Premium Essay

Leadership Lessons from Apple Ceo Tim Cook

In:

Submitted By KRmaple
Words 833
Pages 4
There was simply no way to predict how Apple would do without Steve Jobs. But that didn’t stop anyone from speculating. Tech pundit John Dvorak said, “At some point, Apple becomes like a John Wayne movie with no John Wayne. You begin to notice something is missing. Apple without Steve Jobs is Sony.”

When Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO, I had a decidedly different take: “Apple has a solid foundation as the most powerful and influential technology company on the planet. It has a unique culture, but one that Steve Jobs built to last, as he knew this day would surely come for some time now.”

I went on to say that Apple’s iconic co-founder “infused a new way of thinking” that is “baked into” Apple’s culture “in a way that can live on without Jobs.”

In an internal email, Cook vowed to stay true to that culture. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change," he wrote. "I cherish and celebrate Apple's unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that-it is in our DNA.”

But I also knew that much of the company’s success going forward would “depend on new chief Tim Cook and rest of Apple’s management team,” and that “despite Cook’s promise, things are going to change. They have to change.”

Related: The 9 Best Real-World Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Indeed things have changed. But Cook has managed to walk that fine line between staying true to what’s unique about the company while adding value in ways that only he could – ways that even Steve Jobs could not have done. And the way he runs Apple offers powerful lessons for every current and aspiring executive and business leader.

Don’t fix what isn’t broken. If there was ever an organization that had every arrow pointed in the right direction, it was Apple when Cook took over. Iconic

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Tim Cook

...assignment on Tim Cook. Tim Cook is well known in the Communications and I.T. world. Tim cook took over of Apple after Steve Jobs came down with pancreatic cancer. Before Apple Tim worked at IBM, Intelligent Electronics, and Compaq. So let’s talk a little bit about his background and traits in leadership. Well when we look at Tim Cook and some of the various places he worked. He always hasn’t been a leader. He took a lot away from when he worked on the Macintosh side of the house of Apple he spent a lot of time with supplier relationships. When he was with Compaq he was the vice president and responsible for all of Compaq’s inventory. When Steve Jobs got sick Tim Cook had to step up and be the CEO of Apple. He had to do this three times while Jobs was out sick. When we look back at our studies on leadership, we see that there is a big difference between leaders and managers. I think Tim Cook is and would be a awesome leader to work for. This is what he said about leadership. Tim Cook "We want diversity of thought," he says. "We want diversity of style. We want people to be themselves. It's this great thing about Apple. You don't have to be somebody else. You don't have to put on a face when you go to work and be something different. But the thing that ties us all is we're brought together by values. We want to do the right thing. We want to be honest and straightforward. We admit when we're wrong and have the courage to change." So what has Tim Cook Done to get such...

Words: 1528 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Mgt231 Organizational Behavior - Apple Inc. Organizational Analysis

...Freeborough MGT231 Organizational Behavior 20 June 2015 TERM PAPER Apple Inc. has without a doubt revolutionized the world of consumer electronics in the 21st Century. As the company became more customer-focused and improved its lean manufacturing model, it has to rise to the organizational challenges of becoming a leading global company in its industry. As Apple has reinvented its products, it has reinvented their organizational structure as well. The following is an analysis of Apple at an organizational level: its culture, leadership, ethical practices, and the use of power and political behavior. It is important to understand these factors because they represent a real-life learning opportunity for anybody involved in organizational management, based on one of the most recognized and successful companies of our time. Innovation is definitely at the core of Apple’s success. It was the first company to introduce a Personal Computer and the first and currently the leading company to introduce mobile technology such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad (CITE). However, Apple was not always the leading company in profitability. It struggled behind the more affordable Microsoft. It is interesting to note that as Apple struggled or succeeded with selling its products, it also made changes within their organizational structure. Throughout its history, Apple’s success has been influenced by its leadership, most famously of its co-founder, Steve Jobs. When one thinks of Steve...

Words: 1599 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Evidence Based Management and Psychological Contracts: the Success of Apple

...Evidence Based Management and Psychological Contracts: The Success of Apple. Aaron Wood Ottawa University * Introduction For decades, the application of organizational behavior theories to business management has been an ongoing process of discovery and innovative thinking. Concepts like evidence based management (McShane, 2013) and psychological contracts (Braekkan & Tunheim, 2013) are being employed in some of the world’s leading corporations. For the purpose of this paper, the synthesis of material into conceptual application will be applied to a single corporate entity. By choosing a company with global interests who continues to espouse very personal, individual based value perspectives, Apple is a good representational fit. This paper will highlight not only how Apple in some cases is using these concepts successfully in the market place, but also ways in which their former CEO failed miserably in utilization of these concepts while achieving enormous corporate success. This paper will also look to Apple’s future and how study of these theories along with others may be further developed. Multiple references from a wide array of media sources and fields of study have been researched to show the breadth of Apple’s stakeholder and business positioning strategies from the earliest days up to resources compiled as late as November 2013. As the development of information threads lead to fields like manufacturing, education, supply chains, demography, and even...

