As strain mounts on Apple over its perceived lag in AI growth and breakthrough merchandise, a brand new narrative is gaining traction: maybe it’s time for CEO Tim Prepare dinner to step down. In spite of everything, the argument goes, Apple wants a product visionary, not an operational maestro, to navigate this subsequent period of disruption.
But for fast-rising executives watching intently, a cautionary story is unfolding—one which underscores how straightforward it’s to undervalue a confirmed chief, particularly throughout moments of upheaval.
Since taking on in 2011, Prepare dinner has reworked Apple’s market cap from $350 billion to over $3 trillion, increasing its dominance nicely past the iPhone into providers, wearables, and new {hardware} classes. To dismiss that observe file—particularly with AI’s full affect nonetheless materializing—is shortsighted. A hasty management change dangers severing the operational self-discipline and strategic endurance which have stored Apple atop the Fortune 500 for over a decade.
Current historical past provides a telling parallel. Just some years in the past, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon was written off as a nook workplace misfit, dogged by reviews of inner discord and strategic blunders. His exit was assumed by some to be imminent. As an alternative, Solomon stayed, course-corrected, and led a significant turnaround, refocusing on core companies like asset administration whereas exiting failed bets. The financial institution’s rebound is a pointy reminder that ditching a promising chief mid-course can price firms the payoff of a hard-earned comeback.
Some see inner successors as Apple’s reply, however that, too, carries its personal dangers. A brand new CEO would wish to show themselves each inside and out of doors the corporate whereas crafting an AI technique from scratch. That’s a tall order even in steady situations. At Apple, with its fiercely protecting tradition and sky-high investor expectations, it’s a recipe for inner friction and strategic drift.
The mark of nice management isn’t the power to navigate clean markets; it’s recalibrating via disruption. Dismissing that capacity too quickly dangers sabotaging a historical past of confirmed wins for an unproven promise of change.
As Solomon’s case at Goldman reveals, management redemption is feasible, and typically the savvier transfer is giving seasoned management the runway to adapt and ship as soon as once more. Whereas Prepare dinner’s stewardship will nearly definitely have to evolve (and shortly), betting towards a pacesetter who has repeatedly outperformed expectations may very well be a pricey mistake in the long term for Apple.
Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com
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