The Swiftboating of Apple [Huffington Post]

By Jonathan Littman,  founder of Snowball Narrative, co-author of the Ten Faces of Innovation, and Professor of Innovation, Leadership and Teambuilding at Hult International Business School.  Republished from the Huffington Post, original article can be found  here. Just like the torpedoing of John Kerrys 2004 presidential campaign Apple has recently been buffeted by attacks and its own curious failure to define and defend itself with a robust narrative. Theres ample blame to go around, from the damaging hyper expectations of Wall Street analysts and speculators to Apples slow motion reaction to how dramatically the world has changed. How did the popular image of Apple fall so fast, and what if anything can it do to get back on course? Nearly a year ago I wrote about Apples Goliath Effect, the pivotal shift in media coverage and public sentiment that occurred when it could no longer claim to be David fighting Goliath. We naturally rebel against Goliath, so its no surprise that negative Apple press has grown exponentially. But now it seems Apples crashing stock price has become synonymous with its future. Contributing to the panic has been the short sellers and financial experts spreading the urban myth that with the passing of Jobs the Apple innovation train is done. As the first News Editor for  MacWeek  magazine, I take a longer view. I own the companys shares, co-authored The Art of Innovation and Ten Faces of Innovation, and believe Apple is brimming with innovation. But when it comes to storytelling, Apple has been getting swift-boated, and as Senator Kerry proved, the truth needs to stand up and fight. Apples meteoric product growth has led it to bounce between being considered a volatile momentum or growth stock dependent on the accuracy of Wall Street quarterly predictions. Its a zero sum game thats unhealthy for Apple, its employees or loyal, long-term investors. Apple racked up $13.8 billion in profit in 13 weeks. As Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital, the firm that provided Apple its first financing, recently noted in the  Financial Times, Apples gross domestic product would rank about 45th in the world well ahead of Pakistan and New Zealand. Yet last week Apples stock sank to ridiculously low price-earnings ratios that valued its future earnings around that of the behemoth Dell. Meteoric growth is as unpredictable as downhill ski racing. Success and failure are separated by hundredths of a second. Apple is nearly 37-years-old. Its time for maturity, and Apple appears to be acknowledging this reality, and crafting a narrative more suitable for this phase of its life. Last year it wisely began paying its first dividend roughly $10 a share inviting more value investors, though Id argue that double that figure ($20 a share) would have a much more stabilizing effect by reducing speculation. So too is the company exiting the forecasting business, now only providing a rough high and low guide for the next quarters sales. Apple is moving to escape from the vicious earnings trap that helps fuel volatile trading. Fresh, new narrative frames could do even more, transforming how customers, analysts and investors view the companys products. Apples strength has increasingly been that its business is snowballing, becoming the whole rather than the individual parts. Seeing this evolving pattern through an analogy illuminates this larger network effect. Many critics are in effect arguing that Apple can only sell so many doors (iPhones) and windows (iPads), when what it delivers to individual consumers is a highly designed path toward a fully outfitted home or business empowered with devices and apps that deliver contagious experiences. I bought my first Mac in 1988, and Ive bought nine more since, and two iPhones and three iPods. Insurance companies call that an annuity, and it adds up: last September Tim Cook announced that Apple had sold over 400 million iOS devices worldwide. Then theres the avalanche of app downloads 40 billion so far, with 20 billion of those downloads happening in the last 12 months. As for the urban myth that innovation is dead at Apple, that argument confuses innovation with invention. For example, Microsofts Surface is an impressive invention but a dud as an innovation (few people are buying it). Apple has tremendous know-how in delivering iterative innovation with small but critical new shifts in consumer sensibility and design. Consider Tim Cooks rejection of Jobs stubborn refusal to sell a smaller iPad. Though the iPad mini is more evolutionary than revolutionary it may soon become the best-selling portable PC of all time, largely because its small and light (thats evolutionary innovation). Who cares whether thats a homerun innovation or just a stunning business success? Apples deepest strength is its breadth iPhones, iPads, Macs, iOS, apps a range that no competitor, not even Samsung, boasts. Apple will continue to innovate with amazing new products, such as a TV or wearable computing but broad ecosystem innovation may also come from new services and capabilities that cross the whole portfolio and excite what very soon will be half a billion customers. Equally compelling is the unmatched Apple retail juggernaut, nearly 400 stores worldwide where increasingly you dont only buy Apples latest creations but human centric programmable devices from Nike and Jawbone. Apple is riding a confluence of complimentary trends that stretch beyond the mobile, human-centric generation that it helped empower. Consider that old innovation clichà ©, the humble light bulb. Just a few weeks ago, Apple started selling Philips amazing new environmentally efficient LED light bulbs (the Philips Hue Connected Bulb Starter Pack) in its stores and online, programmable of course with your iPhone or iPad. No other high-tech company has the breadth to appeal to us in so many different realms. Apple is snowballing into a massive, diverse lifestyle platform, the techno general store of the future, where you can buy everything mobile, human and programmable. Thats one very big light bulb. Grow your leadership capabilities with an MBA in international business at Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog A new model for leadership development in the 21st century, or give your career a boost with our Masters in International Business. