John Sculley on Steve Jobs' guiding principles

In an unprecedented interview, former Apple CEO John Sculley discusses his relationship, past and present, with Steve Jobs. Initially pulled from Pepsi Co. by Steve Jobs in 1983, Sculley ran Apple with Jobs until Jobs was ousted in 1985. Sculley then ran Apple as the sole CEO until 1993.

In the interview with Cult of Mac, Sculley notes that he isn't in contact with Jobs anymore, and he considers his time at Apple "ancient history." Still, Sculley went on to describe what he called Steve's methodology for building great products, which includes:

• Beautiful design (no surprises there)
• Customer experience
• Perfectionism
• Minimalism

Again, there's not a surprise among the bunch, and John elaborates on these and other aspects of Steve's drive in the full interview. Sculley also goes on to note that it was "...a mistake" to make him CEO: "Looking back, it was a big mistake that I was ever hired as CEO. I was not the first choice that Steve wanted to be the CEO. He was the first choice, but the board wasn't prepared to make him CEO when he was 25, 26 years old."

The whole interview is broken into several parts, starting here. It's candid and, as we said, unprecedented. Go and read it for a unique look at a significant figure in Apple history.

John Sculley on Steve Jobs' guiding principles originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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