Ro: Present, Appearance
Do-do: Magnificent
Magnificence in Life: my story of Bill Campbell.
How one man helped me take the leap to do a startup
Bill Campbell
Apple BOD
Chairman, Intuit
Former CEO Claris
Former CEO Go Corporation
EVP Apple USA, Sales & Marketing
Former Coach (In real life 
)
It all started in 1987, when I was called to fly to Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of Apple Computer’s potential large customers we were trying to convert to Macintosh Domino’s Pizza was having some problems. A big presentation was schedule for Friday, and here it was Monday of that week and things were simply not working. I was on a plane Tuesday morning- my first visit to the Domino’s campus.
It was typical, software on PC’s was still evolving, and applications for pre-web e-commerce and brand catalogs were all done as one-offs. Tuesday to Thursday was spent in this beautiful FLW Prairie Style offices working to show how Macintosh could completely change the way Domino operated.
Friday came, a beautiful sunrise hit us as we raced to finish the last 3 days and nights work. Physically exhausted, but charged we walked into the conference room. A tall man, dressed in a suit with a big smile on his face walked over to me- giving me a big hug and loud pats on the back.
“Hello Samir, I’m Bill Campbell. Thanks for the work to help Apple USA out today.”
And that’s the first time I met Bill.
Over the years Bill became a very important mentor to me with his attitude, energy, coaching and of course the twinkle in his eyes. Probably the most important time, when I was trying to decide to do something at Apple or so a startup- Bill was at Claris as CEO. Over lunch, I remember his words clearly to this day:
“There are only two types of companies- startups and departments of large companies. Decide what you want to be and do it 100%”
These are simple but very power words that had a deep impact on me. Coming from someone at a large corporation that had started in a garage, it really summed up what I needed thinking through. I realized I wanted to go back to my roots as an entrepreneur, and this was one of the most life changing decisions I made.
Following this period in history, Bill left Claris to become CEO of Go, as Apple did not spin-off Claris completely- it remained in Bill words, a department of a large company. Bill went on to become CEO of Go, then Intuit, and finally returned to Apple as Chairman of the Board and helped many companies and CEO’s like Google in Silicon Valley.
I chose the words Magnificence in the present or appearance as it captures this wonderful person. I remain very fond of Bill, as he continues his path as Chairman of Intuit and on Apple Computer’s Board helping people everyday through his essence.
Here are some words from Bill from his article in Fortune by Jennifer Reingold:
