What Makes Apple Tick? Adam Lashinsky Tells the Inside Story
Ed. note: If you've read some of the recent coverage around Adam Lashinsky's recent comments on what makes Apple tick, you may want to check out the entire interview below.
For large periods of my professional life, I worked at Fortune as a writer, editor and then as editor of Fortune.com. One of the many great pleasures of the place was working with Adam Lashinsky, a seasoned writer and senior editor-at-large. Each day, he'd call from his office in San Francisco and we'd talk about the business world, office politics, which execs were headed up and which down. Or at least I'd think we were talking. I'd hang up only to realize that I had done all of the talking and Adam had done all of the asking and listening.
That's Adam. He's a consummate collector of information, a talent that has enabled him to tell the tales of the most powerful names in business whether they wanted those stories told or not. Recently, Adam came to LinkedIn to talk (this time he really did talk!) about his biggest story yet, an amazing look at how Apple really works. For years Adam has been digging into the inner workings of this company that is so highly regarded, yet so little understood. In many ways, Apple violates all the new, Silicon Valley-influenced rules of business. It's rigid, secretive, top-down, closed and insular. Free lunches come on one day only: your first day at work. In his new book, Inside Apple, Adam explains how Apple's philosophy has enabled it to achieve greatness. Through interviews with countless current- and ex-Apple professionals, partners and competitors, he explains a culture that counts on a fervent feeling of mission and the strong hand of Steve Jobs. Is any of this replicable? And can Apple keep it up without Jobs? Watch the video above and read the book to see what Adam concludes. We're grateful that Adam made LinkedIn his first stop on his book tour. If you come to LinkedIn for professional insight, this video provides some of the best you're going to get on the subject of innovation, management and success.