Steve Jobs Should Quit Apple and Head Disney

I think that Mr. Jobs has done a wonderful job bringing Apple back from the brink of death. He has completely revolutionized the industry and set Apple on sound financial footing for many years to come. In fact, even if Apple just cruises through the next couple of years without doing anything terribly ground breaking, it will still continue to gain market share and increase profits based on the work that Jobs has already done. In fact, I don’t think its unreasonable to say that Jobs’ most innovative years are now behind him and that anything else he produces won’t have the same impact or response as his two most iconic creations, the iMac and the iPod. Thus I am suggesting that perhaps Mr. Jobs leave now, while he is still at the top of his game. Let Mr. Ive and the rest of the staff he has trained handle things from here because it is time to move on to bigger and better things.

Now, let me be clear, I don’t think Steve Jobs should retire, buy a funny hat and tour the country in an RV. Far from it. I do think he can still make a difference in the lives of consumers, however, I think he can make a bigger difference at another company than he can at Apple regardless of what else he manages to create there.

Recently I read a very fascinating book about a business visionary who was decades ahead of his competition. He didn’t give the public what they thought they wanted, he gave them what they actually desired, even if they didn’t know what that might be themselves. This inventor and story teller crafted products of such allure that they endure to this day as beloved classics. He oversaw, with an almost fanatical attention to detail, the innerworkings of his empire and while he lived it flourished into one of the most renowned companies of the 20th century. Who am I reffering to? Walt Disney of course. The man behind the magic of Micky Mouse, Disney World and (what would eventually morph into) the current day media empire. Reading about the life of Walt Disney is to look into the world of a true genius, a man who just knew what would work and what wouldn’t. He knew that sound would be big when everybody else dismissed it as a cheap gimick. He knew that color would easily replace black and white despite the fact that it cost more. He realized that the real money was in merchandising and that people actually would pay money to walk around a fantasy land he had created in California.

For several decades everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. And he worked feverishly overseeing the construction of his second partk in Florida right up to his death. There have been very few men like Walt Disney who could so easily predict and understand what his audience really wanted and needed. I believe Steve Jobs has that same gift of insight. And I think that talent is now being wasted at Apple. Because as much good as he could do there, I can only begin to dream about what he could do if he set his mind to recreating the Disney Empire.

A good example of what could be done is to examine Disney’s theme parks. For instance, take a look at Disney World in Florida. The area conatins 4 theme parks, a race track, numerous hotels, resort lodgings, golf courses and a wildlife perserve and still only 3/4 of it are in use. The entire property is larger than San Francisco. I look at something like that and wonder how Jobs could remake it?

Because the theme parks have strayed quite a bit from Walt Disney’s original dream. They have become much more commercial (an understandable, if undesirable result of its growth) and not nearly as remarkable as they once were. A good example of this is to compare the Disney World experience with that of Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. Both are theme parks, both have rides, attractions, animals and performers (though Disney World is on a far larger scale) but they still differ in a signifigant way. Disney World is impressive because of its size, Busch Gardens is impressive because of its atmosphere. It just has something that Disney World lacks that it once had in abundance. Remember, all modern theme parks originally used Disney as their model. And while Disney World has since strayed from that course, Busch Gardens has not. That is why for the last dozen or so years it has consistently been named America’s cleanest park.

But that can be a misleading statement. Don’t think that the only thing that separates the two is how much trash is on the ground. Rather it is the entire experience. Everything seems to flow at BG while DW has gotten a certain “tacked-on” feeling to it. In short, what Disney World really needs (and what BG already has) is a true vision of what it wants to be. And if ever there was a leader who knew how to get his vision acomplished it is Steve Jobs.

There it is, there is my plan. Steve Jobs should leave Apple in the next two years. Maybe he can wait until the transition to Intel is complete and OS X 10.5 has been released. After that I think he should hang up his mighty mouse in favor of Mickey Mouse and start on the rebirth of the Disney Empire. It is a much bigger job than turning around Apple, it will take years and it will affect millions of consumers but I think it is worth it. Steve, you have done all you can for Apple, now it is time to leave your hobby behind and pick up where Walt Disney left off. The world is waiting, so Mr. Jobs, go inspire us.