Not only is he a legend with dozens of products left behind, Steve Jobs also helped Apple have a great leader, Tim Cook.
At a time when he has not yet turned 40, Tim Cook still has plenty of experience in running a large business. In fact, he once held a high position at Compaq technology company. But to convince this talented person to become an important piece in rebuilding Apple, Steve Jobs did not take too much time.
Only when talking face-to-face did Steve Jobs convince Tim Cook.
Only when talking face-to-face did Steve Jobs convince Tim Cook.
Smart leadership
Tim Cook at that time was not as well known as he is now, although he was unknown in the industry. After just over a decade working at IBM, where Apple was considered a competitor with very fierce competition in the 80s and part of the 90s, he became head of operations at the Intelligent department. Electronics, a position that would help complete its signing with Compaq in 1998 as Global Executive Vice President.
As a young man, Cook had great intelligence to direct such complex and demanding fields as corporate operations. Steve Jobs has just returned to Apple and for the first time assumed the position of CEO (in the previous period, he was a co-founder, board member and stakeholder). In this new phase, he is looking for a complete reorganization of Apple, and there Cook is a factor that Jobs believes is very suitable.
At Apple, Tim Cook became Steve Jobs's right-hand man until his death.
At Apple, Tim Cook became Steve Jobs's right-hand man until his death.
Clearly Steve Jobs's intuition told him to choose a great person, but signing Cook is another story. Jobs and Cook's initial phone contacts failed to reach an agreement. In fact, in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2014, Cook admitted that he was very happy at Compaq. He had just come to that company 6 months ago, they had a huge long-term project and even Steve Jobs, whom he admired, could not shake his thinking at that time. He said that although the Apple that Jobs took over in the late 90s was going through difficult times, Cook still had the intuition that Jobs would take the company further.
The meeting changed everything
It seemed impossible to convince Cook, but after just a direct meeting between Jobs and Cook, everything changed. Apple's current CEO told how Steve then started talking to him in detail about the Apple project, from a global vision with a 100% customer focus as well as many technical factors. more technical for industrial and even design purposes.
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Cook did not comment on it for certain reasons, but a salary of nearly $1 million ($400,000/year with another $500,000 bonus) is a very difficult offer to refuse. That was clearly a big number at that time, especially for an Apple that was being restructured.
Tim Cook has taken Apple from success to success.
Tim Cook has taken Apple from success to success.
Tim Cook accepted to work at Apple after a conversation with Steve Jobs, where he felt that this was truly a person who could change the world. From 1998 to 2011, he remained executive vice president at Apple. Along the way, Cook became one of the most important men not only for Jobs but for the company as a whole. That's why he was appointed CEO in 2011, just a few months before Steve Jobs passed away from pancreatic cancer.
There is now a lot of discussion about who could succeed Tim Cook at Apple, with John Ternus emerging as a potential candidate. But finding a successor will take time, especially when they are under great pressure from the successes that Tim Cook has brought, in which Apple's value has increased 15 times compared to when he took charge. , which probably wouldn't have happened without Steve Jobs's equal determination.
