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Should Apple hire a visionary like Elon Musk?

  • Yes

    Votes: 14 36.8%
  • No

    Votes: 24 63.2%

  • Total voters
    38

thermal

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 3, 2009
289
295
Vancouver, Canada
Do you think it would benefit Apple to hire a visionary like Elon Musk, or are they better served staying the course with Tim Cook?
 

nostresshere

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2010
2,729
326
The question is asked as if one could easily identify a "visionary" with the CORRECT vision. The road is littered with folks with good visions and bad visions.

With all due respect to Steve Jobs - he had some pretty rough times with bad visions but was able to get some things right - mainly one thing - Iphone.

Oh yea... a visionary like Jobs or Musk have to be at the top, not hired.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,870
16,998
I think the OP meant a visionary similar to Steve jobs / Elon musk. Not literally hire Steve Jobs. The sentence was framed poorly.

Having said that, Elon musk is not really a visionary. He knows how to be nice in the media circle.
 
Last edited:

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Elon Musk is a visionary ?A failed attempt at launching a rocket (could happen to anyone....)

and just about everything shot off into space... Next, he'd be sending the kitchen sink.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Elon Musk is a visionary ?A failed attempt at launching a rocket (could happen to anyone....)

and just about everything shot off into space... Next, he'd be sending the kitchen sink.
Seems like there are self-landing rockets on autonomous barges. There are also all these fairly popular electric cars that have influenced and pushed the car industry.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,870
16,998
Seems like there are self-landing rockets on autonomous barges. There are also all these fairly popular electric cars that have influenced and pushed the car industry.

I’ll give that to musk. Even though he’s not a visionary himself but he is trying to open a new frontier in technology to bring all of us forward. His ideas are tenacity is solid.
 

hawkeye_a

macrumors 68000
Jun 27, 2016
1,637
4,384
I think, one of the reasons Steve Jobs was go passionate and "good" at running Apple was because he was a co-founder. Woz (as much as I appreciate his contribution to the Apple story), mainly contributed in the early days, and just doesn't seem to have the drive/ambition that Jobs did.

As it is, i think Apple2019 is a very different company when compared to Apple2010 or Apple 2001.... sadly, as a long-time Apple fan, it's barely recognizable. I don't think there's going to a 'savior' this time for Apple. I hope I'm wrong.
 

upandown

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2017
1,313
1,326
Visionary entrepreneurs like Elon Musk may have revolutionary ideas and are able to start a company. But that is a very different skill set than a stable CEO who can run a company long term. Apple has already had its big ideas brought to fruition. They need someone who can keep the ship on course.

And to all you haters. Elon very much is a visionary leader.
 

Hicksmat1976

macrumors 6502
Jul 12, 2016
384
367
Manchester, England
Who says Tim Cook is the main guy making all these decisions anyway? I think its possible Tim is just the bean counter, and might have a final say, but I don't necessarily think the "visionary" needs to be the CEO - at the end of the day SJ's wasn't the best bean counter, but he was a good leader, he had a vision, and was THE influencer at Apple. I don't think they need to replace Tim Cook, but they do need a creative influencer, in the vein of SJ.
 

BornAgainMac

macrumors 604
Feb 4, 2004
7,337
5,355
Florida Resident
I wonder if Steve Jobs would have ever risen to the top if he just went to work for Apple when it was already established like it is today as a young man. You may already have a new Steve Jobs at Apple stuck in the Macbook hardware division working on a Butterfly 4 keyboard that has so much potential.
 

macbookhair

macrumors regular
Sep 2, 2015
146
370
Having visionary or game changing ideas is a proclivity. That can be possessed by people at all levels in an organisation. It needs to be backed up with knowledge and experience, as well as skills.

That's why early Steve Jobs was a poor leader - he had product vision but didn't have the management skills to back it up.

In terms of having a visionary at the top at Apple now, it is eminently possible, but that person would need to understand the technology marketplace and be permitted by the board to take the company in brave new directions.

Public companies with enormous turnovers don't generally hire visionaries as they prefer individuals who can maintain revenue streams. Visionaries are risky.

This is why Apple are in a lot of trouble. They are succumbing to the cancer that kills big companies who become too successful.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,870
16,998
Having visionary or game changing ideas is a proclivity. That can be possessed by people at all levels in an organisation. It needs to be backed up with knowledge and experience, as well as skills.

That's why early Steve Jobs was a poor leader - he had product vision but didn't have the management skills to back it up.

In terms of having a visionary at the top at Apple now, it is eminently possible, but that person would need to understand the technology marketplace and be permitted by the board to take the company in brave new directions.

Public companies with enormous turnovers don't generally hire visionaries as they prefer individuals who can maintain revenue streams. Visionaries are risky.

This is why Apple are in a lot of trouble. They are succumbing to the cancer that kills big companies who become too successful.

This is inevitable, economic certainty. Every company that gets to that point eventually will fall. Eg Nokia, Blackberry, Ericsson, Motorola, Yahoo! Etc.

Very few companies have actually survived this so far. But they’re either not consumer tech companies or their eggs aren’t in one basket.
 
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