Apple is turning 50, and these former leaders say the culture made it all click

• Apple's 50-year journey is marked by iconic products and a unique culture.
• Tony Fadell's work on the iPod and iPhone defined Apple's success in the technology industry.
• Glenn Reid's secret projects, like iMovie, helped resuscitate Apple during challenging times.

Apple is celebrating 50 yearssince its founding this week, and it's seen a number of innovators pump out iconic products over the decades.

Its storied past is marked with major milestones that changed the landscape of the tech industry. Along the way, Apple has become known for its workplace culture of innovation and secrecy.

Two former leaders at the heart of some of Apple's most memorable projects looked back on their time at the tech giant.

From working in the Steve Jobs era to maintaining a level of mystery around secret products, they spoke to Business Insider about their years of experience as leaders within the 50-year-old company.

Tony Fadell reminisced on launching the first iPod — and that time he lost the iPhone

Tony Fadell, 57, got a call to consult on a new project for Apple in 2001. At the time, he was already working on MP3 players and handheld electronics, and Apple needed someone to help build a device to support its six-month-old music platform iTunes.

In March 2001, he presented Jobs and a number of other execs with a weighted styrofoam model that would eventually become the iPod, and Fadell would spend nearly a decade at Apple as the senior vice president of the iPod division and an advisor to Jobs.

"A really, really amazing moment for me was the original iPod, just getting it done," Fadell said. "It was a nine-month project from start to finish. It was my dream."

The iPod wasn't an instant success, Fadell said, but it eventually took off in popularity after Apple introduced Windows compatibility and other features. It became a cultural touchstone, and Fadell started to see it in the hands of celebrities like Shaquille O'Neal.

It inspired a number of iterations, including the iPod Nano, which he said was his favorite product. Fadell said the iPod Nano — a smaller music player — "really changed the game" because it was more portable.

However, his time at Apple had its scary moments, too. Fadell recalled a moment before the iPhone was released to the public, when he was one of the few people with the device.

"The original iPhone fell out of my pocket in an airplane seat before it was ever shown," Fadell told Business Insider.

To Fadell's relief, no one knew what it was, and it was returned about 40 minutes after he got off the plane.

"Nobody knew what it was. Thank God, but I literally lost it," he said. "That was a really scary moment."

Innovation was wrapped in secrecy at times

Former director of engineering and consumer applications, Glenn Reid, was the architect behind Apple's video editing platform, iMovie, and the iPhoto app. He worked with Jobs at NeXT Computer before joining Apple in 1998.

"He reached out to me to build iMovie, and it was at a time when Apple was struggling, almost dead," Reid said. "They needed to get it back on the map."

Before Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, the company was bleeding, consistently reporting bad financial results. In 1997, Jobs wrested back control of the company to try to save it. He oversaw a number of big changes to the company that would lead to a new version of Apple.

Part of Jobs' plan, Reid said, was to create a new kind of video editing app. Reid joined a small team of about 20 people developing products for Apple without the rest of the company knowing.

Reid described the culture as a "pirate ship project inside the company," invoking an adage reportedly said by Jobs during a 1983 meeting.

"It's better to be a pirate than join the Navy," Jobs had said, prompting members of the Macintosh team to later refer to themselves as pirates, as a former employee described in a blog post.

Reid recalled papering the windows of his office so no one could see what he was working on as he developed iMovie. He said the work helped keep the company afloat as Apple searched for the next big product to keep it profitable.

"It was that kind of an environment, and it was cool because you don't get an opportunity like that very often," Reid told Business Insider.

Apple still stands out

In a world of 100-year-old companies trying to stay relevant, Apple has become one of the most valuable firms, leading the smartphone market.

What set it apart, Reid said, was a culture that allowed lower-level employees to pursue innovative ideas. In other companies, the "immune system," as he described it, stamps out that creativity. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

Jobs taught Fadell the power of saying no. A lot of ideas flew around at Apple, like digital cameras or TVs, and many of them were shot down. Then, the iPhone came along in 2007 and changed everything for the company.

"When you say yes, it means something, and it means something really big," Fadell said. "You focus on that."

Today, Apple is led by CEO Tim Cook, is worth nearly $4 trillion, and it's on the 17th generation of its golden goose, the iPhone. It never lost its culture of secrecy and innovation along the way.

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