John Sculley Reflects on the Firing of Steve Jobs
Former Apple CEO John Sculley gave a talk at the 2013 Forbes Global CEO Conference, where he was asked about his split with Steve Jobs, which led to Jobs leaving the company in the mid-1980s. Sculley aimed the blame squarely at Apple’s board at the time and pointed out that Jobs then lacked the business acumen for which he later became famous. Sculley said he regrets not reaching out to Jobs to bring him back to Apple later. “I didn’t do that, it was a terrible mistake on my part. I can’t figure out why I didn’t have the wisdom to do that. But I didn’t. And as life has it, shortly after that, I was fired,” Sculley said.
Sculley, as usual, is rewriting history here somewhat, or at least having selective memory. Read The Little Kingdom for a more accurate account of those days.