Bill Campbell Reflects on 17 Years on Apple's Board of Directors
Alongside his resignation from Apple's board of directors after 17 years of service, Intuit chairman Bill Campbell spoke with Fortune about his time with the company, sharing some insights about the company he first became associated with over 30 years ago as a marketing executive.
Bill Campbell at Apple's "Celebrating Steve" event relating the story of Steve Jobs trying out Siri
Among the topics touched on by Campbell was the conflict he faced while serving on Apple's board while also assisting Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt, a situation not always embraced by longtime friend Steve Jobs.
“Steve would say, ‘If you’re helping them you’re hurting me.’ He would yell at me,” recalls Campbell, whose normal banter typically needs to be sanitized for most publications. “ I’d say, ‘I can’t do HTML, come on. I’m just coaching them on how to run their company better.’” He continued in both roles for years.
Long seen as "Steve's guy" on the Apple board, Campbell also had praise for Tim Cook, who has been officially at the helm of Apple for nearly three years now.
“Apple is an institution now,” he said. “Tim’s done an amazing job of building bench strength within the organization. There’s a whole set of new and smart people who are taking over. You’re watching that company grow up.” [...]
“Tim is a calm, thoughtful guy,” he said. “He studies things and thinks about them, makes a decision, and moves on.”
Highlighting his feelings on Cook, Campbell notes that Cook has thoughtfully offered to make a contribution in Campbell's honor to recognize his service to Apple. That unspecified contribution will involve Campbell's home town in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
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