Words: 6213 - Pages: 25

Premium Essay

Organizational Culture at Apple

...Organizational Culture at Apple Apple Inc. is a global computer manufacturing company that is going through major changes in its organizational culture and it’s organizational structure due to several events of the past few years. This is a company that grew extremely fast in little time, that their management found themselves not being able to keep their operations and finances under control. Apple Inc. has been forced to reevaluate and redesign it’s organizational culture and organizational structure to avoid bankruptcy. The organizational culture of Apple is one of change; with the drive to outperform and succeed as their major objectives. The organizational structure of the company has also transformed to be more competitive in a critical juncture in the company’s history. Apple is going through major restructuring to regain control of its operations and finances in order to stay competitive on the global market. This paper will describe the organizational culture and structure of Apple (www.fundinguniverse).Organizational Culture, The culture of Apple was based on an ideal that self-motivated individuals will work harder if they do not have a boss micromanaging every action. The unique structure of Apple had allowed it to grow and react more quickly to changes than its competitors. The reason for the quick responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a project started if there are only a few people to obtain approval from. Apple initially grew fast, because decisions...

Words: 1169 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Assessing Your Leadership Style

...Assessing Your Leadership Style to Achieve Organizational Objectives EILEEN NEWMAN RUBIN Research has shown that there are more than 30 differently named leadership styles, ranging from micro-management to hands-off, each with its own proponents. Six, however, stand out as most com- monly found in business: authoritarian, democratic, transformational, laissez-faire, servant, and situa- tional. A review of the experiences of six leaders who embody these styles reveals that each mode of operating has its pros and cons; there is no sin- gle best approach. Being aware of one’s leadership style and that of others makes it possible to lever- age strengths and compensate for weaknesses and to properly match individuals to a particular role or task—for the good of the entire organization. ©C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Whether they are involved in politics, corporate America, or a nonprofit endeavor, the style in which managers and other professionals exert their lead- ership can determine the outcome of their efforts. As the American businessman and political fig- ure Erskine Bowles said, “Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts” (Kruse, 2012). But what is the best leadership style to use? There is no simple answer to this seemingly simple ques- tion. One’s leadership style depends on several fac- tors, including the personality of the leader, the or- ganizational culture (and the many subcultures that may exist within it), the personalities of the people...

Words: 6648 - Pages: 27

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs

...an infant by a middle class family and grew up in California’s Silicon Valley, where as a teenager, he was exposed to tinkering with his father in the family garage, which in 1976, became the birthplace of Apple Computer (Jobs, 2012). As an executive, Jobs had a temperament that was not always welcomed in the professional atmosphere. Shortly after he began Apple he was asked to leave by the Board of Directors and friend, John Sculley, CEO of Apple Computer. This was a blow that Jobs did not take lightly, and in order to maintain his dream and vision, he started a new software company, called NeXT. Eventually Apple Computer purchased the failing company, only after Jobs returned to Apple Computer in 1997, as the CEO. He replaced Gil Amelio, who replaced John Sculley only three years before (Nair, 2012). In 2007, Apple Computer became Apple, Inc., so the world would know that Apple was not just selling computers (Finkle, 2010). Jobs’ leadership traits, charismatic leadership style and charismatic leadership traits are analyzed. The communication style of Jobs as a charismatic leader is also discussed. Jobs had the creativity and innovation traits of a charismatic leader and these topics are also briefly discussed. The combination of autocratic and entrepreneurial leadership styles are what best describes Jobs’ leader behavior (Dubrin, 2010). Jobs’ leader...

Words: 5799 - Pages: 24

Premium Essay

Management Organizational Behavior

...Page1----------Introduction of Apple Page2--------- Organizational culture, design, structure Page3--------- Management of conflict and motivation of employees & Conclusion Page4------- Recommendation& Referencing List If there is a survey about which business you believe is the most valuable and has most revolutionary influence on the society last ten years, it must be true that most of the people will choose Apple. From some professional evaluation about Apple, it describes Apple as an enterprise which has ability to take over the world one bite at a time and is already doing it. As of July 2011, Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization with 357 retail stores in ten countries and 60,400 permanent full-time employees and 2,900 temporary full-time employees around the world. (Profile: Apple Inc, n.d.)At the same time, its revenue and profit is more than Google and Microsoft combined, and its annual revenue is totaled $65 billion in 2010 and is growing to $108 billion in 2011 miraculously. (Harry Wilson, 2012) Apple not only is one of the most successful enterprises in the world nowadays, but also already is a creative, miraculous and revolutionary company which is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976 during its starting stage. (Cyrus Farivar, MacCentral, n.d.) Apple’s organizational mission is providing products which are innovative leadership and needed for consumers. (Apple Employee Handbook...

