"In Search of Excellence" at Apple Computer in 1984

1984-0710:44English

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

The youthful exuberance here seems a long way from the mannered halls of 3M,
but this is also a Fortune 500 company renowned for product innovation.
These very young men and women are on the task force that created the Macintosh at Apple Computer
and put the company back in the running with IBM.
In California's Silicon Valley, time seems to be compressed, and Apple is a perfect example.
Apple.
In 1976, two computer whiz kids, Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs, designed a personal
computer in Jobs' garage and managed to bring it to market a year later as the Apple
II.
In 1980, only three years later, Apple went public as a $118 million company.
The following year, IBM entered the new market with its own personal computer, the
PC.
Industry analysts predicted that Apple, like many other smaller companies, would
be forced out of business.
But Stephen Jobs, now all of 28 years old and chairman of the board, was not prepared to step aside.
You know, they have a third of a million people at IBM.
They've got like 350,000 people.
We've got 6,000 people. Makes you wonder.
I think IBM is a national treasure, what they've been able to do.
And they're sort of like a jewel in many ways.
And I have a great deal of respect for them.
They've made Apple a lot better.
By competing with IBM, we're becoming better and better each month.
But there is a problem.
And the problem is that they are so large and dominate certain markets so completely
that I think Apple is the only thing standing between them and total industry dominance.
Apple's response to the IBM threat was the Macintosh.
This Jolly Roger actually flew above the project building,
which was isolated from the rest of the company.
Jobs wanted his new task force to behave like pirates outside corporate law.
He was determined that this team would be free to innovate unencumbered by Apple's bureaucracy.
And he led the project himself.
Jobs was a perfect model of the new manager as coach, cheerleader, and nourisher of champions.
He's a maniac. He's a maniacal genius. His job is to stir up everything.
He's a muckraker in the classic sense of the word.
He will not leave anything alone.
He will not allow inadequacy or compromise to exist.
Steve Jobs was a catalyst for us.
He gave us space.
He sheltered us from the corporate noise.
There's nothing like a group effort toward a common goal to unite people.
I think that was the deal.
We wanted people that were insanely great at what they did,
but were not necessarily those seasoned professionals,
but who had at the tips of their fingers and in their passion
the latest understanding of where technology was
and what we could do with that technology,
and who wanted to bring that to lots of people.
So the neatest thing that happens is when you get a core group
of, you know, ten great people,
it becomes self-policing as to who they let into that group.
So I consider the most important job of someone like myself is recruiting.
We agonized over hiring.
We had interviews.
You could go back and look at some of the interviews.
They would start at 9 or 10 in the morning and go through dinner.
A new interviewee would talk to everybody in the building at least once and maybe
a couple times and then come back for another round of interviews and then we'd all get
together and talk about it.
And then they could fill out an application.
No, they never filled out.
Nobody ever filled out.
The most critical part of the interview, at least to my mind, was when we finally
decided we liked them enough to show them the Macintosh prototype.
and then we sat them down in front of it.
And if they just kind of were bored or said,
this is a nice computer, we didn't want them.
We wanted their eyes to light up
and them to get really excited,
and then we knew they were one of us.
And everybody just wanted to work,
not because it was work that had to be done,
but it was because something that we really believed in
that was just gonna really make a difference.
And that's what kept the whole thing going.
We all wanted exactly the same thing,
and instead of spending our time arguing
about what the computer should be,
we all knew what the computer should be,
and we just went and did it.
The greatest people are self-managing.
They don't need to be managed.
Once they know what to do, they'll go figure out how to do it.
They don't need to be managed at all.
What they need is a common vision.
And that's what leadership is.
What leadership is, is having a vision,
being able to articulate that so the people around you
can understand it, and getting a consensus
on a common vision.
You can click on a tool like a paintbrush and say,
Just real quickly flip out a little image of someone.
Can say, draw an eye.
Grab it with a lasso.
Pull it over.
Peel off the coffee.
Get another paintbrush.
The Mac team's vision is a very good idea.
was an inexpensive computer as powerful and sophisticated as IBM's PC,
with an added playfulness that would make it attractive to young people like themselves.
And they wanted it easy to use.
With Macintosh, there are no complicated commands to be memorized and typed into the machine.
All you do is move an arrow with a selection device called a mouse
and point to what you want from a menu of options presented on the screen.
Then the nice thing is you can copy a whole section,
Peel off a copy.
Flip it over.
Move in.
One of the neatest things about Macintosh was we had a chance to change the way people thought of computers.
I think prior to when the personal computer stuff started happening, you know, five or six years ago,
everyone thought of computers as big, cold, impersonal,
generally negative connotations associated with a computer.
No one would associate the word fun and computer together.
You know, they look at the machine and they say,
it gets me in the gut.
You know, I don't know exactly how to articulate it,
but it's, you know, cute and fuzzy and warm and motherhood,
you know, I want it.
And it's so funny to hear your friends say this,
you know, and your enemies say this.

