The blanket and the glue
From the New York Times’ take on Forstall’s departure from Apple.
But Mr. Forstall was also known as ambitious and divisive, qualities that generated more friction within Apple after the death of Mr. Jobs, who had kept the dueling egos of his senior executives largely in check. Mr. Forstall’s responsibilities will be divided among a few other Apple executives.
(Emphasis mine.) I’ve never thought of Jobs’ Apple in relation to the Soviet Union and the post-Jobs era as, metaphorically, like post cold-war USSR. Until now.
It’s difficult to argue that the end of the iron fist of control the USSR wielded over Eastern Europe was a bad thing. One bad thing it did do, however, was to reveal some sometimes long-simmering, tensions both between some Eastern Bloc countries as well between different groups of people within them. That old iron fist was both a blanket that masked some serious issues within and between countries and the glue that kept some of those countries from flying apart.
At Steve Jobs’ Apple, Steve Jobs was a similarly unifying force — the blanket and the glue. Tim Cook is not the same man. At his Apple, the blanket comes off. Collaboration and mutual professional respect is the glue. That appears to be the goal.
