Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works

If you have like me walked into an Apple store to ask a staffer in a blue (or red) T-shirt about a forthcoming product only to be told they know nothing of it then this is a book you want to read.

Adam Lashinsky Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works is a relatively short book that gives us a behind the veil of secrecy look at the Cupertino based and secretive Apple cooperation. This book, however, does so much more and is a must-read for any self-professed Apple fan.

The book is full of fascinating snippets that probably confirm our assumptions and beliefs about the workings of Apple. For starters, it seems Apple is not necessarily a fun place to work. The product comes before anything and Steve Jobs’ influence on the company can’t be understated. According to Lashinsky a theme emerged of how differently Apple does things than the rest of the business world. Just how Jobs fashioned Apple into a rule-breaking company.

Everything was for Steve and ultimately credited to Steve. Employees had a bigger-than-life boss that drove them to achieve excellence. “But they believed that whatever they were working on would be seen, eventually, by “Steve.” Apple as a workplace is portrayed as nearly monastic in employees’ willingness to sacrifice their personal lives, remain incommunicado and achieve the extreme interdepartmental cooperation Jobs sought, even at the end. Lashinsky describes Jobs’ successor Tim Cook as “a Mr. Fix-it who blended in but didn’t take no for an answer.”

The workings of Apple can’t be adequately discussed without dealing with thesecrecy that  permeates the organization.  It shouldn’t be a huge surprise then that Lashinsky spends a great deal of time describing the elaborate level of internal secrecy the company goes to in managing and maintaining it. The reasons for all the secrecy are twofold: to maximize the free press coverage and buzz at launch and to keep demand high for existing products still on the shelves.

For example, in order to discuss a topic at a meeting, one must be sure everyone in the room is “disclosed” on the topic, meaning they have been made privy to certain secrets. So Employees are kept pretty much in the dark about what their colleagues are doing and restricted where they can go on campus.

This is unequivocal - Apple employees know something big is afoot when the carpenters appear in their office building. New walls are quickly erected. Doors are added and new security protocols put into place. Windows that once were transparent are now frosted. Other rooms have no windows at all. They are called lockdown rooms: No information goes in or out without a reason.

And it’s not just about Apple’s secrecy; Lashinsky looks at the shortcomings of the way the late Jobs kept all fellow entrepreneurs out of his inner circle of executives and what that will mean for the company’s future success. He also examines how Cook as CEO may mix things up. From being a former IBMer and his first moves elevating certain executives to establishing company-wide philanthropy and strong hints he won’t hoard cash they way Jobs did.

If I didn’t know better it’s almost as if you get the feeling when reading this book that people inside the company will be just as keen to read this as those of us on the outside.