This is Ternus’ biggest challenge, as he and Cook notch up key win

We learned yesterday that Apple was at risk of losing Mike Rockwell, the exec tasked with rescuing the new Siri project after Tim Cook lost confidence in former AI head John Giannandrea.

A deal appears to have been struck to retain Rockwell long enough to deliver the Siri upgrade, and Ternus and Cook also notched up an even important retention win …

Leadership changes pose retention challenges

Any change in senior leadership at a company potentially exposes the company to the risks of losing other key personnel. A new org chart mean that reporting lines are changed for a whole succession of management tiers, and you can never expect everyone to be happy with the results.

Different execs have different priorities, and may also have radically different management and communication styles that may be a better fit for some and a far worse fit for others. This can easily lead to a number of people potentially seeking to leave the company.

Yesterday’s report said that Rockwell had reservations about reporting to his new boss, Craig Federighi, but is now “unlikely to leave before the Siri upgrade is complete.” It’s unclear what incentives were offered to persuade the AI lead to stay.

Chip lead Johny Srouji was a key win

Arguably even more important was the steps Cook and Ternus took in order to retain chip expert Johny Srouji. It was reported back in December that he was considering leaving the company.

Johny Srouji — senior vice president of hardware technologies and one of Apple’s most respected executives — recently told Cook that he is seriously considering leaving in the near future, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Srouji, the architect of Apple’s prized in-house chips effort, has informed colleagues that he intends to join another company if he ultimately departs.

Losing him would have been a blow in any case, but it would have been especially dangerous to see him take all of the expertise involved in developing Apple silicon chips to a potential competitor.

It was clear Cook and Ternus jointly considered Shoji sufficiently important to the company to ensure that he stayed by promoting him to the company’s hardware chief. Bloomberg provides more color on the issue and why the promotion was the right solution.

It suggests the chip exec was burned out from the very hands-on nature of his role and the pressure to remain ahead of the rest of the industry year after year.

He had expressed to some colleagues that he was burned out from leading the iPhone maker’s vast silicon operation, citing his hands-on approach and relentless drive to deliver industry-leading advances year after year. He told Cook he was weighing whether to continue his career elsewhere.

While a promotion to an even more senior role might not seem an obvious solution, it will force him to delegate more in order to retain a big picture view of the company’s hardware roadmap. That can sometimes be the perfect solution for a manager who takes on too much work personally.

More retention challenges ahead

We’ve already seen some high-profile departures with more expected. Already announced are design lead Alan Dye, AI chief John Giannandrea, general counsel Kate Adams, and environment/policy VP Lisa Jackson, with retail chief Deirdre O’Brien and marketing SVP Greg Joswiak also reportedly set to retire soon.

Each of those poses the same issue of potentially causing chain reactions of others unhappy with their new reporting lines. Minimizing those losses will be a key challenge and priority for Ternus.

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