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Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works
 
 
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Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works [Hardcover]

Adam Lashinsky (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews) |
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Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2012
INSIDE APPLE reveals the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products.

If Apple is Silicon Valley's answer to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, then author Adam Lashinsky provides readers with a golden ticket to step inside. In this primer on leadership and innovation, the author will introduce readers to concepts like the "DRI" (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual ritual in which 100 up-and-coming executives are tapped a la Skull & Bones for a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs).

Based on numerous interviews, the book offers exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era. Lashinsky, a Senior Editor at Large for Fortune, knows the subject cold: In a 2008 cover story for the magazine entitled The Genius Behind Steve: Could Operations Whiz Tim Cook Run The Company Someday he predicted that Tim Cook, then an unknown, would eventually succeed Steve Jobs as CEO.

While Inside Apple is ostensibly a deep dive into one, unique company (and its ecosystem of suppliers, investors, employees and competitors), the lessons about Jobs, leadership, product design and marketing are universal. They should appeal to anyone hoping to bring some of that Apple magic to their own company, career, or creative endeavor.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

Adam Lashinsky, one of America's best and most diligent technology reporters, has produced a fascinating glimpse inside Apple as it makes its transition into the post-Jobs era. It's filled with colorful reporting and smart analysis that offer lessons not just about Apple but about creative business leadership in general. (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs)

Frankly, a business book hasn't grabbed me like that in a long-time.
(Bob Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss and The No Asshole Rule.)

I'm not a heavy reader. It's extremely rare that I'll read a book in one sitting. This one kept me hooked start to finish - I could not put it down. (John Tokash, co-founder at Kartoffl.ly)

Apple, Inc. could teach the Chinese a few tricks about secrecy. In this crisply written, engrossing book, Adam Lashinsky lifts the veil on how Apple really works and why it has been such as astonishing success. That is yesterday. What this book also does is explore tomorrow, including the challenges confronting a gifted group of executives trained by Steve Jobs but bereft of his leadership. I devoured this book in one sitting. (Ken Auletta, columnist for The New Yorker and the author of Googled: The End of the World As We Know It)

Much more than Isaacson's, this is the one I've been waiting to read. (John Lilly, Partner at Greylock, former CEO at Mozilla.)

Lashinsky's book, then, is an important rebuttal of today's Silicon Valley orthodoxy that a successful 21st century company needs to be organizationally flat and open. Lashinksy may indeed be telling a truth that most of us don't want to hear. Apple, rather than Google, is the future of corporate America. And that future will be defined by secrets and lies, rather than by transparency and truth.

(TechCrunch)

This book's real strength - besides lots of insight from people who knew and worked with Jobs, Cook and the rest of the executive team - is the way it frames different scenarios that could result from Apple sans Jobs... You get the feeling when reading this that people inside the company will be just as keen to pick up a copy as those of us on the outside. (Erica Ogg, GigaOm)

"Inside Apple" makes a worthwhile companion to last year's best-selling "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson. If Isaacson's book was the definitive biography of Apple's chief visionary, who died in October, then "Inside Apple" is a revealing guided tour of his greatest creation." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Essential reading for anyone interested in management... (Steve Dennings, Forbes.com)

If you're a real Apple fan, I'd recommend that you pick a weekend to read this because once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. Much of that has to do with Adam Lashinsky's skilled research, interviewing and writing skills that make you feel like you are really part of the action (Business Insider)

About the Author

Lashinsky is a Senior Editor At Large for Fortune Magazine, where he covers technology and finance. He is also a Fox News contributor and frequent speaker and moderator. Prior to joining Fortune, Lashinsky was a columnist for TheStreet.com and the San Jose Mercury News. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Business Plus (January 25, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 145551215X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1455512157
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Adam Lashinsky Page
Adam Lashinsky
Adam Lashinsky is a Senior Editor At Large for Fortune Magazine, where he covers technology and finance. He is also a Fox News contributor and frequent speaker and moderator. Prior to joining Fortune, Lashinsky was a columnist for TheStreet.com and the San Jose Mercury News. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
...which is saying something. I haven't done that since I was a teenager and I'm in my forties. To compare this book to Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, which is arguably the best biography I've ever read, would not be fair; although everyone is going to do that. I struggled with the comparison myself.

Bottom Line: These are two very different books, and this is a great compliment to Job's biography.

Did I learn anything ground breaking? I had hoped to, but I'm not sure I did. (Especially in the "Secrecy chapter - I wanted more!) Still, I did learn a LOT of small things that, added together, made the book feel groundbreaking. I've highlighted several passages in my kindle edition, but I feel like it would be cheating to share more than one with you. My personal favorite has to do with Apple's seeming lack of career paths for their employees; it goes like this:

"...what if it turns out that all that thinking is wrong? What if companies encouraged employees to be satisfied where they are, because they're good at what they do, not to mention because that might be what's best for shareholders?" Well, what if? The Peter Principle is hard to fight against; even more difficult to compete with are the ambitions of people. Adam mentions a saying that I've heard before, "Everyone inside Apple is trying to get out, and everyone outside is trying to get in."

