According to news from March 13, Beijing time, Apple's senior management has always been known for its stability, but now it faces a new challenge: an unprecedented wave of executive departures.

Apple lost 11 executives in the second half of 2022, most of them vice presidents, slightly lower than the senior vice president who reports to CEO Tim & middot; Cook (Tim Cook). They are some of Apple's most important people, responsible for the day-to-day operations of many core functions.

The backbone has run away.

The backbone has run away.

In the past few years, Apple may lose one or two vice presidents in a 12-month window, such as the head of its self-driving car program who moved to Ford in 2021. Today, Apple has such a large group of people leaving to attract attention, whether they are retired, fired, resigned or moved to another company.

Of course, this is also accompanied by an influx of new executives. Apple has hired a new chief human resources officer to replace retail director Deirdre Odre middot; O'Brien and recruited a CIO to replace Mary Demby & middot; and David Smoley & middot; Smoli.

But in most cases, these departures lead to Apple reassigning responsibilities or promoting people internally. For example, the responsibility of Anna & middot; Matthiasen (Anna Matthiasson), vice president of the online store, was replaced by her direct report, Karen & middot; Rasmussen (Karen Rasmussen); the responsibility of Tony & middot; Tony Blevins (Tony Blevins), who was in charge of procurement, was transferred to deputy chief executive Dan & middot; Rosks (Dan Rosckes) and promoted direct subordinate David & middot; Tom (David Tom).

In all of these cases, there are successors within Apple who can come forward, or at least some executives can take responsibility for leaving employees. But Apple can't find a suitable replacement for Evans & middot; Evans Hankey, the outgoing head of industrial design.

Instead, it allows individuals on the design team to report to chief operating officer Jeff & middot; Williams (Jeff Williams). Similarly, Apple has not replaced its chief privacy officer.

The trend of leaving continues to spread.

The trend of leaving continues to spread.

And this wave of evacuations may be just the beginning. Many of Apple's vice presidents have been at the company for decades and may retire in the next few years. Apple's top management faces a similar situation: 10 of the 12 executives are about the same age. Half of them joined Apple before 2000, and the age gap between Cook and his most likely successor, Operations Director Williams, is only about two years.

At the same time, many of the long-term mainstays that have helped reshape Apple are nearing the end of their career. For example, former marketing director Phil & middot; Schiller (Phil Schiller) is transitioning to a lesser role & ldquo; Apple Academician & rdquo; (Apple Fellow), focusing on app stores and media activities. Dan & middot; Dan Riccio will step down from all hardware engineering responsibilities except for the hybrid reality headset team.

In addition, the time is ripe for the mobility of Apple's lower-level staff. Apple insiders believe that some executives at the director and senior director level (two levels directly below the vice president) are also considering resigning in the near future.

Can't make it to the end of the day

The accelerated departure of these people may be due in part to the increasing responsibility on the shoulders of managers. Over the years, Apple has become more and more bureaucratic, especially in product development. Apple is a huge multinational, which means it's hard for individuals to stand out. Internal politics and interdepartmental bickering will make it harder to manage.

Moreover, Apple's internal resources have been shifted to longer-term plans, some of which may take years to be ready. Some managers may be unhappy that their people have been transferred to hybrid reality teams and self-driving car teams.

In some cases, Apple's vice president is seen as a candidate to replace a senior vice president, and a promotion could lead to a four-to five-fold raise. But Apple probably never made it clear whether or when this would happen. Hankey, the outgoing design director, for example, is said to lack authority, including the ability to overturn engineering decisions made by other departments.

Apple's organizational structure is itself a source of stress. The company is organized by function, which means that the team has to contribute to all important products. For example, the Deputy Director of hardware Engineering will be responsible for assisting in supervising parts of the operations of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac and AirPods. The head of software engineering will be responsible for managing the teams that contribute to iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS, which run on dozens of hardware products.

This organization made sense in Apple's early days, but it led to increased product development delays, over-dispersed resources, and additional engineering complexity. Of course, this also has benefits, it allows Apple's best talent to participate in the development of every product in the portfolio.

A sharp drop in income

A sharp drop in income

In this respect, even Mr Cook has been hit. On Friday, Apple shareholders approved a new compensation package, including a pay cut of about 40% for Mr. Cook. In 2023, more than 80% of Cook's income will come from stocks, 75% of which will be linked to the company's performance.

But don't worry too much about Cook leaving soon: his shares won't be fully owned until 2027.