Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

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  1

  oh my god

  11/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Erik,
  
  Does he deserve a wee bit of credit for birthing a tech giant
  weeks away from bankruptcy?
  
  - saving the music industry
  - redefining mobiles
  - innovating the windows (small w) desktop
  - reviving Pixar and redefining animation
  - inspiring 6B people with his style of leadership, intelligence,
  determination
  
  'Give me a break' huh?

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  2

  ErikSherman

  11/06/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  I think I did give him credit at the start. Just don't see him as the ceo of the decade. And let's not forget that he doesn't do all this sort of thing - like "redefine animation" - by himself. He may have provided the money, but the work was done by many and over years. As for his leadership, there are many who would disagree with you.

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  3

  Jon T

  11/07/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Rubbish. That cash pile generates huge benefit for Apple - their
  forward buying and booking of vast amounts of flash memory
  is but one example of its use.
  
  So, if all you can come up with by searching the internet for
  what others have come up with, then you fail - massively.
  
  Everything about what Apple and Pixar have achieved makes
  him the most incredible CEO in our lifetimes, bar none.
  
  He will likely be CEO of the next decade too.
  
  And Erik, why is it your opinion that voting Jobs CEO of the
  decade is the same as giving him a Sainthood?
  
  
  

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  4

  ErikSherman

  11/07/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Oh, please. The money isn't being put into buying memory - it's being put into sitting and making 1 percent interest. Lots of companies can and do buy memory in large quantities, and the prices have been low in the market because of the enormous glut, so it's not even as though Apple got to block others. Don't bother with trite "you fail" language if you don't know enough about what is going on in the industry.
  
  And to claim that Jobs is the greatest CEO of our lifetimes is inane. Lou Gerstner turned IBM around when it was crashing into a wall - no mean feat. Jack Welch took a top organization and GE and kept it moving along. Katherine Graham at the Washington Post was certainly in my lifetime. James Burke at J&J in the 80s, who could make a company live by a principle. Sam Walton built an operational empire.
  
  You say that no one ever touched the greatness of Jobs and then ask me why naming him CEO of the decade is the same as elevation to sainthood? You're going a step farther and deifying him.

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  5

  pkrufus

  11/08/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  I guess it's a question of cool. Cool combined with vision. Whether it's Gerstner, Welch, Graham, Burke or even Walton, all of them were visionaries in that they vastly improved their own areas of business by leaps and bounds. But Jobs is a guy whose genius has made businesses in areas that didn't really exist. I mean look at iTunes. The guy has redefined the way the music industry does business. And with the app store he's spawned another industry.
  
  Does Jobs single-handedly manufacture an iPhone or an iPod? No. Does he fit the motherboards of iMacs? Nada. But does he call the shots on the direction Apple takes? Hell, yeah. Talent hits a target others can't hit. Genius hits a target others can't see. That's why Jobs commands the kind of respect he does.
  
  Plus, which other CEO has had such a profound effect on culture and society? Let's face it, how many of the names you've mentioned have had this kind of impact on you and me? Yes, they impacted the bottomline. Yes, they grew the topline. Yes, they created value for shareholders. But I doubt you'd go so far as to say they changed the way the world lives.

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  ErikSherman

  11/08/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Apple under Jobs has created products that have become very popular. But, sorry, that's not really changing the way the world lives. You want more fundamental change? Ted Turner - not my favorite CEO, but opened cable in a way no one had thought of. Ray Croc (this is a for better or worse example). Howard Schultz of Starbucks, because who ever thought of paying that kind of money for coffee? Jeff Bezos, whose growth and transformation of Amazon, no matter what I think of some of their practices, has been brilliant. Bill Gates, for that matter, because the PC under Microsoft's influence has changed the world far more than the iPod or iPhone. If changing culture is critical, then why not the CEO of Facebook?
  
  Notice that I haven't said that Jobs isn't a good CEO, or even a relatively great one. But the greatest bar none as one person suggested? That's a laughable claim. Even the greatest since 2000? Yes, the company has done really well financially, but I don't see him as a prime example of what a CEO should be given that such issues as governance and relations to investors are critical for what a CEO must do, and Jobs frankly sucks at these.

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  7

  glg1@...

  11/09/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Give us your nomination...

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  8

  ErikSherman

  11/09/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Why? I think the concept of a "CEO of the decade" is pretty silly anyway.

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  9

  glg1@...

  11/10/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Jobs CEO of Decade Says Fortune: Give Me a Break

  Curious - thats all.
  Wondering who you think are the truly great corporate leaders of this era - with the rapid changes, social issues, etc.