Tim Cook sits down with Charlie Rose in a candid, honest interview.
We want to make great products that enrich people’s lives.
During a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Apple CEO Tim Cook made it very clear that this statement is the foundation of the technology company. Legendary interviewer Rose, didn’t pull any punches and asked some rather difficult questions of Cook. Questions like, “Where is Steve?” “What happens after the Internet?” and of course, “What’s next?” It was a very illuminating piece of history to watch unfold on our local PBS affiliate. Cook revealed so much about himself as Apple’s CEO, as Steve’s successor, and as a human being.
I was so moved by Cook’s candor and genuine heart as he spoke about Jobs. When asked, “Where is Steve?” by Rose, Cook responded with, “He is in my heart and deep in Apple’s DNA. His spirit will always be the foundation of the company. I literally think about him every day.” Jobs who passed away in 2011 after a long battle with cancer met with Cook many years before when the now CEO was employed at Compaq. After turning down many requests to meet with Jobs, Cook finally agreed citing the fact that he was intrigued to meet the father of the industry that he was working in. In 1998, when the two met, Cook stated that it was his gut that told him to ‘go for it’ and join Apple. He thought, “I can work with this person.” And, so he did.
“Jobs was one of the best mentors in the world. He was a great teacher. He went out of his way to do things. He was an incredible human being,” Cook stated to Rose. Cook also said that he’s never read anything about Jobs being a ‘teacher’ even though that is what he will be remember as by Cook. Cook also revealed that Jobs’s office is exactly the same way it was three years ago when the Apple creator left it for the last time. And, his name is still on the door. “He stood for innovation. He stood for the simple – not the complex.”
While Cook was very candid about Jobs and spoke of him throughout the interview, the thing that was most clear to me was Cook’s enthusiasm for the products that Apple creates. They are working hard to ensure that the products that reach the public will not only make lives better, but they will also be better for the environment. Several of their plants in the U.S. run off of 100% renewable energy and they make sure to take all the toxins out of their products. Cook did remain secretive about ‘future products,’ but said thoughtfully that products are shipped when they are ready adding that Apple’s philosophy has always been “to be the best…not the first.” He referenced that Apple didn’t bring the first MP3 player to the market, but the iPod was the best, first modern MP3 player.
Technology itself isn’t sufficient. It had to have a style element.
Apple has always had an element of ‘style’ in everything they do. Cook referenced the above comment in speaking about the recently announced Apple Watch with Rose. He stated that the Apple Watch is “The Next Chapter” for Apple. It takes us all into a different area. Apple had an intense team working tirelessly on the project for 3 years and Cook feels it’s the more personal device they’ve ever created. Details of the Apple Watch have been very sparse as the device is yet to officially launch. We know that you must have an iPhone for the Apple Watch to operate, but Cook revealed that the Apple Watch can be worn while working out away from your phone similar to other wearable devices. Music can also be stored on the wrist-worn device, which is another detail that was previously left off from Apple.
In addition to the Apple Watch, Cook talked about the style element of Beats. Rose asked him, “Why buy headphones?” Cook responded with, “We saw talent.” He spoke about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine joining the Apple team and how they were wonderful additions to the Apple family. Cook said that he decided that Apple needed Beats one night after listening to their subscription service. “That sequencing of the songs that you listen to affect how you feel. It’s hard to describe, but you know it when you feel it.” Cook couldn’t sleep that night. He said, “We have to do this,” meaning that Apple needed Beats as a partner. They had a solid U.S. branding footprint, but were lacking in the global market. Apple has an enormous global market. So, the merging of the two made sense for both sides.
A lot of what drives innovation is curiosity.
Cook made reference to future innovations that Apple has in the pipeline, but his reference was to say that he didn’t care to comment. He, like his predecessor, is very secretive. Cook did mention that TV is one of the areas that they continue to have a lot of interest in as it hasn’t had any major breakthroughs in decades. He went on to say that the interface is terrible. When Rose asked why Apple doesn’t fix that, Cook responded with, “I don’t want to get into what we are doing in the future.” Cook stated that the Apple development team kicks around a lot of things internally and sometimes they come up with ‘blow-away’ products. And other times they may say, “Let’s stop that one.”
We want to leave the world better than we found it.
Cook rounded out his interview with Rose talking about the values that mean the most to him as a person. He responded with, “Treating people with dignity. Treating people the same. Everyone deserves a basic level of human rights.” Cook keeps photos of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in his office as reminders of the importance of human rights. Everyone deserves respect in Cook’s eyes and he says, “I’ll fight for it until my toes point up.”
