John Sculley's Peanut Butter Sandwich

Steve Jobs hired John Sculley away from Pepsi in April 1983 to become the President and CEO of Apple. Steve remained Chairman of the Board and also the general manager of the Mac group. Because of the strategic importance of the Mac to Apple’s future, John starting attending some Mac marketing and strategy meetings and, as a result, the two of us got to know each other. 

Some books claim that he was the architect of the Mac marketing strategy. Although he had a very strong marketing background, this was not true. Other books and articles have vilified John. And this was not fair. Like most of us, he had good days and bad days, but gave the best he could and learned important lessons along the way.

One day around noon I needed to give John a report that he had requested and I walked over to his office. This was not an uncommon occurrence. But he wasn’t in. I looked for his assistant Nanette. Nanette worked for John at Pepsi, and when he took the job at Apple, she came with him. She was always very kind and accommodating to me.

I found Nanette in a small kitchenette adjacent to John’s office. She had a loaf of white bread and a jar of Skippy Peanut Butter. 

I greeted her, “Hi Nanette, what are you doing?”

“I'm making lunch for John. For years he’s had the exact same lunch. Just a peanut butter sandwich, and he always has me make it for him.” No jam, no honey, just plain old peanut butter on white bread. 

For a man who received a $2.5 million signing bonus to take the job at Apple, his very simple lunch menu surprised me. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been a fan of a good peanut butter sandwich for over a half a century! But now that he had moved to California, wasn't it time to splurge for some raspberry jam or clover honey?

And then Nanette did something very strange, and I smile to this day thinking about it.

Prior to spreading the peanut butter, she turned on the water faucet in the sink. And then she held one piece of white bread in her left hand while immersing her right hand in the flowing water. And then she flicked the water off of her right hand onto the piece of bread. She did this in a very matter of fact way, as if she had done it a hundred times before. And then she repeated this ritual with the second piece of white bread. Finally she spread the peanut butter, made the sandwich and put it on a little plate.

Curiosity was killing me. I had to ask, “Nanette, um, why did you just do what you did with the water?”

She replied, “Oh John always wants fresh bread. And this loaf is already stale. A little water sprinkled on it freshens it right up. I’ve been doing this for years and he’s never caught on.”

I have a couple thoughts on what the moral of this story might be, but I’m interested in hearing what you think it is!