Apple turns 50: Tim Cook on values, Steve Jobs and the future

Contents

Apple is turning 50 this year. For Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company, this is a special challenge: the ability to look back had to be developed first, the Apple boss joked in a rare look back at the company's history, culture, and future. Normally, Apple prefers to look forward to its day-to-day operations.

In conversation with journalist David Pogue, Cook also addressed the importance of values in politically turbulent times in the interview, which was broadcast on the US television channel CBS. Cook is currently facing criticism for his closeness to US President Donald Trump. In particular, a visit to the White House despite escalating violence in Minnesota recently caused massive anger among the workforce. The Apple boss also drew a personal balance sheet, unusual for him: on the state of the company when he joined in 1997, Steve Jobs' last advice to him as designated CEO – and why, in his opinion, Apple's success is simply uncopyable.

Cook: Values even more important in chaotic phases

Since taking office as CEO in 2011, Tim Cook has positioned Apple more strongly than his predecessor Steve Jobs on socio-political issues: Apple has committed itself to accessibility, data protection as a human right, sustainability and climate protection, education, and diversity. But since Donald Trump's second term, during which his administration has, for example, significantly rolled back climate protection or reversed diversity programs for companies, Apple's values are being put to the test. Cook, who caused discussions with a glass plaque with a 24-karat gold base, which he presented to Trump, professes his commitment to Apple's values in the interview. In an internal meeting, Cook also promised to work more closely with foreign employees and for humane immigration policies. These are even more important and no less relevant in chaotic phases, he explained.

“Just do the right thing,” Steve Jobs had instructed his successor. “Never ask what I would do.” And even though Cook emphasizes that he followed this advice from the Apple co-founder, it becomes clear in the interview how committed he feels to Jobs' legacy. He was a person “once in a thousand years,” he says. And his greatest invention was not a product, but Apple itself.

Working at Apple for 28 years

Cook attributes the gratitude he exudes to his own career path at Apple. When he started at Apple almost 28 years ago, the company was fighting for survival. Quarterly revenue was only $1.3 to $1.4 billion, and it was unclear whether they could still pay the remaining employees their wages the following month. Former colleagues advised him, who then worked for the world's largest PC company, Compaq, against switching to Apple. But Cook followed Jobs' call anyway.

Today, Apple is three to four times larger and more profitable than at the beginning of Cook's tenure as CEO. Around 100,000 employees have been added in 15 years. But Apple has also increasingly come under regulatory scrutiny. Cook emphasizes what the company repeatedly says on various occasions: too much regulation can slow down innovation. Apple's recipe for success is not just the products or ideas, but the culture and the people who shape the company.

Apple Silicon: Especially long-term planning

In addition to a disciplined focus on the future and looking around the corner, Cook considers focus to be the most important aspect of the culture. The famous “no” to a thousand things to say “yes” to one thing is still adhered to. Furthermore, collaboration and the pursuit of excellence are further priorities at Apple, alongside the integration of hardware, software, and services.

However, the celebrations for Apple's 50th anniversary, which Cook did not elaborate on, are not intended to divert the company from its course. Projects that lie several years in the future are already being worked on in the labs, Cook hinted. The company's own chips, Apple Silicon, alone force the company into particularly long-term planning. There is no time for looking in the rearview mirror, except on special occasions.

(mki)