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By Root 575 0

of change was revealed in odd ways and in little household items like the corporate telephone directories that were kept in looseleaf folders and updated every few weeks. Managers found their schedules were slipping and paperwork was multiplying though the latter was partly due to a proliferation of Apples which spat out charts and graphs and reams of numbers. Some of the focus of the first few years disappeared, and there was a general sense that the company was sliding out of control. Even Markkula, never the corporate disciplinarian, was forced to admit, “We had trouble keeping the car on the track.”

Layers below there was far less insulation from the rush of the new. In an engineering laboratory Chuck Mauro was startled by the speed with which fresh faces appeared. “It made your head reel, hearing about four new guys who were going to start on Monday. It was all you could do to keep up. It was impossible to even remember all their names.”

Apple went to considerable lengths to preserve some sense of continuity, instill a form of community, conceal differences, and give the impression of stability. A large part of the effort was directed toward providing pleasant working conditions, a goal that sprang largely from Jobs and, to a lesser extent, Markkula. Part of the impetus was purely practical, for other companies in the area had gained a reputation for looking after their employees and Apple’s management generally recognized that one way of keeping people, in an industry where companies were sometimes crippled by a sudden exodus, was not to skimp on the trimmings. Part sprang from the long benevolent reputation of Hewlett-Packard. Part was based on the unshakable conviction that people work harder and more efficiently when they are treated well and given decent surroundings. But running through all of this was more than just a gratuitous streak of altruism. Like the founders of many companies, Apple’s were determined to improve on the deficiencies they saw elsewhere.

The picnics, parties, and presents that broke up the work week were larger versions of affairs that had sprinkled every stage of Apple’s development. After the company shipped its first $100,000 worth of computers, the entire fifteen-person work force had gathered for a pool party at Markkula’s house. When the manufacturing department had been spruced up, the rest of Apple was invited to an open house at which children, spouses, and “spouse equivalents” were made welcome. Succeeding milestones had almost always been celebrated with a party, a cake, or a bottle of champagne.

As the months lengthened into years, the parties got grander—extending to marquees and bunting and jazz bands. There were outings to specially arranged sneak screenings of movies like Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. A Halloween party that had been held during the first few months (where Jobs arrived as Jesus Christ) developed into an annual ritual and more or less turned into an unofficial company holiday. The scale of the celebration grew so large that a couple of blocks in Cupertino had to be cordoned off while employees paraded about in fancy dress.

Entertainment and the provision of creature comforts were taken seriously. Employees could join bowling leagues and aerobic dance classes. They could take out memberships at local health clubs. There were corporate scuba-diving classes and ski weekends in the California Sierras. Offices were provided with what many large companies would have considered expensive furniture and consultants were hired to give advice on topics like “Building Traffic Patterns” and the optimum amount of desk space for programmers. Employees were always given some form of Christmas present. One year most had received a hundred-dollar bill wrapped around a pen, and later, after an important sales goal was achieved, everybody was given an extra week’s paid vacation.

Apple also started a program that gave employees, once they had demonstrated a minimal efficiency, their own Apple computers. There were computer classes for family members, and a company