Ron Johnson spent more than a decade working alongside Steve Jobs — including a stretch when the two spoke on the phone every night for about a year.
The former head of retail at Apple oversaw the creation of 350 stores and the development of nearly 50 more, representing nearly three-quarters of Apple’s locations today. Johnson, who stayed at the company until Jobs’ death in 2011, said the Apple cofounder left him with an important lesson that he still carries today.
“The big one is: Don’t be in a hurry,” Johnson said during a Business Insider live Q&A about his new book, “Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius.”
Johnson, who later became CEO at JCPenney, said that Jobs was always present. When Jobs was working, he focused entirely on the task at hand and didn’t carry his phone on him, Johnson said. Jobs’ assistant would ask Johnson to be available to take calls in case she needed to reach Jobs, the former retail chief said.
“The next meeting, he remembered everything we talked about the week before,” he said.
Johnson said that level of presence showed up not only in their regular conversations, but also in Jobs’ approach to building Apple. During his time leading Apple, Jobs helped transform it into a multibillion-dollar company.
Apple’s product rollout under Jobs serves as one example of that focus, Johnson said. Despite being a consumer electronics company, Apple waited until 2007 to introduce the iPhone after launching the iPod in 2001.
“He wasn’t in a hurry,” Johnson said. “He wanted that iPod to be great — and then we earned the right to do a phone.”
Johnson brought that same mindset to Apple’s retail business during his tenure at the tech giant. When he arrived, he was tasked with building out the company’s retail network.
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At the time, many believed physical retail was on its way out due to the rise of online shopping. Despite this, he remained committed to the plan until Apple Stores became a hit. Johnson later added that any store that hit $15 million in revenue would be profitable, and they reached that milestone after the iPod Nano went live.
Johnson wrote in his book about Jobs accepting that Apple’s retail vision might not win everyone over right away. “Bold visions couldn’t be forced, or rushed, and would need time to reveal themselves,” he wrote.
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