What is Tim Cook's Management Style...New Book about Apple CEO reveals

When Steve Jobs died, everyone asked who will keep Apple at the top. The answer came in the name, Tim Cook. Tim Cook who joined Apple in 1998, was the unanimous choice inside Apple to lead the Tech giant after Jobs. Fact of the matter is, with CEO Steve Jobs' declining health since 2006, many believed that it was the Tim Cook who was running Apple.

Whoever called the shots post 2006 is not an important question; as everything worked brilliantly for Apple in the past half a decade. What is important is the Leadership Style.

Is there a difference in the leadership styles of present CEO Tim Cook and late Steve Jobs?

A new book by former Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane, named 'Haunted Empire, Apple After Steve Jobs' , offers the answer to the question. The book looks into the management style of Tim Cook.

A few excerpts from the book about the management style or leadership style of Tim Cook, whatever you want to call it, are published in WSJ.

How Tim Cook Differs from Late Steve Jobs


You will need to read the book, 'Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs' releasing March 18, 2014 to know everything you always wanted to know about Tim Cook and his management style. For the time being here are a few differences which can be seen from the excerpt from the book and which are shared by various articles from time to time. Here are the few differences :

Focus : Late Steve Jobs' focus was more on Product. In contrast, Tim Cook is seen as a CEO who thinks about procuring best deals from the suppliers and logistics.

In the new Book on Tim Cook, cKane notes that when Cook started at Apple in 1998, he set high expectations for everyone working for him, asking them to act like Apple was a $20 billion company when they were a $6 billion company and to procure the best yields, delivery and prices on components.



Introvert : Unlike Late Steve Jobs who used to speak at lengths, sometimes in most generic terms, to convey his ideas, displeasure and Anger to his subordinates, Tim Cook is a man of few words. And believes in the Wisdom that: Silence is stronger than the Words.

According to cKane, Tim Cook practices silence that can be terrifying to the subordinates. When not happy with an answer, Cook will bombard the person with series of one line Questions. What made the situation even more unnerving for the receiver of these questions is the Zenlike calm exuded by Tim Cook. That apart, Cook has the ability to ask the same question a dozen times in a row.

Unlike Jobs, Cook apparently used deafening silence when he wasn't happy with something.

Discipline : Tim Cook runs his operations meetings in an orderly and disciplined fashion, going through every item and finding any possible error in meetings that could last up to six hours long. Steve Jobs in contrast used to hold crucial meetings in resorts in tourist places, where he will speak for hours to casually dressed attendees.

Artist/machine: To some, Cook was a machine; to others, he was riveting. In contrast, Steve Jobs was more of an artist, with zero tolerance for aesthetics that don't conform to his sensibilities. There are many instances, where Steve rejected a brilliant product of some startup, simply because he found the product too ugly to look at.

Openness : Since Tim Cook took over as the CEO of Apple, one area saw a big change. That area is the atmosphere inside Apple. The Atmosphere inside Apple has become more open. Unlike Steve Jobs, Tim Cook communicates with employees more often via emails and town-hall meetings.That apart, Cook takes his lunch at the cafeteria. He sees the lunch as an opportunity to introduce himself to employees he doesn't know.

Motivator : Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook could strike terror in the hearts of the subordinates. Bosses are just like that. But when it comes to motivation, Tim Cook does motivate Apple employees to achieve greatness and efficiency. Steve Jobs in contrast was many a times seen as a boss who cared least about the subordinates morale.

'Haunted Empire, Apple After Steve Jobs' will be published on March 18.

About the Book



Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs
by: Yukari Iwatani Kane
publisher: HarperBusiness
published: 2014-03-18
ASIN: 0062128256
EAN: 9780062128256
Sales rank: 30652
Price: $20.51

 Former Wall Street Journal technology reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane delves deep inside Apple in the two years since Steve Jobs’s death, revealing the tensions and challenges CEO Tim Cook and his team face as they try to sustain Jobs’s vision and keep the company moving forward.

Steve Jobs's death raised one of the most pressing questions in the tech and business worlds: Could Apple stay great without its iconic leader?

Many inside the company were eager to prove that Apple could be just as innovative as it had been under Jobs. Others were painfully aware of the immense challenge ahead. As its business has become more complex and global, Apple has come under intense scrutiny, much of it critical.

Maintaining market leadership has become crucial as it tries to conquer new frontiers and satisfy the public's insatiable appetite for "insanely great” products. Based on over two hundred interviews with current and former executives, business partners, Apple watchers and others, Haunted Empire is an illuminating portrait of Apple today that offers clues to its future. With nuanced insights and colorful details that only a seasoned journalist could glean, Kane goes beyond the myths and headlines.

She explores Tim Cook’s leadership and its impact on Jobs’s loyal lieutenants, new product development, and Apple’s relationships with Wall Street, the government, tech rivals, suppliers, the media, and consumers. Hard-hitting yet fair, Haunted Empire reveals the perils and opportunities an iconic company faces when it loses its visionary leader.
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