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

The youthful exuberance here seems a long way from the mannered halls of 3M,

but this is also a Fortune 500 company renowned for product innovation.

These very young men and women are on the task force that created the Macintosh at Apple Computer

and put the company back in the running with IBM.

In California's Silicon Valley, time seems to be compressed, and Apple is a perfect example.

Apple.

In 1976, two computer whiz kids, Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs, designed a personal

computer in Jobs' garage and managed to bring it to market a year later as the Apple

II.

In 1980, only three years later, Apple went public as a $118 million company.

The following year, IBM entered the new market with its own personal computer, the

PC.

Industry analysts predicted that Apple, like many other smaller companies, would

be forced out of business.

But Stephen Jobs, now all of 28 years old and chairman of the board, was not prepared to step aside.

You know, they have a third of a million people at IBM.

They've got like 350,000 people.

We've got 6,000 people. Makes you wonder.

I think IBM is a national treasure, what they've been able to do.

And they're sort of like a jewel in many ways.

And I have a great deal of respect for them.

They've made Apple a lot better.

By competing with IBM, we're becoming better and better each month.

But there is a problem.

And the problem is that they are so large and dominate certain markets so completely

that I think Apple is the only thing standing between them and total industry dominance.

Apple's response to the IBM threat was the Macintosh.

This Jolly Roger actually flew above the project building,

which was isolated from the rest of the company.

Jobs wanted his new task force to behave like pirates outside corporate law.

He was determined that this team would be free to innovate unencumbered by Apple's bureaucracy.

And he led the project himself.

Jobs was a perfect model of the new manager as coach, cheerleader, and nourisher of champions.

He's a maniac. He's a maniacal genius. His job is to stir up everything.

He's a muckraker in the classic sense of the word.

He will not leave anything alone.

He will not allow inadequacy or compromise to exist.

Steve Jobs was a catalyst for us.

He gave us space.

He sheltered us from the corporate noise.

There's nothing like a group effort toward a common goal to unite people.

I think that was the deal.

We wanted people that were insanely great at what they did,

but were not necessarily those seasoned professionals,

but who had at the tips of their fingers and in their passion

the latest understanding of where technology was

and what we could do with that technology,

and who wanted to bring that to lots of people.

So the neatest thing that happens is when you get a core group

of, you know, ten great people,

it becomes self-policing as to who they let into that group.

So I consider the most important job of someone like myself is recruiting.

We agonized over hiring.

We had interviews.

You could go back and look at some of the interviews.

They would start at 9 or 10 in the morning and go through dinner.

A new interviewee would talk to everybody in the building at least once and maybe

a couple times and then come back for another round of interviews and then we'd all get

together and talk about it.

And then they could fill out an application.

No, they never filled out.

Nobody ever filled out.

The most critical part of the interview, at least to my mind, was when we finally

decided we liked them enough to show them the Macintosh prototype.

and then we sat them down in front of it.

And if they just kind of were bored or said,

this is a nice computer, we didn't want them.

We wanted their eyes to light up

and them to get really excited,

and then we knew they were one of us.

And everybody just wanted to work,

not because it was work that had to be done,

but it was because something that we really believed in

that was just gonna really make a difference.

And that's what kept the whole thing going.

We all wanted exactly the same thing,

and instead of spending our time arguing

about what the computer should be,

we all knew what the computer should be,

and we just went and did it.

The greatest people are self-managing.

They don't need to be managed.

Once they know what to do, they'll go figure out how to do it.

They don't need to be managed at all.

What they need is a common vision.

And that's what leadership is.

What leadership is, is having a vision,

being able to articulate that so the people around you

can understand it, and getting a consensus

on a common vision.

You can click on a tool like a paintbrush and say,

Just real quickly flip out a little image of someone.

Can say, draw an eye.

Grab it with a lasso.

Pull it over.

Peel off the coffee.

Get another paintbrush.

The Mac team's vision is a very good idea.

was an inexpensive computer as powerful and sophisticated as IBM's PC,

with an added playfulness that would make it attractive to young people like themselves.

And they wanted it easy to use.

With Macintosh, there are no complicated commands to be memorized and typed into the machine.

All you do is move an arrow with a selection device called a mouse

and point to what you want from a menu of options presented on the screen.

Then the nice thing is you can copy a whole section,

Peel off a copy.

Flip it over.

Move in.

One of the neatest things about Macintosh was we had a chance to change the way people thought of computers.

I think prior to when the personal computer stuff started happening, you know, five or six years ago,

everyone thought of computers as big, cold, impersonal,

generally negative connotations associated with a computer.

No one would associate the word fun and computer together.

You know, they look at the machine and they say,

it gets me in the gut.

You know, I don't know exactly how to articulate it,

but it's, you know, cute and fuzzy and warm and motherhood,

you know, I want it.

And it's so funny to hear your friends say this,

you know, and your enemies say this.