This morning I watched the 34-minute response from Steve Jobs and Apple to the Antennagate issue of the past 22 days. I do not own an iPhone 4. Because there is no 3G data service in my area I recently made the decision to go with the htc EVO and Sprint, and so far I am quite happy with my decision.
Nevertheless, I was most interested in watching Steve Jobs' response to the iPhone antenna criticisms. It seems to me that any leader worth his salt should be following this news story closely. What do you do when your product or service receives criticism? Especially what do you do if you think the criticism is unfair or out of proportion to reality? As a leader of a new church I thought I would write down my observations and thoughts after watching Apple's press conference. Here, in no particular order, are my 8 conclusions.
Conclusion #1 - Leaders are criticized. The farther out in front a leader is, the more criticism he or she will likely receive. Love Apple or hate Apple... they have a string of successes over the past 5 years that put them in front of the crowd. There isn't a leader anywhere doing anything at anytime that doesn't receive criticism and sometime lots of it. If you want to be a leader, expect to be criticized.
Conclusion #2 - The more out in front you are, the more criticism you are likely to receive. If you haven't received a lot of criticism recently, maybe you haven't really accomplished all that much. Great achievement and great accomplishments do not come with only glowing fanfare. In fact, the greater the fanfare, the greater the criticisms.
Conclusion #3 - When a specific criticism is leveled, respond in a timely manner. This doesn't necessarily mean right away. Jobs made the point that it had been 22 days since they've been selling the iPhone 4 and receiving antenna complaints. A day over three weeks. Time enough to get their facts straight. Time enough to let cooler heads prevail. Time enough not to blow up and make the problem worse. Not so much time that it appears you are not concerned about the issue.
Conclusion #4 - When a specific criticism is leveled, respond in a factual manner. It's one thing to say, "That's not fair," even if it isn't. It's another thing entirely to sit back, collect the facts and then share them as straightforwardly as possible. Does the iPhone have a problem with its antenna? Yes. Is the iPhone 4 the only phone to have such a problem? No. How big is the problem? According to Apple's internal data, not nearly as big a deal as both their critics and the media have made it out to be.
Conclusion #5 - When a specific criticism is leveled, respond in a transparent manner. Maybe the thing which impressed me most about the Apple press conference was the authentic and emotional way Jobs spoke about their desire to please their customers. It was clear to me that this was a big deal to the folks at Apple, that they genuinely cared about their customers and were grieved to have been on the receiving end of such criticism. Jobs certainly didn't express an "I don't care" or flippant attitude.
Conclusion #6 - Do what you can do, admit what you can't. Apple will provide every iPhone 4 customer with a free bumper, which Consumer Reports has shown will solve the antenna problem. They will reimburse their customers who have already purchased a bumper. However, they are geared up to make phones, not bumpers. There aren't enough Apple bumpers for everyone. (Three million phones were sold in the first 3 weeks!) So they are contracting with outside bumper manufacturers to provide a choice of solutions for their customers. Also customers have 30 days to return their new, undamaged phone for a full refund with no restocking fee.
Conclusion #7 - Set a short-term evaluation date and then consider what next steps might be necessary. Sometimes a solution is good once and forever. But far more often it is a good idea to set an evaluation date, a line in the sand on the calendar. For Apple this is September 30th. Apple and their customers will have two and a half months to get this resolved. And then they will evaluate to see if they need to go further. This provides the incentive for customers with real problems (not just the media or Apple's critics) to actually take action to solve their problem.
Conclusion #8 - Realize that you can't make everyone happy. It's admirable that Steve Jobs and Apple want to take care of everyone who has a real problem with their product. And it's good to come out and state your case so everyone knows your side of the story. 
But it might be a little wishful thinking to want every user to be happy. Some people are, by nature, unhappy creatures.
Rock Cookie Bottom's iphone antenna video song really got it right I think. If you don't like the iPhone 4 - for whatever reason, antenna or otherwise, take it back! Seems simple. Not a big deal... certainly nothing to warrant the "Antennagate" label of the critics. The sad truth is that some people will criticize you and no matter what you do, they just won't like you, your product, your leadership, your solutions - even your effort to make a solution.
Like Apple, you may want every one of your customers or users or (in my case) congregants to be happy. And you (and I) should work as hard as possible to make the experience of the product or the service to be as good as it possibly can be. But, and here is the important qualifyer... your happiness (and mine) cannot be determined by our customers' (or congregants') happiness.
Every now and then we have the opportunity to watch great leadership. And if we're really wise, we'll learn from it. From where I sit on this particular issue, Steve Jobs and Apple are responding in an appropriate manner and are demonstrating why they are leaders. I hope my own leadership bar will be raised by their example.
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