Revised
One of the consequences of all the attention my book is getting is the realization that I dislike being called a ‘former Apple executive’, not because of the word former, but because of the word executive.
I just can’t convince myself that I was an an executive, all evidence to the contrary. To this day I prefer to think of myself as a product manager…helping make cool products is the thing I love(d) the most. I’ve also sensed a bit of confusion about where I fit in the Apple org chart, because I had more direct interaction with Steve Jobs than my actual level might suggest.
Which brings me around to the point of this article, which is to illustrate my small place in one part the Apple hierarchy. For the product marketing teams, it looks like this:
• CEO
• Senior Vice President
• Vice President
• Senior Director
• Director – this is what I was before I left Apple
• Product Line Manager
• Product Marketing Manager – I started here when I joined Apple
I don’t know the exact numbers, but I heard that if you take everyone at the level of senior director and higher, it’s about 100 people. That’s out of approximately 12,000 total employees at Apple. So I was just outside the top 100. As a Mac-geek from Minnesota, that’s much closer to the top than I ever dared dream I could be.
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Home of "Jobs I've Known" a book in progress
first post on your blog, been reading i think since you started, i love it.
i’m glad you cleared things up because i so thought that you were number 1A right behind his steviness
i love your idea and this concept, keep up the great work, take you time, write in snippits, shorten the rss feeds, add more adds, do whatever you want. it’s your blog, and this is unheard of from any other author, so keep up the great work.
thanks for you time.
You were still part of the greatest computer company on earth; There are tons of people who only dream of that kind of an opportunity.
It would be interesting if you gave detail on the different levels, how they operated, what kind of meetings were held, and how people at different ranks are treated (and how they feel themselves, with stress from work, etc).
Mike,
- Thanks for your great job , I ‘ve been reading since the 1 st day of this site.
- I think they named you ” The Former Apple Exec ” sounds pretty respectful.
- If there’re any untold issues lead you to hate that name , pls kindly let us know some of them pls.
Nice efforts.
If anything, the word executive doesn’t yield as much respect as it used to, at least from the younger generation. This probably has a lot to do with “record industry executives” and “hollywood executives” that keep screwing up and ruin their reputation by greedy stunts.
That being said, Product manager sound like just what it is: you manage the product to fuitation. Since people generally like Apple products, they like the product managers.
Great job on the posts.
100 top executives? I am amazed that Apple is able to produce anything. Kelly Johnson, of Skunkworks fame, said 8 is perfect for a working group, 15 max. How do they get anything done?
TJ – I was talking about the whole company, not just my group. So that’s 100 senior execs in a company with 12,000 employees.
think I didn’t have the misconception that you were in a high position in Apple. But the level stuff doesn’t matter
I love reading your blog(haha i’m from china, oh and i subscribed). It’s great to know sth. behind the scene, anyway, I don’t think those high-level guys could ever write(or have time to write) so many interesting things, hoho.
I made the mistake of using that title in my blog, I’ve since corrected myself and linked to this article =).
Alex – that wasn’t necessary, but thanks! It got me thinking about the wording in my article; I decided to edit some of it to more accurately reflect what I was trying to communicate. It’s the beauty of immediate feedback! Mike
Hey mike what is the lowest rank then. Not including Interns.
Just outside the top 100 is still very high, I hope everyone realizes that.
Mike seems to be just really modest about it.
Great blog, and interesting entry. I’m a former Apple employee, too, but from the Canadian office. The titles over here were all screwed up. You couldn’t put “Manager” in your name unless you managed people (ie. had direct – not indirect or dotted line – employees). So although I “managed” the Canadian technical support programs, they stuck me with “Specialist”. (I had an indirect, but that didn’t count.) Eventually they let me use Manager externally (since I managed some of the service providers, it made sense externally), but internally (ie. org chart) it remained Specialist.
But then a couple of years ago, they started naming a whole bunch of “barnacle” Apple Canada people “manager”, even though they didn’t fit the bill of “direct reports”, or, for that matter, they didn’t even directly manage any projects. Lots of bureaucracy. It was mostly done to appease them, even if they didn’t deserve to keep working there. But, that’s a whole other story…!
Hi Mike,
I’m so glad my husband found this web site and forwarded to me. I so enjoyed working with you in Product Marketing as David Moody’s assistant. In reading through this, you haven’t changed from the sweet, HUMBLE Product Manager that I worked with for a little while, who’s love of all things Apple was so apparent. I remember talking with you as you struggled with the decision of whether to move your wife and son’s to Calif and accept Steve’s promotion or leave Apple and go back to Minnesota. I know it was a really hard decision for you but you put your family first which really impressed me. I’m glad you can still be “involved” with Apple by writing this book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the printed copy and adding your book to all the other Apple books Bruce and I have collected over the years. It would be great to run into you somewhere to have you sign it but even without that, it will be especially treasured in our library.
Bruce and I love our retired life in Avila Beach on the Central Coast of California. It’s beautiful here, looking out through our windows at the Pacific Ocean, totally stress free and peaceful…..nothing like working on the floor beneath Steve’s office, wondering when he might come walking through looking you or David. That said though, Bruce and I both miss the excitement of working at Apple. I worked for many years off and on as a temporary assistant in lots of different groups, never wanting to sign on as a permanent employee until David Moody, Amini and Gillian twisted my arm. I’m SO glad that I said yes to them and spent the last four years before retiring working in hardware and softwar product marketing. Bruce and I are proud to say that between us we happily spent 24 of our best years working for Apple before retiring. There were difficult and stressful times of course, but I treasure the friendships and the opportunity I had in working with wonderful people like you and David.
Best of luck to you and your project.
Claudia Cheek (husband, Bruce Cheek)