Chapter 23 Seventh Odyssey

On the night of May 23, Sculley was packing his luggage, preparing for his upcoming trip to China the next day.He will meet with the Vice Premier of China there to discuss the application prospects of Apple computers in the Chinese education market.Casey called Sculley and told Sculley: "You better cancel your travel plans. Because you must be aware that there is a force in the company that wants to drive you away." "What did you say?" Scully couldn't believe his ears. "I don't know all the details, but I suggest that you better not go to China. Jobs is obviously very angry with you. He is connecting a lot of people and planning something. I guess they want to persuade the board to fire you while you are in China. you."

Sculley had to cancel his trip to China.He decided to confront Jobs about his provocation at the top management meeting the next day. At 9 a.m. on May 24, all executives arrived at the venue on time except Jobs.After a while, Jobs was late. Without hesitation this time, Sculley stood up and said to Jobs, "Steve, we're not going to follow the daily agenda today because we have to solve a most important problem. I think the whole management should be involved. I I heard that you are going to drive me out of the company. I want to ask you, is this true?" The top managers in the room were not surprised to hear this news.In fact, Jobs had already greeted each of them.These days, Jobs has been operating in the shadows, hoping to get the support of every top manager.Jobs' idea was very simple, to force the board of directors to yield and drive Sculley away by means of high-level managers forcing the palace.

The whole venue fell into a brief silence.A minute later, Jobs said: "I think you are not suitable for Apple, you are no longer a competent CEO." Jobs spoke slowly and in a low voice, trying to control his emotions: "You really should leave the company. I'm more worried about the future of the company than I've ever been. I'm worried about you. You don't understand operations, John. , you're playing a one-man show. You don't understand product development and manufacturing processes. You don't understand this company. Middle managers don't trust you anymore. The first year, you helped us rebuild the company. But the second year, you hurt company."

Fighting back the pain, Sculley said, "It's very clear that we have serious differences. I don't think you can have a hand in everything in the company." Jobs said: "I regard you as a teacher, and I hope that you will come here to help me grow and become a qualified manager. But you failed to do this." Sculley said sadly: "I made a mistake and I respected you too much." He then shouted to everyone, "If I leave, who will run the company?" "I think I can run a company," Jobs said. "I think I know how things should be done."

Everyone in the venue looked at each other in blank dismay. They watched the breakup between the founder and CEO of the company.Few stood up to speak, but everyone who did said they didn't believe it had come to this point.Everyone who spoke also said they would support Sculley over Jobs, despite Jobs' contributions to the company. Del Yocam (Del Yocam), the head of the Apple II department, said: "I like Jobs, and I respect Sculley. But liking doesn't mean everything. Apple must have a strong and efficient leader." Bill Campbell said: "Jobs is the heart and soul of the company. Even if he is not in a management position, Jobs needs to play a proper role in the company."

Seeing the scene of betrayal, Jobs said disappointedly: "Well, I think I have understood the current situation." Jobs' eyes sparkled, emotionally.He slammed the door and left, and the meeting ended hastily. One afternoon not long after, Sculley and Jobs were walking and chatting about their conflicts.More than two years ago, in Cupertino and Central Park in New York, didn't the two of them also walk while chatting about Sculley's joining Apple?Times have changed, things have changed, and who would have thought that this walk would be the last interview between two former friends.

Jobs asked Sculley: "Why don't you become the chairman of the board and let me be the CEO?" Sculley said, "Steve, that doesn't make sense. I wasn't brought in by you to be a figurehead. This company doesn't need me to do this. If I can't be CEO, we should find someone else. CEO." "Well, that's what I want," Jobs said, "and I don't want to be a figurehead. I don't want to be the chairman of the board who only cares about the long-term plan and thinks about the future. Can we break things down? Open, you are only in charge of marketing and sales, and I am in charge of product? Like two departments?"

Sculley thought that Jobs was so innocent and lovely.How can this work?He told Jobs: "We're in a crisis, and there's no time for experimentation. At times like this, one person has to run the company. I have support, and you don't." On Monday, Sculley convened a meeting of management and once again had the support of everyone.Sculley called Jobs himself to inform Jobs that the company had decided to relieve him of his management position in the Macintosh division. Jobs said flatly: "Well, I guess it will be like this." On May 31, Sculley formally signed a document to relieve Jobs of the position of general manager of the Macintosh department.When Sculley announced it to all the middle managers, Jobs sat in the corner of the audience, looked at Sculley with strange, angry, helpless eyes, but was afraid to make eye contact with Sculley .

