Long-time innovator and entrepreneur Steve Jobs recently stepped down as chief executive officer at Apple Inc., which he cofounded, after years of creating history with the company. Jobs had inspired the world by bouncing back from being fired from Apple in 1985 to go on to set up the hugely successful Pixar and ultimately get rehired as Apple Inc.'s chief executive officer in 1997. Today, the pressure of his career impacting his health has taken its toll, but his legendary status from pitting skill, wits, and determination against adversity is sure to live on.
On the other hand, Jobs has left some rather large shoes to fill, not only within Apple but also for corporations that have now come to expect an equal level of commitment and success from their CEOs and high-level executives. After a year of struggling to effect a turnaround for Yahoo Inc., CEO Carol Bartz has been unceremoniously fired over the phone with over a year remaining on her contract. The market response was positive, with a 6% increase in the company's stock value. A once high-flying company, Yahoo Inc is now being considered a potential takeover target in some circles. While Yahoo's problems began long before Bartz's term, as seen by the changing of three CEOs within a three-year span, she has come under fire for not being able to recognize viable competitors, such as Facebook, and mismanaging Yahoo's ad sales platforms. Despite being responsible for the 10-year search-advertising deal with Microsoft and restructuring the organization for better productivity, producing more than $1 billion in profit last year, Bartz failed to innovate, and this was her ultimate downfall. In short, she was no Steve Jobs.
News of Bartz's dismissal came on the same day as the demotion and subsequent withdrawal of Sallie Krawcheck, who controlled Bank of America's two wealth management units. In a move referred to as "?delayering" by CEO Brian Moynihan, Krawcheck's position was effectively dissolved, leaving her to accept a lower position and report to a lower-level executive rather than the CEO or to simply resign. Unlike Bartz, however, Krawcheck's apparent ousting was not the result of poor performance but good performance. An anonymous source at Merrill Lynch told CNBC that Krawcheck was considered a threat to Moynihan's position if the Board started to look at his performance in much the same way that Yahoo's Board viewed Bartz's performance. This appears to be sending the message that if you can't be the next Steve Jobs, your only hope of job security is to eliminate the competition"¦within the company. In light of the economic instability of recent years, are managerial boards being too dismissive of strong but slow efforts in favor of quick turnarounds, ultimately forcing executives to take similar protective measures?