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'Apple University' Trains Future Apple Executives with Focus on Missteps of Apple and Others

Tuesday January 24, 2012 6:19 am PST by Eric Slivka

Details of Adam Lashinsky's new Inside Apple book set to debut tomorrow continue to surface, and while some of the ideas behind the company's "Apple University" program for training the next generation of executives were previously disclosed in Lashinsky's original Fortune piece on the topic and in a Los Angeles Times article last October, the new book takes a more extensive look at the concept.

As had been previously disclosed, Apple in 2008 hired Yale School of Management dean Joel Podolny to head up the Apple University initiative on management training. Several other professors, including Harvard business historian Richard Tedlow, came on board in consulting roles to help develop the curriculum. Classes were primarily taught by Apple executives, with guidance offered by Podolny and the other professors.

Examples of the case studies being taught at Apple University include the story of how Apple crafted its retail strategy from scratch and Apple's approach to commissioning factories in China. Wherever possible the cases shine a light on mishaps, the thinking being that a company has the most to learn from its mistakes.

Tedlow quietly retired from Harvard last year, and is now working full-time for Apple to add his expertise on U.S. business history to the Apple University curriculum. His lectures reportedly draw upon crises and missteps experienced by other major businesses, events which offer lessons to help Apple's future leaders avoid similar pitfalls and learn how to respond when faced with adversity.

[H]e is teaching them business lessons about other companies that the Apple executives can apply to their own situations. For instance, Tedlow has lectured Apple's PR staff on the Tylenol tampering crisis of 1982 and how the McNeil Consumer Products unit of Johnson & Johnson responded. He taught a class for executives about the fallen grocery store chain A&P as an example of what happened to a company that once dominated its field. Quipped an attendee: "We were all trying to figure out what A&P had to do with Apple."

Lashinsky notes it that will be interesting to watch how the company that shunned traditional business school business practices under Steve Jobs evolves over time now that academics have been brought in to help mold the next generation of Apple leaders. That evolution will, however, likely take years before it becomes apparent to the public.

Top Rated Comments

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ouimetnick

98 months ago

I wish I could take the class.

Rating: 9 Votes

george-brooks

98 months ago

I think Apple University will be key to Apple's continued success in light of Steve's passing.

Rating: 9 Votes

gmcalpin

98 months ago

Quipped an attendee: "We were all trying to figure out what A&P had to do with Apple."

This attendee will never rise above middle management. If that.

Rating: 8 Votes

kolax

98 months ago

I'm not sure how that relates to Apple's astounding record sales of the same product, that, keep in mind, is barely one of the only two (or three) smartphones Apple makes.

Where was the huge deluge of returns? Why are we seeing this?

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/08/apple-again-tops-j-d-power-rankings-of-smartphone-consumer-satisfaction/

Must be a rounding error. Or something.

Just because people didn't return the phone, doesn't mean the iPhone 4 had a rather shoddy antenna design (which has been completely rectified with the iPhone 4S).

Rating: 7 Votes

Dr McKay

98 months ago

There was a huge problem with the antenna, even Steve understood this, he cut his vacation short once he heard about it, and got together with Ive. Because those 2 together ignored the engineers warnings and pushed the design forward.

Rating: 6 Votes

Shrink

98 months ago

The poorly designed iPhone 4 antenna..

You didn't understand. The poster to whom you replied does not believe Apple EVER makes design mistakes.

Or any mistakes.

Ever.

About anything.

Ever.

Apple is never wrong.

Get it? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D

Rating: 5 Votes

kolax

98 months ago

Hope they teach "never underestimate antenna design in a phone".

Rating: 5 Votes

rdowns

98 months ago

I wonder if the text books are iPad based. :D

Rating: 5 Votes

JKubecki

98 months ago

This totally needs to be on iTunes U.

Rating: 4 Votes

iBug2

98 months ago

Just because people didn't return the phone, doesn't mean the iPhone 4 had a rather shoddy antenna design (which has been completely rectified with the iPhone 4S).

Not at all. iPhone 4S Antenna is basically the same design as iPhone 4, except the death grip doesn't cause signal attenuation anymore because the other side of the antenna becomes active. So they iterated on the same design and corrected the mistake.

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The worst mistake is to think that you can teach success, innovation, creativity, strategy, leadership, teamwork, make awesome stuff .

You cannot.

You can of course. That's why we educate people. You can teach someone to be a leader, you can't teach him to be Albert Einstein. But companies are not run with one person, there are thousands of people working to get things done, and if you can teach 90% of them to be better, even if you cannot create top notch leaders like Jobs with education, it's still a huge plus.

Rating: 2 Votes

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