Sorry to be so dramatic

Ten years ago next month. Also, 7 other things.

Next week marks 10 years since the death of Steve Jobs. A lot of people will probably write a lot of things about his legacy. Heck, I probably will.

But first, I’d like to look backward for a moment—to two moments, actually:

• August 2011, when Jobs stepped down for good as CEO of Apple (just two months before his death), and

• May 2005, when he gave the commencement speech at Stanford University.

First, August 2011. Many companies fall into chaos during times of transition. Apple did not. A big part of why, I think, is that Jobs had put himself (and Apple) in a position where he could write 17 short words in his resignation memo:

"I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple."

Things often look inevitable in retrospect, but having stable leadership for a full decade and a company that's worth over 7.5 times more than it was in 2011 was not the most likely outcome when Jobs had to step down for health reasons.

I think that the reason Jobs put a prem…