Reading:
Steve Jobs was Apple’s founder and icon CEO. Much of Apple’sphenomenal success, especially after 2000, was attributed to SteveJob’s “genius” and leadership. Because of this and Tim Cook havinga significantly different style from Jobs, he was given littlechance for success. Yet, in 2014, several years after Cook assumedthe CEO position, Apple had what Tim Cook referred to as anunbelievable year. Apple sold 200 million iPhones and had $200billion in revenue. Apple’s stock price increased by 65 percent,and the company’s market value reached more than $700 billion, thelargest ever of any U.S. firm. The $700 billion in market value ismore than twice as much as either Microsoft or Exxon Mobil. Cook’sprimary experience has been as manager of operations; he wasApple’s COO prior to assuming the CEO role. And, much of Apple’ssales are based on products developed and introduced to the marketunder Job’s lead- ership. So, the jury is still out on Cook,especially with regard to developing new products and making them asuccess in the marketplace. Steve Jobs was a master at thisprocess. Cook’s style of lead- ership is much different from theapproach used by Jobs. Some consid- ered Jobs to be ruthless andimpulsive and almost maniacal in developing new products and ensur-ing a high quality product desirable in the market. Cook’sknowledge and skills do not make him an expert in productdevelopment, design, or marketing. So, he delegates those respon-sibilities but remains as the leader and decision maker. Cook triesto buffer and maintain Apple’s corporate culture developed largelyby Jobs. Thus, the emphasis remains on innovation that is valued inthe marketplace. Cook has learned the importance of hiring othertop managers with talent but who also fit into Apple’s culture. Hehas made some very good hires, such as Angela Ahrendts who nowheads Apple’s very important retail stores. Cook takes a much lessemotional approach than Jobs. Some refer to it as a “measuredemotional approach to leadership.” He empowers his team to managetheir functional areas and emphasizes the need to take a long-runperspective. Observers have been able to highlight otherdifferences between Cook’s and Job’s strategic leadershipapproaches. Cook shares the limelight with his leadership team,whereas Jobs kept the light on himself. In fact, one analystsuggested that Cook is a good leader who builds an effective teamaround him. Cook is leading Apple to be more philanthropic than inthe past. His strategy has entailed a major acquisition (an audiocompany for $3 billion) and developing enterprise solutions forcorporate IT units, both strategic actions that Jobs eschewed.Apple has formed an alliance with IBM to develop enterpriseapplications many of which will be designed for the iPad,especially the new and larger versions. Innovations developedduring Cook’s leadership include the Apple watch, introduced to themarket in April 2015. Many are waiting to learn its rate ofsuccess. Initial reports suggest that demand is exceeding supply,causing Apple to increase production. In addition, hints providedby Cook suggest that Apple may be planning to enter the televisionmarket. Most importantly, Cook claims that Apple’s goal is tochange the way people work and will target the development offuture products for that purpose.
Question:
What do you think of Jim Cook’s strategic leadership forApple’s recent success after Jobs passed away?
