On Friday, I read that Katie Cotton, Apple’s corporate communications chief for the past 18 years, was leaving her job. I had never really much about her before, but the general impression seems to be she’s not exactly all sunshine and unicorns, as reported by ValleyWag:
One writer I spoke with described her as “pure evil,” a “ruthless enforcer for a cruel if brilliant autocrat. The ugly side of Steve Jobs personified.” To another, she was “kind of wicked witchy.” Another editor summed up his interactions with Cotton as only being brushed off and directed to an underling, if there was any response at all.
My former Gizmodo colleague Jesus Diaz, who weathered the worst of the storm over the blog’s early purchase of an iPhone 4, recalls a rare returned phone call from Cotton, the “Darth Vader to Steve Jobs’ emperor,” after inquiring about Steve Jobs’ health: “She was angry…fuming…so angry it was hard to understand her. And then she hung up on me.”
I did a Google image search, and I found her official Apple portrait. I instantly thought to myself, “this does not look like a happy person.” Sure, she probably has zillions of bucks, and she had a lot of corporate political sway, but……….sheesh……..just look at this picture and tell me this person is content.
What’s remarkable to me is that this photo was (a) made by a highly-paid professional photographer; (b) was chosen as the very best of what surely were dozens of potential portraits. This was the very, very best they could do.
I’m visual to a fault. That’s why I read charts. And that’s why I read people. And this is an instance of someone who, simply stated, isn’t able to offer up a legitimate smile. It’s kind of sad.
Oh, and – errr – Happy Mother’s Day!