At this time, no one believed that Jobs would be willing to stay in the position of chairman of the board of directors.The only suspense is when Jobs himself will take the initiative to resign and leave the company he created himself. Of course, not everyone supported Sculley and the board's decision 100 percent in that difficult time.Vice President Jay Elliott was on Jobs' side.He felt that Jobs, who had always focused on product orientation, was more suitable for Apple than Sculley, who came from a traditional industry and was only good at sales but did not understand R&D.Starting from Markkula, Elliott talked to the board members one by one, telling them that it was a big mistake for Sculley to exclude and abandon Jobs, and that Apple might consider spinning off the Macintosh department and let Jobs lead it alone.

Markkula's reply to Elliott was: "No, Jobs is too immature." Other directors reacted similarly to Markkula. When Jobs heard about Elliott's efforts, he invited Elliott to lunch at the Spanish-style villa he had bought in the town of Woodside.Jobs said to Elliott: "Thank you! I really hope that what you said to the directors will help them make the right decision." Obviously, Jobs and Elliott were too wishful thinking.A few days later, Sculley called a meeting of all vice president-level executives and asked them to "swear allegiance" to him.Elliott declined, offering allegiance only to Apple, its employees, and its shareholders.

Sculley went to Elliott specifically and said, "You have to tell me why you told the directors that was a mistake?" "Don't you think," said Elliott calmly, "that the conflict between you and Jobs is absurd? The company has split into two parts, the Apple II team and the Macintosh team. But the Macintosh team represents the future of the company after all. , Jobs, and no one else, led and created the Macintosh. I think you should figure out a way to make the Apple II play well with other teams for the rest of the technology's life, and Jobs should lead the Macintosh to win the market and the future. You and Jobs should work together, not break up." No matter how he dealt with the relationship with Jobs, Sculley still had to face the crisis that continued to spread. In the summer of 1985, in order to defuse the crisis, Sculley had to lay off 1,200 employees.At the time, it was the largest layoff in Apple's history.The employees who have been lucky enough to stay after layoffs are all asking the same question: "The company has always said that employees should be loyal to Apple. But how does Apple's 'loyalty' to employees reflect? What should 'loyalty' look like?" At this time, Jobs still had the false title of chairman of the board of directors.Sculley was worried that the idle Jobs would cause trouble in the company, so he specially arranged for his secretary to accompany Jobs on a trip to Europe. While attending marketing activities and helping Apple with publicity, he let Jobs' temperament travel around and relax. It was said to relax, but Jobs was disheartened and unable to cheer up throughout the trip to Europe, as if he had just lost love.Apple colleagues even worried that he might commit suicide.In Italy, Jobs rode his bicycle through the wind and rain alone.He even said to his friends that he might as well live in Europe like those down-and-out artists and find a place to farm and grow flowers.He also told his friends that if possible, he would like to apply to NASA to take the "Challenger" space shuttle and go to space to see it. It was during this trip that Jobs made his first trip to the Soviet Union, promoting Apple computers in the homeland of America's Cold War rival.In Moscow, when he heard the story of Trotsky who was exiled, he couldn't help saying with emotion: "I'm simply Apple's Trotsky." He even thought about staying in the Soviet Union and teaching school children Sell ​​computers. Jobs also liked to compare himself to Polaroid founder Edwin Land.At that time, Rand was forced to resign under the pressure of the board of directors only because of a failure in product development, which was somewhat similar to Jobs' situation. Returning from his travels in Europe, Jobs still had a little fantasy of "restoration".He found Jay Elliott and told him an amazing "mass movement" plan. Jobs said: "Let's try again and see if we can convince the board to change their minds. I'm going to order a batch of T-shirts that say 'We want Jobs back.'" "That's a clever idea," thought Elliott. Jobs went on to say, "What about you just get the whole staff together at lunch and give them a T-shirt?" "Dizzy, how could it be me!" Elliott was still clear-headed, "No, Steve. I'm an Apple executive, so I can't do this." Discouraged, Jobs said to Elliott, dejectedly, "Okay, no, no. But it's a good idea anyway, isn't it?" "Well, it's a good idea." Elliott didn't know how to comfort Jobs. In September 1985, Jobs, who was