Tim Cook recently handed the Apple CEO role to John Ternus and transitioned to executive chairman. Amid this change, an old interview clip surfaced online showing Cook recalling the moment Steve Jobs summoned him to discuss becoming the next CEO. Cook said that Jobs called him on an August weekend in 2011 and it was unusually urgent. Jobs asked to speak immediately, telling Cook that after careful reflection, he was determined to make the first orderly, professional chief executive handover in Apple’s corporate history. Jobs told Cook bluntly: he wanted him to take the helm as CEO right away.“When he called me one weekend, in August of 2011, he said, ‘I’d like to talk’. And I said, ‘Okay and I go, When? and he goes, “Now”. And he told me, “I’ve been thinking a lot. Apple’s never had a professional transition at CEO. I’m determined that we will have one. Now, I want you to be the CEO.”The request caught Cook off guard, saying that he did not see that coming because he “felt Steve was getting better. He was still at home, but I felt he was getting better. I was seeing him regularly and, I guess, at the end of the day, I always thought he would bounce. He always had. He had some incredible lows in his health, and it had always bounced, and I always believed he would.”
‘Tim Cook and Steve Jobs discussed about CEO role frequently’
While the two had discussed succession before, Cook envisioned the change happening far into the future.“He had talked to me about being CEO before, and so I always knew it was his long-term thing – that you would become a CEO – but not at that specific moment, and so I had a discussion back and forth about it,” he said/During the conversation, Cook also shared a light moment, saying that he gently tested the reality of the arrangement with lighthearted banter to understand how they would divide responsibilities. Cook asked how Jobs envisioned splitting duties between the chairman role and the CEO post.“I was testing him on this. I said, ‘Well, you know, what kind of things do you want to do as chairman versus I do?’ And it was just sort of having a good banter with him. And, ‘I said, for example, ads, do you want me to just do the ones that I think are right or do you want to be involved in it?’ And he said, ‘Well, I hope you asked my opinion on something.’”On that day, Cook believed Jobs would stay on as chairman for years to come, envisioning an enduring partnership where the two would run Apple side by side.
Cook says: ‘Jobs knew I wasn’t like him’
Cook emphasised that Jobs deliberately chose someone with a completely distinct temperament and leadership style, rather than searching for a replica of himself. Jobs had reflected deeply on who should guide Apple’s next era, fully aware that Cook was not a carbon copy.“He knew when he chose me that I wasn’t like him. That I’m not a carbon copy of him. He obviously thought through that deeply about who he wanted to lead Apple. That, I have always felt the responsibility of — and I’ve wanted desperately to continue his legacy. So, from the onset, I wanted to pour every ounce that I had in myself into the company,” Cook explained.“But, in terms of being everything he was, I’ve never had that objective. I’ve never had the objective of being like him — because I knew the only person I can be is the person I am. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve tried to be the best Tim Cook I can be.”