June 10, 2010 at 22:21John Scully: “Why I Fired Steve Jobs”
In the spring of 1985, the Apple Board of Directors decided that he no longer needed the services of the eccentric, undisciplined, uncompromising control freak Steve Jobs - and he was fired. The wealthy board members sighed with relief: now no one will secretly stick stickers with apples on the mirrors in the magnificent Rockefeller mansion.
The exiled co-founder of the company returned in 1997 with a much more serious person. Now he is probably considered the most talented manager on the planet. Unlike those who fired him.
Members of that board of directors now work as top managers in various secondary IT companies. Journalists from The Daily Beast contacted some of them.and asked to remember why they made such a decision 25 years ago and what they think about it now.
The main antagonist of Steve Jobs on the board of directors and the initiator of his dismissal was John Sculley, top manager of Pepsi, whom the board invited in 1983 to the position of Apple's executive director. Luring him to work, Jobs himself, according to rumors, said: "Do you want to sell sugar water all your life or do you want to come with me and change the world?"
In public, John Scully first appeared at the presentation of handheld computers with the Newton MessagePad touchscreen, which took place shortly after his assumption of office.
The inventor of the Pepsi Challenge campaign zealously took on the Macintosh department’s low sales and cleaned up the creative chaos that surrounded Jobs. In the end, Scali realized that it was impossible to get along with Jobs.
Jobs was uncontrollable and undisciplined. No one knew what was on his mind and what he was doing. Jobs came to work in jeans, which in the early 80s was completely wild. He went to India for six months, where he talked about life with local gurus, and then came in with a mustache, goatee and a strange look. They say that one day Jobs and other top Apple executives were invited to David Rockefeller’s luxurious mansion for an IPO party, after which the cleaners had to clean the stickers on the toilet with colorful apples.
It was Scully who initiated the dismissal of Jobs from the Macintosh division, he was left only the nominal post of president and no real powers.
Today, Scully pays tribute to Jobs for everything Apple has accomplished and regrets how it all came out: “I haven't talked to Steve for twenty-odd years. He still does not want to talk to me and is unlikely to ever want to. "
Scully was forced to resign from Apple in 1993, and became the CEO and president of Spectrum Information Technologies, which filed for bankruptcy two years later. Today, 71-year-old John Scully is engaged in venture capital investments, is listed as a partner of Rho Ventures and director of OpenPeak.
The exiled co-founder of the company returned in 1997 with a much more serious person. Now he is probably considered the most talented manager on the planet. Unlike those who fired him.
Members of that board of directors now work as top managers in various secondary IT companies. Journalists from The Daily Beast contacted some of them.and asked to remember why they made such a decision 25 years ago and what they think about it now.
The main antagonist of Steve Jobs on the board of directors and the initiator of his dismissal was John Sculley, top manager of Pepsi, whom the board invited in 1983 to the position of Apple's executive director. Luring him to work, Jobs himself, according to rumors, said: "Do you want to sell sugar water all your life or do you want to come with me and change the world?" In public, John Scully first appeared at the presentation of handheld computers with the Newton MessagePad touchscreen, which took place shortly after his assumption of office.
The inventor of the Pepsi Challenge campaign zealously took on the Macintosh department’s low sales and cleaned up the creative chaos that surrounded Jobs. In the end, Scali realized that it was impossible to get along with Jobs.
Jobs was uncontrollable and undisciplined. No one knew what was on his mind and what he was doing. Jobs came to work in jeans, which in the early 80s was completely wild. He went to India for six months, where he talked about life with local gurus, and then came in with a mustache, goatee and a strange look. They say that one day Jobs and other top Apple executives were invited to David Rockefeller’s luxurious mansion for an IPO party, after which the cleaners had to clean the stickers on the toilet with colorful apples.
It was Scully who initiated the dismissal of Jobs from the Macintosh division, he was left only the nominal post of president and no real powers.
Today, Scully pays tribute to Jobs for everything Apple has accomplished and regrets how it all came out: “I haven't talked to Steve for twenty-odd years. He still does not want to talk to me and is unlikely to ever want to. "
Scully was forced to resign from Apple in 1993, and became the CEO and president of Spectrum Information Technologies, which filed for bankruptcy two years later. Today, 71-year-old John Scully is engaged in venture capital investments, is listed as a partner of Rho Ventures and director of OpenPeak.