Tim Cook

Primary Field: Computer science

Specialty: Computer hardware

Primary Company/Organization: Apple

Introduction

Tim Cook represents the second generation of leadership in innovative businesses such as Apple and computers in general. After visionaries such as Steve Jobs created a reality to match their visions, people such as Cook—managers and nuts-and-bolts businesspeople—transformed the somewhat unstable corporation into a stable venture able to adapt to changing circumstances while holding on to what made the founder's era so distinct. If Jobs and Steve Wozniak were Apple's prophets, Cook became the discipled leader who preserved the legend.

Early Life

Tim Cook was the second of three sons born to a shipyard worker and a housewife in Robertsdale, Alabama, a farm town near the Gulf Coast. At Robertsdale High School, he was a member of the high school marching band, graduated second in his class, and was voted “most studious.” After high school he attended Auburn University, majoring in engineering. His professors recalled him as a quiet and reserved student. After graduating from Auburn in 1982, he took a job at IBM in North Carolina. Working days and attending college at night, he earned a master's of business administration degree from Duke University in 1988.

At IBM, Cook developed a reputation for reliability and geniality, volunteering to work over Christmas so the company could fill its orders by the end of the year. He rose to be director of North American fulfillment, with responsibility for manufacturing and distribution of IBM personal computers in the Americas. In 1994, he left IBM for Intelligent Electronics, an electronics wholesaler, starting in the computer reselling division and rising to chief operating officer before Intelligent Electronics was sold to Ingram Micro. He moved to Compaq in 1997. After six months at Compaq, Cook was receptive to recruitment by Apple.

Life's Work

Apple sales had declined between 1997 and 1998; the company lost $1 billion the year before Cook arrived. When Cook joined Apple, Steve Jobs had recently returned to the company after leaving it for several years, and Apple was renewing itself and consistently becoming more successful. Apple recruited Cook from Compaq in 1998, just as the brightly colored iMac personal computer was revitalizing sales. Jobs had persuaded Cook to ignore those who said Compaq had a brighter future than Apple. Cook signed with Apple as senior vice president of worldwide operations.

Apple was having problems managing the supply chain and inventory. It had more components than it could use, more computers on hand than it could sell quickly. Cook regarded inventory as “fundamentally evil” and believed that it cost money to maintain that instead could be made into profit. He wanted computers as a product to be handled like milk: to flow as directly from the cow as feasible. Therefore, Cook closed warehouses, shrank inventory, and shipped products directly from factory to consumer as often as possible. He reduced inventory from a month's supply to a week's worth, tightened distribution channels, and cut costs markedly.

Cook also had Apple discontinue manufacture of components, relying on external partners instead. By establishing a profitable and tight relationship with external makers of components, he had these companies locked into Apple products, which locked out rivals. He began closing factories, cutting inventory, and renegotiating deals with suppliers around the world. He had Apple in the black within a year.

Cook got rid of the manufacturing component of the business, leaving Jobs free to concentrate on the company's strengths: industrial design and software. By fiscal 1999, Apple's gross margins were 28 percent compared to 19 percent in 1997, and the company made a $600 million profit despite continuing declines in sales.

Cook became head of Macintosh in 2004 and led the division through the switch from PowerPC to Intel chips. By using the program Boot Camp to run Windows, Apple attracted millions of computer users who wanted both Windows and a Mac.

In 2007, Cook replaced Jon Rubinstein as chief operating officer. As COO, Cook was responsible for worldwide sales, operations, service, and support and head of the Macintosh division. He did not deal with design, but Apple had Jonathan (Jony) Ive as senior vice president of industrial design, responsible for the iMac, iPod, and many other Apple products.

Cook balanced Jobs. Jobs was the intellectual who lectured Apple devotees on the ways that technology and liberal arts worked together; Cook was the nuts-and-bolts figure. Jobs was the public face and had final say on design and positioning of products; Cook ran the company on a day-to-day basis. Thus, Cook was known to be skilled at running the company if not particularly adept at marketing and design.

As head of Macintosh in 2004, Cook, for the first time, became interim CEO, while Jobs underwent pancreatic surgery and recuperation. Cook was interim CEO again in 2009 during Jobs's liver transplant. By 2009, Cook was a member of the board, a key player in Apple's success. He became interim CEO for the third time in 2011, when Jobs went on extended medical leave. Cook's total interim experience was over a year.

