""[Jobs'] advice to me was 'Never ask what I would do, just do the right thing,'" Cook told CBS Sunday Morning. This instruction freed Cook from the burden of constantly questioning what his predecessor would do, a pattern Jobs had witnessed at Disney where the company experienced "paralysis of sitting around and talking about what Walt [Disney] would do." Jobs deliberately wanted to prevent this dynamic at Apple."
""I'll never forget that and it was such a gift for me, because he took off of my shoulder this question of, 'What would Steve do?'" Cook explained. "I just put my head down and thought, 'I'm going to be the best version of myself.'" This approach allowed Cook to lead authentically while maintaining Apple's foundational principles and values established under Jobs' tenure."
Steve Jobs instructed Tim Cook to establish his own leadership identity at Apple rather than attempting to replicate Jobs' approach. Jobs had observed Disney's organizational paralysis when employees constantly questioned what Walt Disney would do, and he deliberately avoided this trap at Apple by explicitly telling Cook to do the right thing without asking what Jobs would do. This represented Apple's first professional CEO transition, contrasting with previous successions driven by panic. Cook joined Apple in 1998 and progressed through leadership roles, becoming COO in 2005 before assuming the CEO position. Jobs' guidance liberated Cook from the pressure of emulation, allowing him to become the best version of himself while maintaining Apple's core principles.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]