Steve Jobs health condition is private
I agree in part with Bijan here and also disagree. Health is and should be a private matter, but there are times when it becomes public as well.
Jobs, however, has chosen to create a cult of personality around himself and a good part of Apple’s success is tied to him personally. He has directly tied Apple’s stock price in part to himself- he laps it up when things go well and he needs to deal with it when it is negative as well.
By analogy, health of a major government official is also a matter of public concern- the basic point is the same. We put our faith (and cash) in people we think can lead well. If they can’t for health reasons, the public- at some point- has a right to know.
The BIG question is exactly *when* the right arises. I’d say that when rumors start to affect a company’s stock price the CEO and Board have a duty to shareholders to address it.
The NYT and others can’t get enough of the Steve Jobs story.
Is he sick? Is he well?
I don’t believe he needs to disclose his health status publicly. It’s none of our business. Shareholders & Apple’s board need to decide if he’s doing the best job for the company or not. And at this time, no one that could do it better. End of story.
I saw this on Slashdot earlier:
“The New York Times is saying that Steve Jobs doesn’t have cancer, but that he needs to disclose all the information about his medical condition so investors can decide. Gizmodo’s strong rebuttal says that everyone has the right to keep medical records confidential. They argue that, if prominent US presidents legally kept their grave illnesses secret — even while the security of the country was at stake — a simple CEO should be able to do the same: ‘Steve Jobs has the right to keep his medical records private for as long as he wants. Like FDR. Like JFK. Like any single person in this country and the world. It’s our right, as humans, to do so.’”
Steve Jobs’ personal medical condition is private. It is for you and for me too. And that’s how it should be.