Words: 2404 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Management Organizational Behavior- Apple

...Page1----------Introduction of Apple Page2--------- Organizational culture, design, structure Page3--------- Management of conflict and motivation of employees & Conclusion Page4------- Recommendation& Referencing List If there is a survey about which business you believe is the most valuable and has most revolutionary influence on the society last ten years, it must be true that most of the people will choose Apple. From some professional evaluation about Apple, it describes Apple as an enterprise which has ability to take over the world one bite at a time and is already doing it. As of July 2011, Apple is the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization with 357 retail stores in ten countries and 60,400 permanent full-time employees and 2,900 temporary full-time employees around the world. (Profile: Apple Inc, n.d.)At the same time, its revenue and profit is more than Google and Microsoft combined, and its annual revenue is totaled $65 billion in 2010 and is growing to $108 billion in 2011 miraculously. (Harry Wilson, 2012) Apple not only is one of the most successful enterprises in the world nowadays, but also already is a creative, miraculous and revolutionary company which is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976 during its starting stage. (Cyrus Farivar, MacCentral, n.d.) Apple’s organizational mission is providing products which are innovative leadership and needed for consumers. (Apple Employee Handbook...

Words: 2404 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Apple

... | |Unit number | 7371 | |Name of UC lecturer/ Local tutor | Dr Majharul Talukder / Mr Sadanand Varma | |Program | BBA | |Assignment name | Strategic Management – Case Analysis (Apple) | |Due date | 9th March 2012 |   You must keep a photocopy or electronic copy of your assignment.   Student declaration I certify that the attached assignment is my own work. Material drawn from other sources has been acknowledged according to unit-specific requirements for referencing. Signature of...

Words: 9350 - Pages: 38

Premium Essay

Steve Jobs Biography

...about a person; who was a great thinker, innovator and a genius entrepreneur who touched and changed the world of technology, music & animation industry, and computers & mobile phones industry. And yet he was human; he was controlling, manipulative, and had his share of failures and successes. Steve Jobs was adopted by Paul and Clara jobs. They lived in Palo Alto, San Francisco at the time when Silicon Valley was flourishing. His parents were open about his adoption to him from an early age and always told him that they picked him because he was special and different. Though he felt abandoned by his birth parents; he always knew he was special and a chosen one. Paul Jobs who was an automobile technician introduced his son to the world of design and engineering. His knack for making things look simple, neat and beautiful; even the part of the craft or tinkered part of a car which was not visible from the outside had highly influenced Steve in becoming a perfectionist which we see in all the Apple products today. Steve was no doubt an intelligent child with higher IQ for his age at pre-school because of which he was often bored in his class and always found himself in trouble for playing pranks. His parents and teachers agreed on skipping one grade to keep him interested at school. When he was in high school, he realized he had immense...

Words: 2108 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

E Commerce

...Steve Jobs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Steve Jobs | Jobs holding a white iPhone 4 at Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 | Born | Steven Paul Jobs February 24, 1955 (1955-02-24) (age 56)[1] San Francisco, California, U.S.[1] | Residence | Palo Alto, California, U.S.[2] | Nationality | American | Alma mater | Reed College (dropped out in 1972) | Occupation | Chairman, Apple Inc. | Salary | US$1[3][4][5][6] | Net worth | $8.3 billion (2011)[7] | Board member of | The Walt Disney Company,[8] Apple, Inc. | Religion | Buddhism[9] | Spouse | Laurene Powell (1991–present) | Children | 4 | Relatives | Mona Simpson | Signature | | Website | Steve Jobs | Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American business magnate and inventor. He is co-founder,[10] chairman, and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc.[11][12] Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. He was credited in the 1995 film Toy Story as an executive producer.[13] In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula,[10] and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox...

