John Sculley arrived at Apple in 1983, when the firm was generating a mere $564 million in annual sales. Ten years later, when he exited or was rather booted — annual sales for the company were $8.3 billion. Although forever tagged as The Man Who Fired Steve Jobs, Sculley is arguably worthy of yet another label: Apple’s middle-market champion.

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Middle Market Thought Leader Podcast is about inspiring business leaders to take a leadership leap and open a new chapter of growth for their middle-market companies. We know that by learning from the failures, Ah-ha! moments, and successes of other middle-market business leaders, you can take inspired action.

Jack Sweeney is editor in chief of Middle-Market Executive. He is the former editor in chief of Business Finance Magazine and recent editorial director for The CFO Alliance. Jack was the founding editor of Consulting magazine today owned by Bloomberg L.P. He served as editor of Integration Management and Washington Technology, both published by The Washington Post Cos. He can be reached at jack.sweeney@middlemarketexecutive.com.