Gratitude Comes From the Top

Getting back into reading the Make Something Wonderful book this morning, I was struck by the very first story I saw as I turned the page. It’s the “Email Exchange Between Steve, Intel CEO, and an Intel Engineer” in the 1985-1996 section. (In case that link doesn’t work, you’ll find this story right after some pictures of Steve Jobs at Disneyland in the book.)

In it, Steve Jobs was approached by an Intel engineer about setting up a meeting to discuss help on their graphics architecture that Steve had apparently offered from Pixar. Steve asked what Intel would offer them in exchange for those “secrets”. This request for compensation apparently took Intel by surprise and Andy Grove told Steve so (firmly, but not unkindly), citing examples where Andy had offered friendly help to NeXT without any such financial exchange. Steve took a few days to consider, and then flipped his position, offering their help again, but this time with no strings attached.

Andy,
I have many faults, but one of them is not ingratitude. And, I do agree with you that “In the long run, these things balance out.”

Therefore, I have changed my position 180 degrees - - we will freely help [Engineer 1] make his processors much better for 3D graphics. Please ask [Engineer 1] to call me, and we will arrange for a meeting as soon as the appropriate Pixar technical folks can be freed up from the film.

Thanks for the clearer perspective.
Steve

Now there’s some behavior that I wish we saw more of from Apple these days. Certainly, sticking to your beliefs when you’re challenged on them is admirable (and valuable), but so is maintaining an open mind and being willing to “change your position 180 degrees.” That willingness to admit when you were wrong change course decisively, and to do so with humility, is a kind of leadership that needs to be on display from the top.

You could say that one of Apple’s faults these days is that of ingratitude, particularly toward its developer partners, and especially around their pushing to get more money for the tools Apple provides to them. Apple seems to be now, Iike Steve Jobs was then, choosing not to see the imbalance of what they’re demanding. They don’t act like a company that recognizes the enormous value that Apple already gets in return from the apps that developers make for its platforms. I appreciate and applaud that Jobs made that 180 degree turn and chose a different way.