Scott Forstall discusses being hand-picked by Steve Jobs and working at Apple

Former Apple executive and Senior Vice President of iOS Scott Forstall has shared the story of how he was hand-picked by Steve Jobs at NeXT, kickstarting his career at Apple.

While he'd initially planned on working at Microsoft, Scott Forstall attended an interview at NeXT, the company founded by Steve Jobs after he'd departed Apple. The interview was to last all day and involve seventeen people before it was through.

A mere 10 minutes into the first interview, Jobs pulled the first interviewer from the room, took them to the hallway, and promptly dismissed them. He then began to interview Forstall one-on-one.

"He just started peppering me with question after question after question, and after about 15 minutes, we really clicked — on design, philosophy, and a bunch of other things," said Forestall.

"He stopped, he looked at me and said, 'I know you have to interview for the rest of the day. I don't care what anyone says, at the end of the day, I'm giving you an offer.' Then he said, 'But please, pretend you're interested in everyone's questions throughout the rest of the day.' Then he looked at me and said, 'I'm sure you're going to accept this offer.' So that was his way to convince me."

He wound up turning down an existing offer from Microsoft, only to receive a strange message the next day.

"The next day, I open up the door to my apartment, and there was a box outside. I open it up, and inside is a dead fish," recalled Forstall.

The box had been sent by Microsoft — though not as a threat. As it turns out, the box contained a king salmon from Seattle's Pike Place fish market. The implication was that Forstall wouldn't be able to purchase fish of that quality were he to move to California's Bay Area.

Forstall wound up cooking the fish and eating it for dinner that night. Afterward, he went on to find a fruitful career with NeXT, then Apple, for the next two decades. Forstall departed Apple in 2012, allegedly to much relief of other executives.

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6 Comments

jd_in_sb 1599 comments · 14 Years

About 4 years ago

Forestall is smart and Steve valued that over Forestall’s friction with co-workers

canukstorm 2740 comments · 11 Years

jd_in_sb said:

Forestall is smart and Steve valued that over Forestall’s friction with co-workers

Steve Jobs also believed in the power of friction

https://www.facebook.com/BrianHamiltonNC/videos/steve-jobs-talks-about-how-friction-is-necessary-in-making-things-and-making-thi/448433322673242/

razorpit 1793 comments · 17 Years

canukstorm said:

jd_in_sb said:

Forestall is smart and Steve valued that over Forestall’s friction with co-workers

Steve Jobs also believed in the power of friction

https://www.facebook.com/BrianHamiltonNC/videos/steve-jobs-talks-about-how-friction-is-necessary-in-making-things-and-making-thi/448433322673242/

I think friction is something that is missing from today's business world. Everyone wants everyone else to like them. Too many meeting rooms with bobbing heads

razorpit said:

canukstorm said:

jd_in_sb said:

Forestall is smart and Steve valued that over Forestall’s friction with co-workers

Steve Jobs also believed in the power of friction

https://www.facebook.com/BrianHamiltonNC/videos/steve-jobs-talks-about-how-friction-is-necessary-in-making-things-and-making-thi/448433322673242/

I think friction is something that is missing from today's business world. Everyone wants everyone else to like them. Too many meeting rooms with bobbing heads

Agree. That's the curse of political correctness & being afraid to offend others. As the old saying goes, you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.

dewme 5737 comments · 10 Years

canukstorm said:

razorpit said:

canukstorm said:

jd_in_sb said:

Forestall is smart and Steve valued that over Forestall’s friction with co-workers

Steve Jobs also believed in the power of friction

https://www.facebook.com/BrianHamiltonNC/videos/steve-jobs-talks-about-how-friction-is-necessary-in-making-things-and-making-thi/448433322673242/

I think friction is something that is missing from today's business world. Everyone wants everyone else to like them. Too many meeting rooms with bobbing heads

Agree. That's the curse of political correctness & being afraid to offend others. As the old saying goes, you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.

I like to think that the more we challenge one another internally on matters that are of great importance to customers, the better job we do for our customers. However, some people don't take criticism very well and some people are remarkably poor at providing critical feedback. If you don't have trust and commitment among team members even well-meaning critical feedback can go horribly wrong.

Every time I see someone post something to the effect that "heads must roll, starting at the top" when someone makes a mistake I see another "critical feedback as a vehicle for learning" opportunity go bye-bye. Yes, there needs to be reference counting on screw-ups, but nobody who has ever done anything significant for society or even a small set of stakeholders has done so without making a few mistakes along the way.

Being attentive and empathetic to the needs of others and forming trust relationships is a desirable human quality. If you're lazy, self-centered, or don't think you need to bother "connecting" to those you are trying to work with in a productive and mutually beneficial manner, be very careful about playing the "political correctness" card to blame for the dysfunction. In most cases it's a cop out and admission of failure, your failure.