Words: 12391 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Managing Strategy

...Rev. Confirming Pages Case 6 Apple Inc. in 2009 Lou Marino The University of Alabama Katy Beth Jackson The University of Alabama John Hattaway The University of Alabama Heading into the fourth quarter of 2009, management at Apple had much to be excited about. Steve Jobs had returned to lead the company as CEO after receiving a liver transplant earlier in the year, the company had set revenue and earnings records during its most recent quarter, the new iPhone 3GS had sold more than 1 million units within three days of its June 19th launch, and consumers had downloaded more than 1.5 billion iPhone applications by the first anniversary of The App Store launch. However, Apple also faced some significant challenges as it entered the final quarter of 2009. There was some concern that Steve Jobs would not be as effective at the helm of the company as in the past since he would be working only parttime as he further recovered from his surgery. In addition, the role of former acting-CEO and current chief operating officer Tim Cook was not readily apparent as Jobs returned on a parttime basis. Analysts were also concerned that Apple might struggle to sustain its growth in the smart phone market as Nokia, Research in Motion (the maker of Blackberry smart phones), HTC, LG, and Samsung moved to copy many of the iPhone’s features. The iPhone was critical to Apple’s continuing growth in revenues and net earnings since the company was the world’s third largest seller of smart...

Words: 9853 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

What Could Be the Future Perspectives of Apple over the Strategic Issues in Order to Maintain Its Competitive Advantage?

...International Management Project - Apple - Summary In a context of “fast growing technological market", what could be the futures perspectives of Apple over the strategic issues in order to maintain its competitive advantage? Introduction I – A Sociology of Steve Jobs A) Steve jobs: the perfect illustration of a charismatic authority B) Steve Jobs: does he really is an inventor? C) From death to succession II – How does Apple react about the uprising competition on the consumer electronic market? A) Understanding the market B) External and Internal analyze through specific models C) Major changes on the market D) Apple’s strategic positioning: a specific target audience III – Recommendations and Justifications A) Drawing of frightening competitor B) Possible strategies C) What Apple is looking for and how to reach it? Conclusion Appendix Introduction In a period of financial turbulences, the consumer electronics market is facing several challenges where every company have to differentiate themselves and bring something more through innovation in to be able to maintain their competitive advantage and to grow their market share. In this case, Apple, great name, is probably the most innovative corporation established on this market by staying aware of the trends evolutions as well as of the electronics consumers’ needs to gain competitive advantages. Indeed, its orientation...

Words: 16190 - Pages: 65

Premium Essay

Leadership

...Steve Jobs; leadership Style ------------------------------------------------- Leadership Management Studies Fatima Ali M.Phil (Morning) Steve Jobs; leadership Style ------------------------------------------------- Leadership Management Studies Fatima Ali M.Phil (Morning) Table of Contents Steve Jobs: Change Leader 3 Steve Jobs Biography 3 Leadership Style 4 Autocratic versus participative 5 Entrepreneurial 6 Trait Theory 7 Focus 8 Judgment & Decisiveness 9 Non-conformity 10 Persistence against obstacles; Tenacity 10 Vision 11 Sociability & Inter-Personal Skills 11 Ability to Enlist Cooperation 12 Steve Jobs as a Charismatic World Leader 13 Steve Jobs as a Distant Charismatic Leader 13 Steve Jobs as a Close Charismatic Leader 14 Golden Circle Theory 15 Leadership Grid 16 Fiedler’s Contingency Model 17 Vroom-Jago Contingency Model 19 Steve Jobs and the Path-Goal Theory 20 Leader Member Exchange by a Game Changer 22 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 24 Steve Jobs as Transformational leader 25 There is No “I” in Team 28 Tuckman’s Group Development Model 30 Discussion 31 Conclusion 33 Appendix A 34 References 37 Steve Jobs: Change Leader Steve Jobs Biography Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, on February 24, 1955. He co-founded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976. He was fired from his own company in 1985, but he returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997. By the time he died...

Words: 9632 - Pages: 39

Premium Essay

Finance

...Strategic Management Patricia Murtagh The University of Sunderland © 2014 The University of Sunderland First published January 2014, revised February 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission of the copyright owner. While every effort has been made to ensure that references to websites are correct at time of going to press, the world wide web is a constantly changing environment and the University of Sunderland cannot accept any responsibility for any changes to addresses. The University of Sunderland acknowledges product, service and company names referred to in this publication, many of which are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks. All materials internally quality assessed by the University of Sunderland and reviewed by academics external to the University. Instructional design and publishing project management by Wordhouse Ltd, Reading, UK Copyright © 2014 University of Sunderland ii Contents vi Introduction Unit 1 1 2 5 7 Concepts, models and theories 20 Introduction 2.1 A comparison of concepts, models and theories relating to competitive advantage 2.2 An evaluation of concepts, models and theories relating to strategic choice Case Study: Ciba Vision 2.3 Concepts, models and theories relating to strategic evaluation Case Study: The University of Exeter...

Words: 89385 - Pages: 358