I’ve been struggling with what to write about the news that Steve Jobs has announced today that he will step down as Apple’s CEO until June, 2009.  I wanted to write something thoughtful that didn’t sound like a “me too” post, or write about how it’s plausible that Apple may be fibbing about the real state of Jobs’ health.

The thing that came to mind was pretty short and simple, and that is:  Apple will still be the same company it is today without Steve Jobs, perhaps for as long as a decade.  Despite investors’ fears that Apple will not succeed without Steve Jobs, I believe Apple will still bring fantastic products to the consumer market and continue to innovate for a long time to come.  Why am I so optimistic about this?  Well, despite the fact that I am a notorious optimist, the reason is fairly straightforward.  Jobs’ significant influence on Apple means he has built a company culture that will survive past his time as CEO.  As wise and inspiring of a leader as Jobs’ might be, he is just one person.  Apple is a company of thousands of people, all of whom own some responsibility for the success of the company.

It’s true that Jobs helped re-focus and re-vitalize Apple after they strayed from the core principles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it was his influence and direction that helped develop the culture that exists at Apple today.  And, perhaps arguably, it wasn’t until recent years that Apple has really perfected their company culture of well thought out, high-quality product designs that have propelled all of their recent ventures, such as the iPhone and iTouch, to such brilliant successes.

There is little question that having strong and outspoken leaders within an organization is one of the single most important factors for success.  But great leaders build a culture of success, and dismantling a dynamic and healthy company culture will likely take just as long as it took to build it up.  Will the folks at Apple who are equally as influential in creating the environment at Apple that exists today flee the company just because Jobs is stepping down for a short period?  It’s unlikely.  Even if Jobs’ departure is permanent, the best and brightest at Apple will likely stick around to keep doing what they have already been doing for the last 5-10 years.  Those most influential people in the company are likely to be fans of their workplace, and abandoning ship is not an option for them.

Any of us who have worked for great company environments (or even bad ones) know how hard it is to shift the working environment in either direction.  Changes in company culture don’t happen overnight, although an organization can eventually collapse when enough of the key people leave at the same time.  But, at least for the time being, it would appear that Apple is in no risk of that happening.  For that reason, Apple will likely remain successful and innovative.

Filed under: Apple, Consumer Web, Product Management