Apple Chief Steve Jobs to Take Another Medical Leave, Remain CEO
One day before tomorrow’s Apple’s quarterly earnings call, the startling news hit the wire this morning:
Team,
At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.
I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.
Steve
This is the third medical leave Jobs has taken from Apple. The first was in 2004 immediately following his pancreatic cancer treatment. The second was announced in January 2009 and ended with Jobs coming back to Apple in June of the same year.
I find this announcement worrisome because of a single sentence and how it’s worded: I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can.
There’s a lot of emotion in the first five words, and the word ‘hope’ is bothersome – to me. Perhaps you read things differently. But nuance is a complex thing, and I find that this sentence casts a longer shadow than it should.
Tim Cook performed admirably during Jobs’s last leave, and I have no doubt he’ll do so again. My gut feel tells me that since Jobs’s health problems became known public condition, Tim Cook has been more involved in running Apple – including its strategy and vision – than many would like to believe. Jobs just didn’t wake up and decide to take leave today; he knew it was coming for a while know. Plans have been made, perhaps on a grander scale than anyone knows right now.
I wish Steve Jobs and his family all the best, and I hope he returns to Apple as soon as possible.
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