Steve Jobs’ successor Tim Cook stepped up Thursday morning to reassure Apple’s employees that the company will not change with him as CEO, according to a report at the tech blog Ars Technica.
In an e-mail sent out company-wide, Cook wrote:
I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.
Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.
I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that–it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.
As Cook notes, he’s been at Apple for 13 years, so his employees know him well. In fact, according to a definitive 2008 profile of Cook by Fortune writer Adam Lashinsky in a 2008, he’s pretty much been running the show, and making Apple what it is today for a while as Jobs supplied the creative vision.
For those wondering whether Apple can continue its winning streak and culture of innovation, the Fortune profile’s bottom line is that Cook is just as obsessive and focused as Jobs, but he may need some help from some of the company’s creative leaders on the design aspect of things.
Cook, a bachelor (at the time) whose interests outside of work appear to be limited to the outdoors and cycling, has as the firm’s chief operating officer been a force in ensuring that Apple did not befall the fate that many innovative companies do in Silicon Valley — that is self-cannibalization by the roll-out of its new products in the pipeline. Lashinsky points to Palm as an example of what could go wrong.
Given Hewlett-Packard’s recent dismal news, and the uncertain path for its own once-innovative products, Cook’s achievement looks even more impressive.
On the personal side, Cook is a cold guy, Lashinsky says. He quotes one of Cook’s former class-mates saying: “I’d never be comfortable giving Tim a hug or a kiss.”
But he’s no automaton — his heroes, according to the profile, are Bob Dylan and Bobby Kennedy, and he’s donated to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
