With the shock retirement of Apple COO Jeff Williams on Tuesday, all bets are off in regards to the subsequent CEO of Apple.
Williams, a 27-year Apple veteran, was broadly considered the doubtless subsequent CEO of Apple when Tim Prepare dinner finally steps down.
However with Williams out of the operating, Apple senior vice presidents John Ternus or Craig Federighi at the moment are seen as probably the most possible candidates for the highest spot.
However I believe it might be another person solely — and it’s a choose I haven’t seen anybody else make.
Right here’s who I believe is likely to be the following CEO of Apple, and why.
New CEO of Apple: It’s not who you suppose
In your entire company world, there’s maybe no greater job than the CEO of Apple, one of many world’s most respected and influential corporations.
Whoever is appointed to move up Apple will immediately develop into probably the most highly effective and influential enterprise executives on this planet. Amongst CEOs, it’s the capo of capos. The selection might be massively consequential not simply to the corporate itself, however to thousands and thousands of consumers and hundreds of different companies. They may very nicely mould your entire tech trade for the following decade or extra.
Who’re the highest candidates for Apple CEO?
Apple will virtually definitely select an inside candidate as its subsequent CEO. Tim Prepare dinner has even stated so.
“My job is to arrange a number of individuals for the power to succeed, and I actually need the particular person to come back from inside Apple,” he advised the singer Dua Lipa on her At Your Service podcast final November.
Prepare dinner, a grasp of secrecy, dropped no hints in any respect about potential candidates, however the two frontrunners are:
- John Ternus, Senior Vice President {Hardware} Engineering. Ternus is presently the general public favourite, and was named the almost certainly to be CEO in a high-profile Bloomberg article. He’s already accountable for most of Apple’s key {hardware}, together with the iPhone, Apple’s greatest money cow. His predominant benefits are youth (he’s not but 50), confirmed charisma, and a strong, CEO-ready chin.
- Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President Software program Engineering. As Apple’s prime software program govt, Federighi additionally has a excessive public profile, and has helmed scores of Apple’s splashy demos. Federighi additionally oversees a massively essential product portfolio and though older than Ternus, he has good CEO hair.
Different candidates from Apple’s present govt staff embrace the brand new COO Sabih Khan, who simply took over from Williams; Senior Vice President Companies Eddy Cue; Senior Vice President Worldwide Advertising Greg “Joz” Joswiak; and perhaps Vice President Atmosphere, Coverage and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. However I believe all of those candidates are unlikely.
There’s additionally little probability Apple will faucet an outsider for the position. The final time that occurred (Gil Amelio), it was a catastrophe. The corporate has very singular methods of working (it’s a distinctly purposeful group) and has spent years creating an inside management-training program, Apple College, which nurtures expertise within the ranks.
As Jobs nurtured Prepare dinner; Prepare dinner is nurturing his personal substitute
Ternus is a really succesful and charismatic public speaker, and has loved a meteoric profession at Apple, and is definitely a contender.
However I believe most pundits are making the identical mistake they made when Steve Jobs died.
Within the wake of Jobs’ demise, a number of Apple watchers picked Jony Ive as Jobs’ almost certainly successor. This was primarily based totally on Ive’s excessive public profile. Ive was virtually all the time featured at Apple’s product launch occasions; the Jony Ive “white room” design movies turned virtually a cliche. And, after all, Ive performed a number one position in creating these merchandise. He’s the identical sort of product visionary as Steve Jobs, and appeared like match.
However after all, Jobs as an alternative advisable Tim Prepare dinner, who had a really low public profile on the time and hadn’t been featured in any product occasions or movies.
What the pundits ought to have been was how Jobs seemed to be grooming Prepare dinner to be CEO in plain sight. Jobs tapped Prepare dinner for ever extra demanding roles on the firm, steadily elevating him greater up the company ladder.
Prepare dinner is doing the identical factor with one among his long-time lieutenants: Deirdre O’Brien, a thrity-year Apple veteran, who has held a few the identical positions that Prepare dinner held underneath Jobs, and appears to be Prepare dinner’s go-to when there’s a tough govt place to fill.
Why Deirdre O’Brien could also be Apple’s subsequent CEO
Picture: Apple
Within the years earlier than Jobs died, he typically turned to Prepare dinner to fill essential jobs — and now Tim Prepare dinner is doing the identical factor with Deirdre O’Brien.
Prepare dinner began at Apple in 1998 as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations. In 2002, his duties have been expanded to incorporate gross sales in addition to operations (he was named Government Vice President of Worldwide Gross sales and Operations); and once more in 2005, when he additionally added help to his portfolio: he turned Chief Working Officer, overseeing operations, gross sales and help. Prepare dinner develop into CEO in 2011.
In hindsight, it appears to be like like Jobs was grooming Prepare dinner for the CEO position by giving him a number of roles to familiarize himself with many elements of the corporate. And naturally, Prepare dinner crammed in for Jobs as momentary CEO 3 times when Jobs was on medical depart in 2004, 2009 and 2011.
Prepare dinner could also be doing one thing comparable with O’Brien.
Who’s Deirdre O’Brien?
Picture: Apple
O’Brien has labored at Apple for greater than 30 years and is one among Prepare dinner’s longest-serving and most trusted lieutenants, together with Williams and Kahn.
She joined Apple in 1988 after leaving faculty at Michigan State College, beginning with a job in operations — like Prepare dinner — and rising by means of the ranks to develop into Vice President of Worldwide Gross sales and Operations. Sound acquainted? It was Prepare dinner’s outdated job.
In 2017, she switched roles to HR, turning into Vice President of Folks, overseeing Apple’s sprawling HR features, together with Apple College.
When Apple’s former head of retail Angela Arendts stepped down in 2019, Prepare dinner put O’Brien accountable for retail along with her HR job. She was named Senior Vice President of Retail + Folks, the position she presently serves. In a press launch, Prepare dinner praised O’Brien as an “distinctive chief” who deeply understands Apple’s tradition and staff.
A number one candidate for brand spanking new CEO of Apple
Like Prepare dinner earlier than he took over, O’Brien has a reasonably low-profile public persona. She’s appeared in solely a few product movies and spoken solely at a handful of conferences.
O’Brien was talked about within the Bloomberg report about Apple’s subsequent CEO, however was dismissed as an unlikely candidate.
Maybe the most important knock in opposition to her is her age. Though it hasn’t been revealed publicly, she’s doubtless round 60-years-old, solely 4 years youthful than Prepare dinner. Apple’s board would possibly need somebody youthful, who’s able to staying within the position for 10 years or extra.
I interviewed O’Brien in 2018 for my e book about Prepare dinner, and tbh, didn’t get very a lot. I pressed her for private particulars or tales about Prepare dinner, however she stayed firmly on-script and gave nothing away. She was a really disciplined interviewee.
Most Apple followers would have a tough time recognizing her, however she’s risen excessive by means of the ranks, and appears to be one among Prepare dinner’s predominant go-tos when he wants a succesful chief to tackle a giant job.
It will be in step with Prepare dinner’s activist CEO modus operandi to call a lady as a successor, particularly such a trusted and long-time lieutenant.
O’Brien definitely isn’t a lock as Prepare dinner’s successor, however as a darkish horse candidate, she has rather a lot going for her. She ought to undoubtedly be talked about as one of many candidates for Apple’s prime job.
