Steve Jobs’ health crisis not cancer, but does it even matter?

First Jobs had a “common bug“, then a “hormone imbalance” which was easily fixed. Now the situation has become more “complex” and Jobs is taking a 5-month medical leave. Why would, or should the press — or AAPL shareholders — believe anything anyone says about Jobs now?

via Report: Steve Jobs’ health crisis not cancer, but does it even matter? » VentureBeat.

More to the point, why the hell does it even matter? Now that Steve has activated the succession plan, at least temporarily, and removed himself from active management of Apple, his health is even less an issue for the press. Well, except for the tabloids. What next, Steve’s martian love child — his real reason for leaving public life?

Watching the reaction today made me feel bad for Jobs, and generally rather disappointed and mad, especially at people’s sense of entitlement to details of his private life. Now, I’ve argued that Apple had a responsibility to disclose information about his health as long as there wasn’t an acknowledged succession plan and he was running the company, because the information was pertinent to Apple’s responsibility to stockholders as a public company.

Now, though, Steve isn’t running the company, Tim Cook is, and Steve is a private citizen for the forseeable future.The succession plan existed and is now in operation, and Steve can go off and focus on Steve.

What part of “private” don’t people seem to get here?

Oh, for what it’s worth, the “common bug” was pure PR-speak, that was easy to see. The same as “leaving to spend time with his family” is code for “we signed a no-comment agreement as part of his term package”, or “we only laid off 100 HR people today (don’t look at all of those empty cubes, those were ‘contractors’)” is for “we neutron-bombed the 2nd floor”.

But beyond that? I think Apple and Steve have levelled with the public, while trying to be sensitive to Steve’s wish for privacy. Has nobody stopped to consider that the comments around Macworld were accurate, and that the action taken today is based on new information that wasn’t available then? Well, from the reactions I’ve seen, people prefer the idea of conspiracy over a tough diagnosis of a tough problem where the answers aren’t carved in stone from day one.

Real life isn’t that neat and easy, folks. Trust me on that.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-WozJobs/1188435600 Steve WozJobs

    Doctor's Interview and point of view:
    Everybody is talking about a neoplastic pancreatic condition. The most frequent pancreatic malignancy is ductal carcinoma. Let's suppose he does not suffer from that condition and that, as he says, he has a tumoral endocrine pancreatic disease which is treatable. In that case we look for diseases like MEN (multiple endocrine neoplasia) Type I (MEN I). With symptoms provoking chronic diarrhea, weight loss with tumors of the parathyroid glands, pancreatic islet cells and hypofisis. Sometimes most of the pancreas must be removed in order to control the endocrine symptoms. The disease is longlasting and death can happen in cases of complications. Is he suffering from Insulinoma ?, or a gastrin pruducing tumor of the pancreas ? Who knows, is one of those his condition ? Are they hiding a more frequent and severe disease like ductal carcinoma because of Apple stock price. The insiders are the only people aware of the truth. By the way a Whipple procedure is a type of surgery in which the pancreas and the duodenum are radically removed. It is mostly used to treat pancreatic cancer with the intention to cure.

    Let's all hope for the best.

    For more information on this story please follow some insider's views here:
    .

    Steve Wozjobs

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1188435600 Steve WozJobs

    Doctor's Interview and point of view:
    Everybody is talking about a neoplastic pancreatic condition. The most frequent pancreatic malignancy is ductal carcinoma. Let's suppose he does not suffer from that condition and that, as he says, he has a tumoral endocrine pancreatic disease which is treatable. In that case we look for diseases like MEN (multiple endocrine neoplasia) Type I (MEN I). With symptoms provoking chronic diarrhea, weight loss with tumors of the parathyroid glands, pancreatic islet cells and hypofisis. Sometimes most of the pancreas must be removed in order to control the endocrine symptoms. The disease is longlasting and death can happen in cases of complications. Is he suffering from Insulinoma ?, or a gastrin pruducing tumor of the pancreas ? Who knows, is one of those his condition ? Are they hiding a more frequent and severe disease like ductal carcinoma because of Apple stock price. The insiders are the only people aware of the truth. By the way a Whipple procedure is a type of surgery in which the pancreas and the duodenum are radically removed. It is mostly used to treat pancreatic cancer with the intention to cure.

