Apple Board was Quiet on Succession… Good!

Stephen Davis of the Millstein Center at Yale, as well as the late Jerry York, and others, are committing my pet peeve in business: putting shareholders first. I am extremely “classical” in terms of what’s important about a business, a company, of any sort. In my view, the most important thing by far is what the company actually DOES, along with the manner and style and projection into the world of how they do it, and what they intend. That’s what it’s all about. Sure, there are employees to be considered, there are board members, there are shareholders, and stakeholders of other kinds, some of whom will be left in the dust, sputtering, “But… but…”

Everyone involved in a project in any way wants to have a say in how things are done. But not everyone gets to have that say. In particular, when a “way of doing things” is so spot-on, time after time after time, those on the sidelines who say that things “should” be done differently, have a hard time being heard. And that’s a good thing.

At one time in my life, I had a Basenji; a not very common breed of “barkless” dog, from Africa. Or I should say, she had me. These dogs retain much of their wild streak by nature. They’re not particularly domesticated. They don’t care so much about people. If they feel like doing something with you, they’ll do it. They’re very independent. Yes, they can be “broken,” as mine was, but then what have you got? I always felt a little sad, that I had to thwart my dog’s very life force a bit to get her to a point where she could live in my world.

I firmly believe that any effort to make Apple run more like other mainstream corporations would simply make it not what it is. It would remove some of its life force. It would make yet another uninteresting company making predictable products.

So Mr. Davis, please reconsider your focus. Concentrate on those companies that fit the traditional methods and measures. Leave companies like Apple to do what they do best: to innovate, not only in products, but in how they shape the world. Don’t try to make it fit a mold of how things “should” be done.

Read more: “Mum on Succession, Board Got Heat” – in the WSJ.