Less is more. If there was anything that Apple has taught the world, it is that simplicity is king. It teaches the same in the so-called Apple University, the company's very own facility for training employees.
The Apple University started out right around the time that the first iPhone came out. Steve Jobs established it as a means of inculcating in employees the business culture in Apple, educating everyone about the company they are a part of. It's much like any other employee training program except employees don't find ways not to sit in the classes. In fact, even when courses are not required, finding employees to enroll is not a problem.
Still, no one really knows about the Apple University. It's like a secret school but not quite since everyone knows it exists but no one really knows what goes on inside. Employees taking classes are told not to talk about Apple in general and the same goes as well for Apple University. There are no pictures of the university's classrooms going around and even asking politely won't do any good.
Three employees did decide to talk to The New York Times but requested not to be identified. According to them, the Apple University is a clear reflection of the company and the kind of image it projects to the world.
Classes have been designed like they were Apple products themselves, carried out in well-lit rooms with elevated seats at the back so everyone can see the instructor. They are mostly taught within a cluster of buildings called the City Center but sometimes, classes are also given outside of the country in Apple's overseas offices, with professors flying out to teach.
Classes are held all year and the university has its own full-time faculty, some of which came from M.I.T., Stanford, Berkeley, the University of California, Harvard and Yale. Then-dean of the Yale School of Management Joel Podolny designed the Apple University program, handpicked by Jobs himself. To this day, Podolny oversees the program.
One of the professors in the Apple University is Randy Nelson. He came from Pixar, the animation studio, and teaches the class "Communicating at Apple." In one of Nelson's classes, Picasso's "The Bull" was used to illustrate the design philosophy that guides Apple. Eleven lithographs make up" The Bull" and it shows the change a bull undergoes from being stout and fleshy to a stick figure, showing how to boil down a certain idea to highlight its most important components.
Other classes include "The Best Things" and "What Makes Apple, Apple."
