Steve,
My name is Stephen Gillett. I am an IT professional and currently CIO of Starbucks. I write this as an IT professional, not as a digital and interactive business leader, strictly IT speaking.
Steve & Apple, we have had a long standing relationship, even if you don’t know it.
You see, Apple has always been a part of my personal world. The personal relationship with Apple is fine, healthy and goes back to my early youth.
Being brought into the world in the late 1970’s there is not a world known to me before Apple. It has always been there, the bright Apple logo in its various forms, evolving and growing like a tree planted in the backyard in youth that when visited in adulthood stands taller than the house itself.
You were in my school and in my home. As the brand evolved, I grew up as well.
When I was in high school learning to type in 1990’s, Apple was there to receive my every misguided key stroke and through the thick bi-focal lens of my instructor critiquing me for looking down at the keyboard as I typed, Apple was there to gently chuckle at me through the clicking of the keys and help me correct and get back on track.
We were buds, we were friends, we were comrades early in the tech journey and we spent a lot of time together. Each night I would put the rubbery keyboard cover back on you, as you waited for the next day of lessons.
When I started to spend time with your cousin Windows more, I still had a strong relationship with you Apple. In a way, I became ambidextrous, weaving in and out of Windows and Apple as one would own two cars, each for a distinct purpose yet unique in their own right.
All was well.
When I got my first job in corporate America, that relationship changed.
I was perplexed and confused. This brand and technology of my youth did not want to have the same relationship with me as I grew up. I was in a corporate world that had a lot of technology, but had a distressing fewer and fewer encounters with Apple.
Being a good friend to Apple, I tried to change that. I was an entry level IT professional, but I realized quickly that the feeling between the enterprise and Apple was mutual. It wasn’t just the enterprise pushing Apple away, but in equal and opposite force Apple was pushing away the enterprise. The enterprise was concerned about a bunch of things and Apple did not want to spend the time or energy to alleviate those concerns.
And so my professional relationship grew more distant and I lost that ambidexterity that I had so mastered in my youth. I lost a friend.
Apple also grew, it went through growth and decline and growth again and when Apple emerged from those years a stronger and healthier company, I also emerged from those same years an older and more seasoned executive.
Now here I am, all grown up and in the role of CIO, one of the “500” that you called an “orifice” to the end users of an organization. I was not offended; I know we can be a hard lot to work with as we have to care about things that are not as cool as the consumer elements of great technology.
In that, no hard feelings. It’s all good--for real.
I am inspired by Apple and the work you have done over my lifetime. You have a great product and service and pride of ownership by your customers. It is aspirational and commendable.
On the personal side all is going fine and on the professional side, your technology, brand and service have made me a better technologist and a better CIO in so many ways. Your leadership has inspired those of us who lead technologists and drive business innovation.
I hope one day soon we can get back on great terms, this time with Apple and enterprise IT. I am working on just that now actually and can't wait to tell you more about it.
I hope you will not hold any hard feelings to me now that I am a CIO. I don’t hold any towards you.
Your old friend,
Stephen, The IT guy
I like that and to a lesser degree I feel the same way. Working as a web developer I have been bound to MS and Windows from the start. But, I began with the Apple IIe and line numbered basic and thinking of that time always makes me smile. I would love it if we (my company) could move towards using Macs for anything other than the graphics design people.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Growing up with the PCS of the 80s, dialing into bulletin boards and building our own PCS, it seemed that Apple looked down at what it considered the lessor mortals. I find it humorous how Mr. Jobs railed against Microsoft for stifling innovation with his IBM contracts yet he is doing the same with the tight platform ownership that they have setup. While I am not a fan it is not because of the product. The products have been mostly good. Perhaps some inroads will be made into the corporate world but I dont think it will be a big increase. He has built a wonderful B2C company that will slowly diminish in size unless they grasp the open source, open platform model. Mass consumerism will always go to the lowest bidder. Apple,if you truly love her, then she must set her free.
ReplyDeleteApple was a toy to me when the iPod came along, working for Openwave and doing smartphone integration I saw the writing on the wall and shortly afterward the iPhone came out. A 100 mph fastball out of Apple aimed at personal productivity, well, here we are 8 years later and my iPad is indispensible. Thank you, Steve for your vision, and, thank you Apple for being a product of change.
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