Well, I'm both of those. After reading this book, I still would love to work for Apple; and I'd hate it too. What an exquisite company!
Most revealing to me is that while employees who are entrepreneurs "typically don't stick around for more than a couple of years," the company still manages to thrive in an oddly entrepreneurial way. At the same time, these entrepreneurs had "rich, productive experiences at Apple, where there ... was room for only one..."

Last, there is some speculation and discussion about the struggles Apple will have in keeping it's culture. The consequences of Steve Job's intense involvement followed by his rapid second departure will only really be understood over time - a _lot_ of time. Yet, I found this discussion to be better than any I've read on the web. At the same time, what human could possibly read all that has been written about Apple since late last year?

Despite my desire not to succumb to comparing this book with Isaacson's, I'll end with that comparison: The biography was bigger and the best in its class, and while this book is a quick, easy read, it is the first _real_ book in its class. I probably won't read the biography again, except for reference; I see myself reading Lashinsky's book again and again, cogitating on the philosophies and learning more during each read.

If I could, I'd give the book 4.8 stars, but since I have to round, I don't begrudge it the five stars that I expect most will give. You did a decent job with this book, Mr. Lashinsky, and I'm happy to recommend it.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Decent, but nothing new February 2, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
This marks the third incarnation of Mr. Lashinsky's "inside" look at the workings of Apple. The Fortune Magazine article was quite good, considering the format limitations. However, as he expanded the story, first in to a short ebook and now the full length version, cracks began to show in the material. What was informative and precise, in short form, began to read as rehashed and bloated, in longer form. Simply put, "Inside Apple" is merely a magazine article which has been padded in to a book.

Now, that's not to say it's a bad read, by any means. Mr. Lashinsky has compiled a commendable briefing on the basics of how Apple operates. He has also added a great deal of analysis and varied opinions, which raise some valid concerns. However, if you have read just about any of the books previously written on Apple/Jobs, you've unquestionably encountered the same stories, concepts, and "inside" information before. What you really have here is a summary of key points from all that has been written about the subject before.

So, a good read, if you want a quick run through of the basic ideology, with some critical analysis thrown in. Just don't expect to find anything particularly new or shocking.
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29 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Great shoe-leather reporting January 20, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple is likely to be closely read inside and outside the company. Scheduled to be released this week, it's the most important Apple book since Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs and is, in many ways, the perfect companion to the Jobs biography.

If Isaacson's was the Time Magazine or People Weekly version of the Apple story, what Lashinsky delivers -- appropriately enough, given the magazine he works for -- is the Fortune version.

Lashinsky's goal was to understand the company Jobs built as a business. But unlike, Isaacson, Lashinsky didn't have Jobs' cooperation. Nor did the company make any Apple executives or employees available. So like a correspondent debriefing refugees at the border of a war zone, Lashinsky interviewed scores of collaborators, competitors and former employees after they left the confines of Apple's closely guarded Cupertino campus.

The result is a deep dive into an extraordinary enterprise that has disrupted one industry after another while ignoring -- if not deliberately breaking -- most of the rules of modern business management.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not great, and don't get the audio book
After watching several interviews with the author on Youtube and listening to some radio interviews, I was riveted. I wanted this book (on CD)! Read more
Published 3 days ago by Manx Shearwater
A solid contribution to the study of Apple
Although I realize that some have found parts of this book to be something of a "juicy expose" of draconian or extremist Apple practices and cultural quirks, I'd have to say it... Read more
Published 14 days ago by David Hurley
BAM! WHat a hoot
Love it love it love it. I wish I could just live everyday with great info like this, I cant stop telling people how great this book is! Buy it!
Published 24 days ago by Josh Dunnon
Insightful View of Apple HQ
I have read quite a few book biographies about Steve Jobs and accounts of Apple and Adam Lashinsky's "Inside Apple" has uncovered new ground. Read more
Published 25 days ago by vanderwal
Most Interesting Business Book of the Year
Simply put, this was the most interesting business book that I have read in 2012. I'm not even an Apple fanatic (before the book I only had an iPod), but I loved the book. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Matt
Very Revealing
I just finished Inside Apple to my great enjoyment. This gift from my son was not just a good book but an opportunity to relax and learn about a modern business story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pat Coogan
Great insight into the inner-workings and personalities at Apple
I'm very busy running a Silicon Valley startup, and managed to find some time to get to read a book on a recent family trip. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joe Beninato
Insights about Apple to be applied
"Inside Apple" reads like a mystery novel, with the author peeling layers of an onion as different organizations are explored, from designers evaluating box-opening experiences to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by mother of 2, technologist
A Good Insight into a Company that does Think Differently
Apple really does 'Think Differently'! The very fabric of this iconic company, that now has a capitalization of $590.8 billion (soon to be trillion? Read more
Published 1 month ago by Neville Samuels
Is Apple More Like the FBI than a Tech Firm?
Adam Lashinsky's book Inside Apple; How America's Most Admired and Secretive Company Really Works, is a fascinating look at the company that recently passed Exxon-Mobil as the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by James Casey
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