 |
Tim Cook’s Leadership and Management Style: Building his Own Legacy at Apple
Excerpts
TIM COOK: THE JOURNEY AT APPLE
Cook was born in 1960 in Mobile, Alabama. His father was a shipyard worker and his mother worked in a drug store. He had two siblings. Tim Cook graduated from Auburn University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1988. Talking about his childhood days, Cook reminisced, “Growing up in Alabama in the 1960s I saw the devastating impact of discrimination. Remarkable people were denied opportunity and were treated without basic human dignity solely because of the color of their skin.” .. |
|
STEVE JOBS’S SHADOW
Analysts felt that Cook’s challenges as a CEO were compounded by the fact that he was succeeding Jobs, whose name was inextricably associated with Apple. Alan Deutschman, in his book, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, wrote, “No one denied that Apple’s rise was aided immeasurably by his [Steve Jobs’] astonishing energy and persuasiveness and charisma and chutzpah (a word that he loved). And it was his personality that created the company’s culture and mystique.”..
COOK’S LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT STYLE
As the CEO of the technology giant Apple, Cook chose a democratic management approach. Instead of being a complete contrast to Jobs, Cook adopted some of the legendary founder’s existing practices and created a unique leadership style. Industry experts observed that the fact that Cook had filled in for Jobs thrice during his medical leave of absence proved that Jobs had a lot of faith in him. Jobs had told Cook that while leading Apple, he should never ask himself “What would Steve Jobs do?” Instead, he should take decisions thinking of Apple as his own company. In an internal email, Cook declared that he would stay true to the unique culture of Apple. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change...
CHALLENGES
Cook had to face his share of criticism too. He was criticized for not preparing himself to face the media glare and the analysis that came with succeeding a legend. He himself agreed with that criticism. While commenting on the criticisms, he said, “I have thick skin, but it got thicker. What I learned after Steve passed away, what I had known only at a theoretical level; an academic level maybe, was that he was an incredible heat shield for us, his executive team...
LOOKING AHEAD
In 2014, Apple launched the large-screen iPhone 6 and the even bigger iPhone 6 Plus. The company also introduced a new payment system, Apple Pay, and Apple Watch. The new iPhones’ sales were impressive with 74.5 million of them being sold in the last quarter of 2014, and the company generating US$18 billion in profits. Between October 2011 and March 2015, the stock price of Apple increased from US$54 to US$126 and the market capitalization touched US$700 billion. Moreover, since 2010, under Cook’s leadership, Apple’s cash hoarding had tripled to more than US$150 billion despite the fact that the company had spent a total of US$92.6 billion in dividends and buybacks, something which was not encouraged during Jobs’s era...
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Apple’s Product Portfolio
Exhibit II: Financial Highlights of Apple
Exhibit III: Apple’s Stock Performance
Exhibit IV: Apple’s Revenue Growth (Y/Y)