disillusioned with Apple, submitted his resignation to the board of directors. On September 13, Friday, the board of directors met to discuss the issue of Jobs' resignation, and finally agreed to Jobs' resignation request. On September 17, Jobs officially resigned from Apple. A few days later, when people were cleaning Jobs' office, they found a black and white photo of Jobs and Sculley on the ground.The glass frame of the photo is broken.Behind the photo is a sentence written by Sculley about 7 months ago: "For great ideas, great experiences, great friendships! John." The Odyssey is the hero of "Homer's Epic".After the Trojan War, Odyssey began a wandering career for more than 10 years, and returned to his hometown after countless disasters.After driving Jobs away, Sculley wrote a book called "The Odyssey", comparing his more than ten-year journey from Pepsi to Apple to a wandering hero's Odyssey. In fact, among the previous CEOs of Apple, Sculley is not the worst, but he is much higher than Scott and others in terms of ability and achievements.A former Apple vice president commented on Sculley in an interview with us: "He is an excellent CEO. Under Sculley's leadership, Apple's sales have grown from hundreds of millions of dollars to tens of billions. Sculley's marketing genius also drove the sales of Macintosh computers. However, Sculley is not good at predicting industry trends, nor is he good at making quick and decisive decisions in complex situations. At the same time, the executives around him The quality is uneven, which shows that his vision for selecting people is not accurate." Undoubtedly, Sculley is the most controversial among Apple's previous CEOs. This is simply because he failed to handle the relationship between himself and the founder Jobs, forcing Jobs to choose the path of leaving. Jobs loved Apple, and he also respected and admired Markkula and Sculley.In the eyes of Jobs, Markkula is like an elder who often takes care of him, and Sculley is like a mentor who is persuasive and persuasive, but these are all things in his memory.Now, Scully is the enemy, and Markkula is the enemy's protector.Jobs hated them, hated the board, hated middle and senior managers who didn't understand him.The company he created with his own hands abandoned him, the people he once trusted abandoned him, and he had no choice but to leave. "Sculley ruined everything," Jobs told reporters in an interview in 1996. Things are unpredictable.Who would have thought that Jobs, who was abandoned by Sculley and the board of directors, went through hardships and drifted away for 12 years, and was unexpectedly invited back to the company by Apple through an acquisition?Who would have predicted that after his return, Jobs would become a competent CEO, turn the tide, turn Apple into the world's number one technology company, and realize his lifelong ideal? Compared with Sculley's experience at Pepsi and Apple, the ups and downs of Jobs in the 12 years after leaving Apple can truly be called a myriad of difficulties and dangers, and it is truly an odyssey-like life wandering!Perhaps, only Jobs is the most qualified to name his autobiography "Odyssey"! Many years later, recalling the past, Sculley, who has gray hair on his temples, is filled with emotion.He said emotionally: "Perhaps it was a mistake to drive Jobs away. Perhaps he should have been CEO and I should have been chairman of the board. These things should have been prearranged before the situation deteriorated. If we had a better board , maybe things would not have developed to that point. Later, when I couldn’t continue to be CEO myself, I made a second mistake and didn’t invite Jobs back as CEO. At that time, I should have said to him:’ Hi, I want to go home. This is still your company, let's find a way for you to come back and run your company.' But I didn't, and I don't know why." Many years later, a reporter asked Jobs, if Jobs instead of Sculley had stayed at Apple as CEO, what would have been different?Jobs responded this way: "For many years, what Apple has pursued is to put a computer in everyone's hands, to revolutionize the personal computer, to pursue products and user experience. I was taught that if you can control the highest level of the company - including your customers , your product, and your strategy—then all the other low-level details fall into place. If you focus on the low-level details and forget about the rest, you end up hitting a brick wall. At Apple, from Starting with Sculley, people lost control of the highest level. Because their purpose became more and more realistic, from product and customer driven, to profit driven. The most important point is that the company's values ​​have changed, From making the best computers in the world, to making the most money." "So, you're still going to say that Sculley ruined Apple?" the reporter asked Jobs. "Yes, he did ruin Apple," Jobs said.