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to learn about the business world, the future, and yourself. Related posts Academics Beyond (narrow) business concepts: â€Å"Soft† skills turn out to be critical skills News Building success: Dual Degree students win at USASBE Community How going beyond business at Hult helped me launch my company Admissions Accepted Students Weekend: A weekend to remember Careers Career mapping: How to become an executive in the next 5 years 0 Thought leadership How to prepare for an uncertain future in a world of AI Instagram Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Hult Rotation offers you a chance to study in a truly global way. Our rotation program allows you to study and be immersed in some of the finest cities in the world. 📠¸: @jasminmanzano . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . Each year, Hult seeks to enroll a talented and ambitious incoming class from all over the world. We look for diverse students with a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and interests—students who will thrive in our unique educational atmosphere. Are you ready for a truly global experience? 📠¸: @iambrunadiniz . We’re excited to start 2020 on a ranking high! Hult is proud to have been placed #28 in Poets Quants 2020 rankings for Best Undergraduate Business Schools in the US. Taking a huge leap of 32 places from our 2019 position, we’re also very happy to have secured top positions in key categories like: life-changing experience, practicality of the degree, and global immersion. . With five global campuses, a student body of over 130 nationalities, and a learn-by-doing approach—Hult offers a student experience like no other. . We’re excited to start 2020 on a ranking high! Hult is proud to have been placed #28 in Poets Quants 2020 rankings for Best Undergraduate Business Schools in the US. Taking a huge leap of 32 places from our 2019 position, we’re also very happy to have secured top positions in key categories like: life-changing experience, practicality of the degree, and global immersion. . With five global campuses, a student body of over 130 nationalities, and a learn-by-doing approach—Hult offers a student experience like no other. . â€Å"I’m from an engineering background and needed a whole new skill set for the industry I wanted to switch to. I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with being out of my comfort zone. I learned both soft and hard skills, from how to work in very diverse teams to key accounting metrics and strategy. I was surprised by how weak I was at certain tasks in English or how strong I actually was in other areas. Hult gave me opportunities to try new things and meet people from places I never thought I would have friends. . My internship experiences gave me the chance to broaden my view of different cultures and different companies. I had the opportunity to work and live with people whose values differed from people in my home country. I thought that this would be difficult, but it gave me the chance to reflect on my own values and assess if they were a result of my home country environment or if they were intrinsically mine. . Diederick ter Kulve (@diederick.terkulve) Netherlands Masters in International Business . â€Å"I’m from an engineering background and needed a whole new skill set for the industry I wanted to switch to. I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with being out of my comfort zone. I learned both soft and hard skills, from how to work in very diverse teams to key accounting metrics and strategy. I was surprised by how weak I was at certain tasks in English or how strong I actually was in other areas. Hult gave me opportunities to try new things and meet people from places I never thought I would have friends. . My internship experiences gave me the chance to broaden my view of different cultures and different companies. I had the opportunity to work and live with people whose values differed from people in my home country. I thought that this would be difficult, but it gave me the chance to reflect on my own values and assess if they were a result of my home country environment or if they were intrinsically mine. . Diederick ter Kulve (@diederick.terkulve) Netherlands Masters in International Business . Say a big hello to our Bachelor of Business Administration program cover star, Elisa Orus Plana âÅ" ¨ . â€Å"I’m excited for the future—especially that I cant predict whats going to happen. Maybe Ill end up in Mexico working for a trading company or maybe in Africa, developing my own business. Everything is possible, and the options are constantly changing. I love the idea that Im never going to be stuck doing the same job until the end of my life if I dont want it to be like this. . Hult really supports me and my ambitions and truly believes that we deserve to be considered as professionals as well as students. Here, I get to express not just my opinions but all elements of myself. From my creative side with the Fashion Society to my finance and business sides in Trading Club and the Management Consulting Club. We get a different type of learning here. Not just essential knowledge and theory, but practical skills and mindset. The school is always evolving. We’re encouraged to innovate and to always look for new ways of doing traditional things. We learn how to be more confident and become aware of how we can impact our environment. The school aims to help you become a better version of yourself and to stand out from the crowd.â€Å" . Elisa Orus Plana French Bachelor of Business Administration Class of 2021 Say a big hello to our Bachelor of Business Administration program cover star, Elisa Orus Plana âÅ" ¨ . â€Å"I’m excited for the future—especially that I cant predict whats going to happen. Maybe Ill end up in Mexico working for a trading company or maybe in Africa, developing my own business. Everything is possible, and the options are constantly changing. I love the idea that Im never going to be stuck doing the same job until the end of my life if I dont want it to be like this. . Hult really supports me and my ambitions and truly believes that we deserve to be considered as professionals as well as students. Here, I get to express not just my opinions but all elements of myself. From my creative side with the Fashion Society to my finance and business sides in Trading Club and the Management Consulting Club. We get a different type of learning here. Not just essential knowledge and theory, but practical skills and mindset. The school is always evolving. We’re encouraged to innovate and to always look for new ways of doing traditional things. We learn how to be more confident and become aware of how we can impact our environment. The school aims to help you become a better version of yourself and to stand out from the crowd.