Customer Reviews

Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple...a Journey of Adventure, Ideas & the Future

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It is hard to not want to read a book about how the founder of Apple was sacked by the guy he brought in himself, to lead the company. And that is precisely what the first part of the book is about. In a tale of roaring passion and excitement, we walk through pages in almost quivering excitement as we read about the stony-mahagony culture of Pepsi, the young irreverent west coast start-ups, the passion and idealism of youth, the quest for making a difference to the world, the heady mix of million dollar stock options and unruly aesthetic genius... and how it all culminated at the altar of capitalistic zeal and resulted in Steve Jobs being sacked by John Sculley and the board.

The second half of the book though, takes a downspin. From the exciting tale of the first half, where John Sculley's fleshing out his character is seen as contributing to the intrigue of the story, the second part of the book is more of trumpet-blowing. It deals with how Sculley and his team 'rescued' Apple and converted it to the company it is today. As such, the book is also made a little vexatious with Sculley's sermons of management that are intervowen between chapters.

Reco : Read the first half, skim through second half... But definitely worth reading if you're interested in the human side of business dealings!

At the dawn of what we now know as the information revolution, Sculley was torn between keeping a safe, extremely well respected job with one of the all-time great American corporates with a bright future ahead. Enter Steve Jobs who rocks his boat and Sculley is torn between being another cog in the wheel and starting something that would change the world (i.e. Apple). His dilemma and the sequence of events that lead him to eventually join Apple are very well narrated and he brings his internal conflict across well. The second leg to the book is more about the internal workings of Apple and their revolutionary Superbowl commercial. Excitement in the air, all pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place. The third and final leg address the typical struggle at any rapidly growing company. Steve Jobs is a product idealist, not a capitalist, and this contradiction has him sacked by Sculley himself. The remainder of the book, a good half of it, is more about the accomplishments of Sculley at Apple. Quite honestly, the extent of self-promotion seems to indicate that deep down, Sculley is trying to justify to himself that letting Steve Jobs go was the right decision. I'm sure it was no easy task for him and he is looking for closure through this book. Well, where this book ends is where Apple's fairytale had actually just begun!

'Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?' So began John Sculley's engagement with Apple Computer. He went from managing a huge global and very traditional beverage company to leading a bleeding-edge of technology innovation center. This fantastic book describes his personal journey into high-speed product development and constant change in at Apple Computer. "Reorganizations,in fact, are looked at positively. In many corporations, they're viewed with anxiety. People wonder, 'Where do I go, what will I do? That's especially true in companies that have had no lay-off or have cradle-to-grave employment policies. In Apple, it's constant change. People expect buildings, structures, offices, and people to change. Organizations shouldn't have permanence....The beauty of a network is that is has no centre. It is a process more than a structure, composed of modular groups that establish themselves to take on specific tasks-- not to build fiefdoms and traditional 'departments' do." He compares the "organization man" who had job security in return for his loyalty, with the self-directed man who deals with "third-wave companies" in a different type of relationship: one of creativity and trust and co-maturation. Sculley's description of Steve Jobs, who replaced him as CEO, "Steve Jobs was less a manager and more an impresario. He knew that the role of managment wasn't to stifle creativity through structure and process, but to foster it through unusually innovative means and thinking."

This book's relevance as a marketing manual was probably more significant 15 years ago when it was published, but from a historical perspective, it's still quite an interesting story of a journey to greatness. It's far better penned than other books I've read on the era.

John Sculley had a very close friendship with Steve Jobs. He was wooed to Apple, and when he got too close to Steve and found out he had created a monster, it was almost too late. He did do much to help Apple's fortunes, and yet in the chapters not found in the book, found his own demise. His words about Steve Jobs are still prophetic as ever, and still just as pertinent. His relationships with board members and those creators who worked at Apple are wonderful. In hindsight, Gil Amelio should have read this book, because he too was taken in and taken over by Steve Jobs. While Jobs will always be affiliated with Apple, its really the others mentioned in the book who are the heroes that Sculley learned to appreciate when Jobs was ousted for not bringing the idea of the Macintosh Office to reality. That in effect is where Sculley really showed his worth to the company. While discussing technology long obsolete, the excitement of giving birth to those projects and products is still worth your time to complete the Odyseey that Sculley brings forth.

Although out of date now this is a fascinating book that provides great (although not unbiased) insight into the early days of Apple Computer and development of the Apple II, Lisa and finally the Macintosh, the arrival of corporate-stiff John Sculley and the eventual tearful ejection of young, mercurial Steve Jobs. John Sculley's vanity is quite laughable and it provides a remarkable insight into a couple of the computer industry's prize egos. The decision to close new factories in Texas and retain old factories in earthquake-prone California is dismissed with little explanation (strangely corporations always do this -- the human factor). Apple generally gets a soft-ride from the press. Apple are hardnosed in blocking their competition and have let down partners (and some might argue their customers too) terribly on several occasions -- little of that is contained here though.

This is a must read for anyone working in the technology industry. Well... for people working in any industry, for that matter.

Amazing insight into the people and events that have shaped our era. Written so well, one could be mistaken for thinking this is a novel. I read this over five years ago, and I just could not put it down.

As a professor of Marketing, I highly recomend this book to my students. Sculley is a genious and his ideas might inspire future leaders to move on for the best of our mankind.