Is Apple’s success reproducible? Is their design culture? Is Jony Ive? After years of debate, my friend and I finally had a breakthrough last week. The answer transcends a tidy yes or no — instead, think of Jony Ive as a redwood.

On one hand, of course Apple’s success is reproducible. They’re just a bunch of people in a company trying to make products, same as anyone. Every company has a workforce and the ability to hire talented people. Every company can invest in their future and set a high bar for quality. The playbook is there. Of course it can be copied.

But no, no company really does. I don’t consider any company “design led” other than Apple. Everyone has designers. Everyone has engineers. Everyone talks about quality. Everyone talks about delighting customers. But to date I haven’t seen anyone but Apple reliably have true design courage. It’s all talk.

So anyone could theoretically reproduce what Apple has done over the years, but I don’t believe anyone actually has. Why not? Let’s look to nature to understand what might be going on here. Or rather, what has gone on at Apple for nearly twenty-five years.