Andrea Cunningham was part of the leadership team at Apple and was fired multiple times. But she always had leverage in her hands.
What kind of employee was she? Andrea “Andy” Cunningham was one of the earliest employees at Apple and was responsible for marketing products like the Mac.
Why was she fired so often? However, Steve Jobs seemed to be so dissatisfied with her work that he fired her multiple times. According to her statements during an interview with Business Insider, up to 5 times.
But she always had an ace up her sleeve that made Jobs reconsider.
She had what he needed – a sense for the press
What could she blackmail Jobs with? Ultimately, it was mainly her good contacts with the press in the USA and internationally that helped her keep her job. Because when Steve Jobs accused her in their conversation of doing terrible work
, she referred to phone calls from recent weeks with dozens of journalists. They all wanted to know what it was like to work with the eccentric Apple co-founder. She spoke the crucial, subtly threatening words:
Currently, I am still telling them very nice things.
Steve Jobs then agreed – once again – to keep hiring and also paying her. His fear of bad press and the loss of Cunningham’s moderating abilities as a filter between him and the public seemingly caused the shift, as Cunningham reports in the interview. But the professional differences persisted.
What does she think about this time today? She is grateful for the experience in hindsight. Although it was often difficult to work with Steve Jobs back then, as he sometimes made harsh and personal criticisms, it helped her. Some were destroyed by this specific way of being treated. But not her:
I am eternally grateful for the experience because I am now much better at what I do than without the time [with Steve Jobs].
What is Andrea “Andy” Cunningham doing today? She remained loyal to the industry. She soon became self-employed but continued to work with Steve Jobs and many other big names in Silicon Valley. Even today, she still advises other companies and shares what she has learned. More information about Andrea “Andy” Cunningham can be found on her official homepage.
The Apple co-founder was, as the story above shows, a special boss whom not everyone could handle. To this day, many of his sometimes annoying quirks from his time at the top of the global corporation have been passed down: Steve Jobs called employees up to 6 times a day while he was on vacation
