Apple’s new CEO plots ‘major design shake-up’

Macworld

Following several years of turmoil, Apple’s famous design team is set for a major change when new incoming CEO John Ternus takes charge in the fall.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman discusses at length the department’s recent upheavals: employee defections and resignations, a decline in influence within Apple, and a general loss of ambition in favor of financially motivated conservatism.

Whereas Steve Jobs prioritised product design, Gurman writes, Tim Cook has increasingly prioritised the operations and supply-chain side of the business. This has sidelined the design team, who were once looked upon as rockstars and agenda-setters within the company, but now don’t even have a place in the executive team. And this in turn has led numerous talented designers to leave Apple, and made it harder to attract design talent from outside the company.

But this is about to change, according to Gurman’s sources. Cook is set to give up his current role, and in September will be replaced by a new CEO, John Ternus, with different ideas.

“The incoming CEO knows a major design shake-up is needed and is getting ready to put his firm imprint on the team, I’m told,” he writes. “He has already spent a considerable amount of time with the ID [Industrial Design] group, a contrast to Cook’s historically limited presence. Now he needs to take that engagement to the next level.”

Speaking to employees in internal meetings, Ternus is trying to present his focus on design as continuity rather than change. In one such meeting, Gurman’s sources report, he said Apple “is going to keep focusing on design, because design is core to what we do.” That’s certainly been the case in the past, but it’s debatable whether it has been for the past several years.

“Apple has brought truly incredible design to more people than any company in history,” Ternus added at the same meeting. “We’re going to make sure that stays the case.”

This verbiage isn’t a surprise: it would be unwise and even discourteous for Ternus to criticize the management style of his predecessor when that predecessor is a) currently still his boss and b) set to stay on at the company in a role that is even more senior, albeit less hands-on. But staying the same isn’t really an option for Apple’s design team, and his comments shouldn’t be taken as a signal that the plan is for things to be business as usual.

The new CEO will need to give the design team more influence on company policy and direction, a sense that they are valued, and the ability to work without constantly having to think about profit and practicality. But above all, he needs to find them a strong leader, whether that means recruiting from outside or grooming from within.