Don't Panic!

Steve Jobs is taking some time away from Apple. One employee takes medical leave, and the stock plummets. This sort of flies in the face of the "fist in the bucket of water" theory an old boss of mine used to have. If you're not familiar with this business model, I confess that I only understand it from the perspective of someone who was always trying to figure out if I was the fist or the bucket of water. What I took away from that little lesson was this: you end up with a wet fist and you can't take the water with you. Or something like that. I believe that the idea that I was to take away from the interchange was that no one person is integral to the success of a company or project. It takes a village. He could have said that, and I might have understood more readily. Such is the complex, zen-like world of modular office furniture installation.
Which doesn't have a lot to do with Apple computers, except for the fact that there are plenty of folks tapping and listening and clicking away on their Apple electronics from inside the cubicles that I once erected, or sitting on chairs that I unwrapped and rolled into place. It's a symbiotic relationship, I suppose, so I feel compelled to ask: At this point in the company's history, how can Steve Jobs really be that important? As of 2009, there were more than thirty-six thousand employees of this corporate monolith, with layer upon layer of management, and yet, when the tip of this pyramid decides to shift his weight, the rest of the planet trembles. What about that bucket of water? What about the village? Apple's stock dropped by a third at the announcement that Steve might not be in the office on Tuesday.
I hope that Steve Jobs can take the time he needs to restore his health, not for his company, but for his own sake. A person, no matter how clever or important, should be able to take a few days here and there. The rest of the planet should rest assured that there will still be iPods, pads and pots and pans. Just like there will still be someone there to build those cubicles in which those clever engineers sit. I am not sure about the bucket of water, however.