Ghost World

Two huge-profile executives have faced the firing squad this spring. One is gone. The other seems to be just holding on.

On the face of it, there’s little similarity between Apple, the face of 21^st century consumer technology, and JCPenney, still stuck somewhere in the Eisenhower years.

But there is a common thread. And if you believe in the ghostly hereafter, Steve Jobs is pulling that thread just as adroitly as when he was the all-controlling Apple guru.

So here’s that strange connection: As the Apple retail legend grew in the last decade, Ron Johnson was head of stores. But I used to hear that it was Jobs’ monomaniacal attention to detail and innovation that made those stores what they were. No detail was too small for his control.

JCPenney thought it was getting the Jobs magic when it hired Johnson, but all it got was Johnson – an experienced, competent retailer who immediately made a bunch of mistakes.

I’m not going to keep flogging him. But he clearly failed to read the JCPenney customer. It’s nice to try reinventing the brand, some have done it successfully – Banana Republic comes to mind – but it’s not easy, and especially not during a recession, when your brand has been known for price and value.

Back at Apple, Tim Cook moved into Jobs’ old chair and almost immediately the haunting began: chains rattled, profits shrunk, earnings fell.

In the years following the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, the company consistently blew past even the most bullish  earnings expectations. But this month, Cook made the rare admission to analysts on a conference call that Apple’s growth has slowed. (Remember also Ron Johnson’s “we’ve made mistakes” admission?)

Cook seemed to want to apply a financial bandage to all of this: Investors should “think different” about Apple – less as a hyper-growth startup and more as a mature but robust technology corporation with the world’s biggest dividend.

But the whirly-birds who have given Apple residency on Mount Olympus don’t think about dividends. Since Cook took over in 2011, many have questioned whether Apple can continue to come up with revolutionary new products. The key product introduction in the Cook tenure is the smaller iPad mini.

Is that enough? Cook has presided over three straight quarters of missed revenue expectations. Apple needs another blockbuster gadget to accelerate its momentum and win investors and consumers back.

Cook tried to drum up enthusiasm around the product pipeline by teasing that “some really great stuff” was coming in the fall.

If Steve Jobs had said that, lines would already be forming at Apple stores. From Tim Cook, it sounded like a delaying action.