When Jobs resigned as CEO and Cook replaced him for the final time, Apple investors remained calm: Both Jobs and Cook were remaining on board, fifty-year-old Cook in the position in which he had served many times before and fifty-six-year-old Jobs as chairman of the board. Insiders figured that Cook was hot property and it was time to give him the title rather than keep him as an “acting” CEO or else run the risk that he would leave Apple—a risk that seemed real when the Apple board of directors began to discuss with recruiters possible successors to Jobs, whose health problems had been acknowledged to be of long duration.

Cook assumed leadership at Apple upon the death of Jobs in October 2011. Although determined to preserve Jobs's legacy at Apple—which had become the world's most creative and valuable company—Cook quickly proved his ability by making significant changes in policy and direction while maintaining record growth and acknowledging that the excellence of Apple is due to the excellence of its people. He established his leadership style immediately, a style formed in the Apple culture, managing the labyrinthine inner workings of the firm and bringing out new technology and design.

By replacing Jobs with Cook, Apple kept potential competitors from stealing the person who was the natural successor to Jobs, the person who streamlined Apple and allowed delivery of product at lower prices while raising profits. In contrast to the mercurial and demanding Jobs, Cook was calm and undemonstrative, even in tense situations. Over the years, he had developed the ability to figure out what Jobs would do, then put that plan into place with solid business principles to make it work. He prepared for several years for the leadership role at Apple.

Cook proved humble but driven. He unveiled the updated iPhone on October 4, 2011, the day before Jobs died. He wore jeans, a button-down shirt, and Nike runners (he served on Nike's board of directors). He told a couple of jokes. He did not, however, attempt to mimic Jobs's rousing speeches about how the technology would alter the future. He left the “gee whiz” presentations to other executives. His message was about the company and how he was proud to be a part of it; there would be no cult of personality to replace that of Jobs.

Apple gave Cook nearly $400 million in stock options his first year as CEO, with half vesting in 2016 and the other half in 2021. The options for a million shares appreciated from $376 million upon award to $422 million a year later. Cook also received a 2011 salary of $900,000, an increase from $800,000 in 2010. Jobs was famous for accepting only a token dollar per year, but Jobs had more than 5.5 million shares of Apple stock at his death, whereas Cook had fewer than fourteen thousand—a $6 million asset compared to Jobs's $1 billion. Cook also had stock awards that vested in March 2012 and were valued at $100 million. Even before the new options for ever-more-valuable stock, Cook ranked fifty-eighth on Forbes's Most Powerful People list. Cook made the top five of Fortune's list of the world's greatest leaders in both 2015 and 2016.

In addition to being brought into nationwide initiatives such as the groups American Technology Council and American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, created during the administration of President Donald Trump in 2017 and 2018, respectively, Cook continued to oversee diversification within Apple products and services that contributed to the company's steady growth into the early 2020s. Such projects included the successful 2015 introduction of the Apple Watch series, the 2019 launch of the original streaming service Apple TV+, and the 2020 release of the M1 system-on-chip processor tailored to allow the company to better take charge of supplying and manufacturing. According to CNN, by 2021 Apple's market value had significantly increased and its yearly revenue had expanded to an amount over twice as high as when he had taken over in 2011. Also in 2021, his significant impact as a leader in the technology sector was further recognized when he was again named to Time magazine's list of the one hundred most influential people of the year. The following year, he was featured on a cover of the publication's list as his name was included in the "Titans" category.

In early 2023, it was announced that, at his request following a vote by Apple shareholders, Cook would see his total compensation reduced. While he had received a total of over $99 million in fiscal 2022, this number was set at $49 million for fiscal 2023. Part of his salary depends on the company's performance. In 2023, he earned a total of $63 million. Experts predicted his salary would be about the same in 2024.

In June 2024, Apple went into a partnership with OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT. Cook said in interviews that Apple planned to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its products. He referred to the venture as Apple Intelligence.

Personal Life

Highly ethical, Cook is noted as calm, thoughtful, and as tough as a particular situation requires. He is disciplined, maintaining a high level of physical activity and long work hours.

Cook is a fitness fanatic who has a house in Palo Alto; his vacation preference is hiking or cycling. He admires Robert Kennedy, is a devoted Auburn football fan, and enjoys the music of Bob Dylan. In 2012, he ranked first in Out.com's list of the most LGBTQ people.

Cook said in 2004, when Jobs's health problems became public, that Jobs was irreplaceable. Upon Jobs's death, while mourning, he committed to continue building Apple in the spirit of its founder.

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