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COPYRIGHT 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc.
The departure this year of two of the three most prominent executives at Apple Computer raises the question about whether the next generation of senior managers will have the talent and experience to keep the company on its current track of vibrant growth.
Avadis "Avie" Tevanian, who shepherded the development of Mac OS X, and Jon Rubinstein, who oversaw much of the Macintosh hardware in recent years, have passed their responsibilities to others.
At some companies, such a loss of leadership could leave the company with a power vacuum or a lack of direction. However, Apple seems to be conscious that no single person--except, perhaps, CEO Steve Jobs himself--is irreplaceable, and that new talent can always be groomed for the future.
The issue of potential management succession issue took on greater urgency with the disclosure in August 2004 that Jobs had been diagnosed with a rare, but highly curable form of pancreatic cancer.
While by all appearances Jobs has responded well to treatment and his health is stable, the recent departures raise the question of who will lead the company in the future.
"It's my sense that Steve 'Jobs' has quietly been dealing with the leadership issue at Apple," said John Markoff, who has written extensively about Apple for The New York Times.
"I believe that he has brought in a layer of thirty-somethings that will be Apple's next leadership generation. He inspires intense loyalty, and I think despite the fact that he insists the company speak with one voice that he is busy planning," Markoff said.
Both Tevanian and Rubinstein owe more to Jobs than to Apple for their advancement.
Both were hired by Jobs for...
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