he did lead the company's day-to-day operations when Steve Jobs took a medical leave two years ago. Of course Steve Jobs says he will still be "involved in major strategic decisions for the company", but once Steve Jobs finally retires or is in a position where he can't be involved, can Apple succeed?