With Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook now taking over the top spot from Steve Jobs, it’s a good time to look back on the man and get to know the next chief executive of the most valuable tech company in the world.
But while today’s announcement has shocked the market, and sent Apple shares falling over 7%, investors would be happy to know Cook is no stranger to the job. Since 2004 he has served as chief executive twice, when Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer and two years ago when he went on medical leave.
When Jobs announced another medical leave of absence earlier this year, Cook took over most of the company’s day-to-day operations. Jobs specifically recommended Cook, and various investors, analysts, and outsiders have tipped Cook as the most likely successor were Jobs ever to resign.
Cook grew up in Robertsdale Alabama, and attended Auburn University earning a degree in Industrial Engineering in the early 1980s.
Before joining Apple in 1998, he had served as vice president of corporate materials at Compaq, and was also vice president for worldwide operations before that. He also worked for 12 years in IBM’s personal computer division.
It’s difficult to know much about Cook, as he is an extremely private person. However, interviews show he is an intensely driven and demanding executive.
One anecdote references a meeting where Cook declared that someone should visit China to address supply issues. A few minutes later, he turned to a deputy and asked, “Why are you still here?”
The deputy drove immediately to San Francisco airport without a change of clothes.
This is where Cook has been a critical asset for Apple. When he first joined in 1998, he was given the task of organising Apple’s troubled manufacturing and supply division, which was haemorrhaging money. Immediately he determined that manufacturing needed to be outsourced, and that the entire approach to inventory needed to be changed.
In fact, he is quoted in one Fortune magazine profile as saying inventory is “fundamentally evil”. He is responsible for turning around that entire division of the company, and has also been essential in determining future demand for products, and controlling the supply of component critical for new products.
Cook is known to start sending emails from as early as 4am, and holds a staff meeting on Sunday nights to address the agenda of the week ahead. Reports indicate he is not often seen smiling, and does not talk much during meetings.
Cook’s management style is one ruthlessly focused on details. He has a keen eye for supply, management and inventory, abut commentators have said he may lack the intuition for design seen in Steve Jobs.
“He’ll ask you 10 questions. If you answer them right, he’ll ask you 10 more. If you do this for a year, he’ll start asking you nine questions. Get one wrong, and he’ll ask you 20 and then 30,” former employee Steve Doil told Fortune.
Cook is known to be lover of the outdoors, a keen bike rider and exerciser. He is also quite wealthy, holding onto shares worth over $130 million.
Cook is well known to the press, as he regularly attends earnings conference calls. But it may take awhile before this intensively private executive begins to make his mark known on Apple’s product range.
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
