Book: Jobs took dim view of execs sitting on others' boards
updated 03:00 am EST, Wed January 25, 2012
Only Cook allowed to serve outside Jobs himself
According to a forthcoming book, Inside Apple by Fortune editor Adam Lashinsky, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not allow any of his executive team other than Tim Cook to accept invitations to sit on the board of other companies. The instigator of Apple's famed culture of secrecy, Jobs was often worried that other companies would "poach" his carefully-cultivated team of "A-players" or profit from their insight, and thus, with one exception, would not allow them to serve on other companies' boards of directors, even when the company in question was not a competitor.
According to Lashinsky, a former iAd executive once asked Jobs about an offer to sit on a board he had received from a non-competing company. The executive, former Quattro Wireless founder Andy Miller, was told by Jobs that he was "barely cutting it here" and questioned as to why he would want to spend some of his time "helping someone else's company," 9to5Mac reports.
Miller declined the offer after seeing how incredulous Jobs was, but later left Apple entirely for other opportunities. Jobs is said to have pointed out to Miller, who was not a member of the "inner circle" of senior VPs, that "I don't even let [Scott] Forstall out of the office," referring to the company's senior vice president of iOS software. The "barely cutting it here" line, according to the report, was seen by Miller as high praise from Jobs, who was known for being tight with compliments and quick to belittle or downplay boastings from others.
One exception to this "rule" was Jobs himself, who sat on the board of Disney as a result of their buyout of his Pixar animation studio, which made Jobs the largest single shareholder. The only other exception is current CEO Tim Cook, who was allowed to sit on the board at Nike and whose involvement there has led to several interesting and popular collaborations between the two companies, including the Nike+iPod line of interactive sports sensors. Cook is still on Nike's board currently. [via 9to5Mac]
