9 Lessons I Learned from John Ternus about Innovation, Leadership, and Vision #929938

When people talk about innovation, they usually talk about ideas—brilliant sparks of creativity that suddenly light up the darkness.
But ideas, in truth, are the easy part. The real test of innovation is whether an idea survives the long journey from imagination to execution.
And that journey is rarely glamorous. It’s riddled with compromises, late-night arguments, and the delicate balance between perfection and practicality.
John Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, is not someone who courts the spotlight. In fact, outside of Apple’s carefully orchestrated product launches, most people would not recognize his name.
And yet, for those who pay attention to the mechanics of how Apple continues to define entire categories of products, Ternus is a fascinating figure.
He is less the painter splashing color on a blank canvas and more the conductor of an orchestra—making sure that each note, each instrument, fits within the larger symphony.
What makes Ternus’s story so intriguing is not just that he leads the engineering behind some of the most iconic devices of our time—the iPhone, the Mac, the AirPods—but that he embodies a quieter, subtler style of leadership.