Immortalizing Apple's Doctrine

Immortalizing Apple

To institutionalize the valuable knowledge on how Apple worked its way to become the world's most valuable tech company, Apple established an educational system within its halls called Apple University.


This was a priority project of its late founder, Steve Jobs, especially when he took his second medical leave in 2008. 

Little is known about Apple University and its inner workings but according to reports, Apple University started last 2008 and can be described as an educational system exclusive within Apple using case studies on significant decisions in Apple's recent history to teach Apple executives and presumably its new hires.


Among the corporate universities currently existing in the USA include McDonald's University and Pixar University, in which Jobs was also the former CEO.

Apple's Headquarters in Cupertino, California

According to Fortune, "Apple's Top executives teach the cases, which have covered subjects including the decision to consolidate iPhone manufacturing around a single factory in China and the establishment of Apple's retail stores. The goal of the program is to expose the next layer of management to the executive team's thought process."

The article by LA Times stated that apart from learning the executive team's thought process, The program would also help Apple internalize the thoughts of its visionary founder to prepare for the day when he's not around anymore. 


It also interviewed people with links to Apple & stated that "One of the things that Steve Jobs understood very well is that Apple is like no other company on the planet," said longtime Apple analyst Tim Bajarin. It became pretty clear that Apple needed a set of educational materials so that Apple employees could learn to think and make decisions as if they were Steve Jobs. Though the curriculum is still under wraps, Jobs himself oversaw the creation of the "university-caliber courses."

The period from Jobs' return to Apple in 1997 up to the present is Apple's Renaissance.  
From near bankruptcy, Apple roared its way back to the top, churning out one innovative product after another, in both hardware and software. 

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs showing the iPhone

During this time, among the wildly successful products that Apple launched were:

• The iPod, a digital music player showcasing an elegant pinwheel design combined with a large storage capacity for its time.

iPod Classic

• iTunes, the online music store that revolutionized the music industry. 

• The iPhone, a new breed of smartphone that changed the landscape of the telecommunications industry, with its touch screen capabilities and powerful operating system, the iOS. 

iPhone

• The iPad, which single handedly created the tablet industry while dominating it at the same time and also disrupted the ways of the publishing industry.

iPad

• The highly successful Apple retail stores that are now currently generating more sales per square foot than any other U.S. retailer.

The Apple Retail Store

Also showed here are some of the Apple Executives who were instrumental in Apple's success. They were part of the executive team that collaborated with Jobs in various stages of the Apple products during this Renaissance. They now form the leadership in Apple, carrying the torch handed over by Jobs. Their collaborations at work will form part of what will be studied by the future leaders of Apple in Apple University.

Tim Cook

CEO

The erstwhile COO is credited with streamlining and making Apple's supply chain and logistics the best in the industry.

Jonathan Ive

Senior Vice President
Industrial Design

Jonathan Ive led the design team that gave us the iPhone, iPad & the iMac among others.

Scott Forstall

Senior Vice President
iOS Software

Scott Forstall is credited in paring down the Mac OS X  to create the iOS, the software used by Apple in its most successful products namely the iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch.

  Eddy Cue

Senior Vice President

Internet Software and Services

Eddy Cue played a major role in creating the Apple online store in 1998, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the App Store in 2008.

Product and Leadership images courtesy of Apple 

Apple University is headed by Joel Podolny, the former Dean of the Yale school of management who was said to be personally recruited by Jobs' himself. Highly respected in the academic community, Podolny is credited with developing the Yale integrated MBA Curriculum in an amazingly short span of time, in response to the increasingly complex and cross-functional global environment in which businesses and their executives operate. He is also the author of the book Status Signals: A Sociological Study of Market Competition and co author of the book Strategic Management.


According to LA Times, the importance of Podolny's position at Apple was apparent from the first day as he moved into an office in between Jobs and Cook, he confided in former colleagues.


Aside from being the Dean of Apple University, Podolny is also Apple's Vice President for Human Resources.

Apple has been silent on Apple University and never commented on the subject. 

A micromanager, Steve Jobs managed every detail  in creating Apple University and his trademark secrecy is all over it with no detail revealed except that of Podolny's appointment being verified.

With Apple University, Fortune said "Jobs is ensuring that his teachings are being collected, curated, and preserved so that future generations of Apple's leaders can consult and interpret them."