â€Å" . Elisa Orus Plana French Bachelor of Business Administration Class of 2021"> During the final days of 2019, you probably reflected on what you’ve accomplished this year—and even this decade—and what you’d like to achieve in 2020. Let us know in the comments below. During the final days of 2019, you probably reflected on what you’ve accomplished this year—and even this decade—and what you’d like to achieve in 2020. Let us know in the comments below. â€Å"The first time we did group work on the program, I went head-to-head with a colleague. It taught me a lot about how I see people, how people see me, and how conflict can be resolved in a kind and productive way. The best feedback you get, when delivered constructively, is the most critical because it really feeds into how you lead. I’ve completely reversed my leadership style—the result is so much richer and more powerful when you lead from behind and lead with strength. . Studying in tandem with working, whilst challenging, gave me the perfect platform to directly apply learning concepts into my business environment, the competitive landscape, and the real-estate industry as a whole. When I started the program, I was very happy in my corporate role. But my courage and aspirations grew to the point that I took on a whole new direction. Having my career coach, Joanna, as a sounding board allowed me to really be strategic and get to know myself. She coached me thro ugh all the interviews, the research, and the questions. It went in parallel with what I was doing academically and after six months everything just clicked. . I went into the EMBA knowing I had nothing to lose and I’ve come out with everything. Great strength, global friends, amazing learning, mentors from professors, a job I love, and the knowledge that I can set my mind to achieve anything and with the right support and resources I’ll get there.† . Kashani Wijetunga British, New Zealand Sri Lankan Associate Director Senior Strategy Consultant CBRE EMBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"The first time we did group work on the program, I went head-to-head with a colleague. It taught me a lot about how I see people, how people see me, and how conflict can be resolved in a kind and productive way. The best feedback you get, when delivered constructively, is the most critical because it really feeds into how you lead. I’ve completely reversed my leadership style—the result is so much richer and more powerful when you lead from behind and lead with strength. . Studying in tandem with working, whilst challenging, gave me the perfect platform to directly apply learning concepts into my business environment, the competitive landscape, and the real-estate industry as a whole. When I started the program, I was very happy in my corporate role. But my courage and aspirations grew to the point that I took on a whole new direction. Having my career coach, Joanna, as a sounding board allowed me to really be strategic and get to know myself. She coached me thro ugh all the interviews, the research, and the questions. It went in parallel with what I was doing academically and after six months everything just clicked. . I went into the EMBA knowing I had nothing to lose and I’ve come out with everything. Great strength, global friends, amazing learning, mentors from professors, a job I love, and the knowledge that I can set my mind to achieve anything and with the right support and resources I’ll get there.† . Kashani Wijetunga British, New Zealand Sri Lankan Associate Director Senior Strategy Consultant CBRE EMBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"It was now or never. I knew that I’d have likely stayed in my neighborhood for years to come if I didn’t take this opportunity. I’d not lived or studied outside of the U.S. before. So I left my job as a global strategist at an advertising agency and moved halfway around the world. I’ve come back a more culturally aware, well-versed person. I’ve realized that everything is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth. Ill definitely carry this mindset with me into the future. Technology and social media allow us to be different people in several places at once. Im excited to see how I can establish myself in whatever city Ill be lucky enough to call home and still maintain deep connections with people all over the world. I’m inspired by my classmates every day. Hearing some of their life stories and how getting this degree fits into their greater mission has been very humbling. My biggest challenge has been finding the ‘right’ path for me. There have been rooms Ive felt like I shouldnt be in, but now Im proud to feel as though I truly belong, wherever I am.† . Dwayne Logan, Jnr. American MBA Class of 2019 . â€Å"It was now or never. I knew that I’d have likely stayed in my neighborhood for years to come if I didn’t take this opportunity. I’d not lived or studied outside of the U.S. before. So I left my job as a global strategist at an advertising agency and moved halfway around the world. I’ve come back a more culturally aware, well-versed person. I’ve realized that everything is a learning experience and an opportunity for growth. Ill definitely carry this mindset with me into the future. Technology and social media allow us to be different people in several places at once. Im excited to see how I can establish myself in whatever city Ill be lucky enough to call home and still maintain deep connections with people all over the world. I’m inspired by my classmates every day. Hearing some of their life stories and how getting this degree fits into their greater mission has been very humbling. My biggest challenge has been finding the ‘right’ path for me. There have been rooms Ive felt like I shouldnt be in, but now Im proud to feel as though I truly belong, wherever I am.† . Dwayne Logan, Jnr. American MBA Class of 2019 . Happy New Year, Hultians! . Happy New Year, Hultians! .