Cultish, paranoid and scary: Apple's winning formula

WORKING at Apple is like being a member of a cult, where talking about your work even to colleagues and family members is likely to result in instant expulsion, according to a new book by Fortune journalist Adam Lashinsky. So how do you build the most successful technology company in the world? Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired - and Secretive - Company Really Works reveals all...

BUILD A SECRET ROOM
"Apple employees know something big is afoot when the carpenters appear in their office building," writes Lashinsky in extracts published by Fortune. "New walls are quickly erected... Windows that once were transparent are now frosted... They are called lockdown rooms: no information goes in or out without a reason."

START A CULT
Apple is "cultish, and neophytes are entrusted with only so much information", writes Lashinsky. "As with any secret society, trustworthiness is not assumed. New additions to a group are kept out of the loop for a period of time, at least until they have earned their manager's trust." A senior Apple engineer said: "People are so committed that they go home at night and don't leave Apple behind them. What they do at Apple is their true religion."

FORM TERRORIST CELLS
Apple revolves around the concept of disclosure. For Lashinsky, the company has cells like a resistance organisation whose members aren't given information that could incriminate a comrade. Jon Rubinstein, a former senior hardware executive at Apple, uses a more colourful simile: "We have cells, like a terrorist organisation. Everything is on a needtoknow basis."

SHOW NO MERCY
"So there's no confusion," writes Lashinsky, "the penalty for revealing Apple secrets, intentionally or unintentionally, is clear: swift termination." One ex-employee recalls that the attitude of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would give him nightmares. Before "all-company broadcasts" Jobs would say: "Anything disclosed from this meeting will result not just in termination but in the prosecution to the fullest extent that our lawyers can."

LET THEM FIGHT AMONG THEMSELVES
An 'observer' says: "The fighting can get personal and ugly. There's a mentality that it's okay to shred somebody in the spirit of making the best products."

BE VERY PARANOID
Lashinsky explains that Apple employees can't relax even when socialising at the local watering hole: "Company lore holds that plainclothes Apple security agents lurk near the bar at BJ's and that employees have been fired for loose talk there. It doesn't matter if the yarn is true or apocryphal. The fact that employees repeat it serves the purpose." ·