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GSixZero · Mar 14, 2005, 06:40 PM

I was reading an article talking about Pixar's negotiations with Disney, and it struck me; How does Steve manage to find time to be CEO of two very big companies? There are only so many hours in the day.

Albert Pujols · Mar 14, 2005, 06:43 PM

speed and crack.

BasketofPuppies · Mar 14, 2005, 06:43 PM

Except for the biggest things, Steve is little more than a figurehead at Pixar. Ed Catmull and John Lasseter run the day to day operations.

Eug Wanker · Mar 14, 2005, 07:01 PM

Originally posted by BasketofPuppies:
Except for the biggest things, Steve is little more than a figurehead at Pixar. Ed Catmull and John Lasseter run the day to day operations.

Yeah but Steve does a lot of the negotiating with Disney apparently. That must be a humungous time waster.

BasketofPuppies · Mar 14, 2005, 07:02 PM

Call me crazy, but I consider negotiating distribution deals one of those "biggest things."

nate_02 · Mar 14, 2005, 07:06 PM

delegation

xi_hyperon · Mar 14, 2005, 07:18 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Yeah but Steve does a lot of the negotiating with Disney apparently. That must be a humungous time waster.

Well, not as of late.

Superchicken · Mar 14, 2005, 07:48 PM

Delegation. Not to mention Pixar probably doesn't take much work. He's got people he trusts there... I think Apple gets a lot more of his time.

dlefebvre · Mar 14, 2005, 08:09 PM

He's productive because he uses a Mac...

Kenneth · Mar 14, 2005, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by dlefebvre:
He's productive because he uses a Mac...

He finally switched?

f1000 · Mar 14, 2005, 08:54 PM

Clones.

ManOfSteal · Mar 14, 2005, 11:16 PM

He is nothing but a bot people.

cc_foo · Mar 14, 2005, 11:19 PM

He's cool like the Master Chief.

Nebagakid · Mar 14, 2005, 11:33 PM

Originally posted by f1000:
Clones.

I am going to go with Clones as well.

Mar 15, 2005, 07:33 AM

How To Be an Effective CEO:

Step 1 - Delegate
Step 2 - There is no step 2

Jobs isn't very involved in the day to day of either company, especially Pixar.

milhous · Mar 15, 2005, 11:36 AM

nah it's 8-12 in cupertino, then it's 12:15-4pm in emeryville. of course i'm just guessing, but i did remember hearing somewhere and sometime ago that he'd take a chopper to get from a to b and so forth. makes sense, i wouldn't feel like driving 50+ miles each day getting to the other office.

Thilo Ettelt · Mar 15, 2005, 11:41 AM

He's doing everything from home.

turtle777 · Mar 15, 2005, 11:58 AM

He has outsourced part of his Job(s) to a Steve Jobs call-center in India.

-t

ort888 · Mar 15, 2005, 01:38 PM

Steve Jobs is rich and powerful enough that he can do as much or as little as he wants in a day.

He could probably take a year off and both companies would continue to operate as if nothing happened.

beb · Mar 15, 2005, 01:41 PM

Steve's been testing the new transporter beam technolgy Apple has been working on, which is why they had to buy him a jet as a cover story.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 15, 2005, 01:44 PM

I don't think it's any secret. He hires the best people he can get, pays them a ton of money and then makes them do a considerable amount of work (long hours, high quality work, etc.)... while quasi-micro managing them. It's not hard manage 5-10 people.

He isn't a person that accepts mediocrity in "his" companies... and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't insist that they all have iChat so he could "check in on them" at any given moment from wherever he is.

I'm just waiting for someone to write a book about him that talks about how he manages people. Most of the people at Apple seem to fear him... even Phil at the keynotes...

wdlove · Mar 15, 2005, 02:35 PM

When you love what you are doing it makes it easier. Having good people around you also makes a big difference.

legacyb4 · Mar 15, 2005, 02:49 PM

Agreed. Surrounds himself with some superstar staff, I'm sure.