- Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal that he is using Steve Jobs’ leadership lessons to guide Apple.
- Jobs’ influence on innovation and small team dynamics remains critical to Apple’s success.
- Cook emphasized the importance of hiring top talent to challenge Apple’s leadership.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is still using lessons from his predecessor to help guide the tech giant.
Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs passed away more than a decade ago, but his unique leadership style has had a lasting impact on today’s top tech leaders. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Cook revealed some of the knowledge he inherited from his time working for him.
“He taught me the value of innovation,” Cook said.
Under Jobs, Apple introduced the world to the MacBook, the iPod, and the revolutionary iPhone. As the artificial intelligence arms race continues and Apple struggles to beat local competitors in key regions like Greater China with the iPhone 16, Cook will need all the smarts he can muster to stay ahead. Dew.
Mr. Cook has spoken highly of working for Mr. Jobs over the years. He has shared advice he received from Jobs in speeches and interviews during his tenure.
Here are three more things Cooks said the late Steve Jobs taught him about management.
“Even a small team can do great things.”
Cook said the teams responsible for developing the iPod and iPhone were “very small teams in the way things work.”
The iPhone team may have been small, but it’s responsible for the device that revolutionized smartphones.
Hire people who challenge themselves
Apple is known as one of the best companies to work for in the technology industry, but it’s also one of the most difficult to find a job at. According to Cook, there’s a reason for that.
He told the Journal that Jobs taught him to hire “the best people around me who will challenge me.” He added that employees should also have “skills that you don’t have” and that managers should have confidence in that.
don’t be afraid to change your mind
The good thing about hiring the “best people” is that you can trust that their ideas may be better than yours. Mr. Cook said that while working with Mr. Jobs, he learned to “not get caught up in past thinking.”
Jobs can change in an instant when “new evidence or things are presented.”
Cook said he was initially taken aback by the tactic, but soon “got really hooked on it.”
“Very few people have that skill because they get stuck in the mindset of the past, and I thought that was a great skill,” Cook said.