TRAILBLAZER
TIM COOK JOB TITLE: CEO COMPANY: APPLE
WRITTEN BY: SEAN ASHCROFT
Cook supplied magic ingredients that allowed for Apple to grow
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robably more than any multinational company in history, Apple is the corporate incarnation of its owner. Steve Jobs was Apple, and Apple was Steve Jobs. So back in 2011, when the world learned that Jobs was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, analysts predicted a rocky road ahead for the company. They weren’t alone; few could envisage the company without its inspired, iconic and occasionally tyrannical leader. But Jobs himself had no such fears. Long before his death he knew that his Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, was the best person to take the company forward. It was Cook who served as interim CEO in 2009 when Jobs was on medical leave. Why did Jobs choose Cook? Because more than anyone, it was Cook who had ensured Apple’s phenomenal growth by never allowing the supply of its products
February 2022
to be outstripped by demand, even when demand was stratospheric. Cook joined Apple in 1998, having been recruited by Jobs. “I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for a creative genius,” Cook said at the time. With a degree in industrial engineering, he spent 12 years at IBM, and had a short stint at Compaq, before joining Apple as senior VP of worldwide operating,