    Let's all hope for the best.

    For more information on this story please follow some insider's views here:
    .

    Steve Wozjobs

  • Total

    “Medical diagnosis, especially of a problem that's as unusual as this one, is neither simple nor cut and dried. You're being naive to think they've known all along. Battling something like this has a big “fog of war” aspect. “

    Something that Apple should have recognized in their public pronouncements. “It's a common bug,” “Everything's fine” is not acknowledging that, as you say, things are not 'cut and dried.'

    And when the medical diagnosis *was* clear, in the initial case of the cancer, Jobs concealed it from the board and from the public. In that case, he did “know all along” and chose to obfuscate.

    “And you don't know that reporters have gone after the family. I've heard otherwise.”

    Evidence?

    “And I think the press has been far from restrained.”

    Really? Have they staked out Jobs' house? Harassed his doctors repeatedly? Tried to get into his records in the hospital? That's what a press being unrestrained looks like.

  • Ian Betteridge

    While I get where you're coming from, I don't think it's *quite* that simple. From the perspective of “affecting the business” – and thus, affecting the material interests of shareholders – there's a significant difference between Steve taking what amounts to a sabattical and him having to step down permanently. As the statement makes clear, Steve will still be determining the strategic direction of the company while he's out of the day-to-day loop, but if he had to step down permanently, that would stop.

    When Jobs does step down from being CEO, he'll be a private citizen. Until then, even if he's taking a leave of absence, he's not.

    The “common bug” stuff wasn't PR speak: it was a lie. The fact that it was a transparent lie, made with the (good) intention of protecting Steve's privacy, doesn't make it any less of one. It was also a lie that may have had a material effect on the company's share price, and that isn't acceptable.

    The *only* correct way to deal with this kind of issue at a corporation is to be as transparent as possible while sparing everyone the details. Put the big questions to rest, while being sensitive. Saying something along the lines of “Steve has a secondary illness related to his pancreatic cancer which, while treatable, is likely to mean he needs six months of treatment and rest. His cancer has not recurred.” is open, honest, and puts to bed 90% of the speculation. Saying “he has a common bug” or “a hormone imbalance” just invites more speculation and misleads investors.

    In short: serious illness is not something you can put a PR spin on, and while I can understand Jobs' (and Apple's) desire to do that, one of the more experienced board members ought to be telling him he can't do it. That's supposed to be what an independent board is there for.

    • http://www.chuqui.com chuqui

      Ian, basically agreed with you. And in cast it wasn't obvious — “PR speak” is PR Speak for “white lie, or what we hope is a white lie”.

      I always said Apple really should have been more forthcoming on this, for the reasons you state. At the same time, I understand Steve wanting some privacy here, and that's a tough nut for the company and PR to crack; tough compromises have to be figured out.

      And why should Apple be transparent here, when they're not transparent about so very many other things? Corporate DNA and all that.

  • Total

    “I think Apple and Steve have levelled with the public”

    Really? Which time? In the fall, when everything was fine? In early January, when everything was treatable without a hitch? Or now, when everything will be fine in six months?

    Jobs is the CEO of one of the hottest countries around, a CEO who is clearly identified with much of that success, and a CEO who has put himself front and center as the image of Apple (keynotes, magazine covers, etc). He concealed the illness originally (even from the board), and used alternative treatment therapy for nine months.

    It is naive to think that the press isn't going to be interested in this, and they've been fairly restrained about it (example: reporters haven't gone after his wife for comment, or staked out his house, as far as I know).

    • http://www.chuqui.com chuqui

      Medical diagnosis, especially of a problem that's as unusual as this one, is neither simple nor cut and dried. You're being naive to think they've known all along. Battling something like this has a big “fog of war” aspect.

      And you don't know that reporters have gone after the family. I've heard otherwise. And I think the press has been far from restrained.

  • Mike

    I agree, mostly. I think Apple should have been more up front about the secession plans, given the speculation. It seems they have only given information when forced to by circumstance.

    Most importantly, I do hope this is something that is treatable and that he makes a full recovery.