A new profile on Tim Cook done by the New York Times has shared a variety of details discussing the Apple CEO’s leadership style over his nearly three year tenure as the head of the company, including his influence on product development, brand expansion, and “quiet” approach to design. The profile also sheds new light on the development of Apple’s highly-rumored “iWatch” smartwatch. The report notes Cook’s differences in management compared to Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs, sharing how the CEO has made key decisions to release unique new products and acquire new talent over the past few years. Moreover, his attempts to broaden Apple’s brand by expressing support for initiatives such as environmentalism and charitable giving were also highlighted.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, was an adolescent boy in a small Alabama town in the early 1970s when he saw something he couldn’t forget. Bicycling home on a new 10-speed, he passed a large cross in flames in front of a house — one that he knew belonged to a black family. Around the cross were Klansmen, dressed in white cloaks and hoods, chanting racial slurs. Mr. Cook heard glass break, maybe someone throwing something through a window. He yelled, “Stop!” One of the men lifted his conical hood, and Mr. Cook recognized a deacon from a local church (not Mr. Cook’s). Startled, he pedaled away. “This image was permanently imprinted in my brain, and it would change my life forever,” Mr. Cook said of the burning cross, in a speech he gave last December. In the speech, he said his new awareness made him feel that no matter what you do in life, human rights and dignity are values that need to be acted upon. And then came the segue: His company, Apple, is one that believed deeply in “advancing humanity.” Mr. Cook, who is 53, took over leadership of Apple nearly three years ago, after the death of Steve Jobs, the company’s revered founder. Like Walt Disney and Henry Ford, Mr. Jobs was intertwined with his company. Mr. Jobs was Apple and Apple was Jobs.
