GoKawiilAs part of Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with Esquire for an in-depth conversation. In the interview, Cook discussed his memory of Steve Jobs, remarking that Apple is “definitely still his company.”
Cook also once again discussed his strategy for interacting with the Trump administration and politicians around the world.
On Steve Jobs, Cook said that he thinks about the late Apple cofounder often, especially over the last few months amidst the 50th anniversary festivities:
I think about him often—and in the last few months, thinking about the fiftieth anniversary, even more so, honestly. You think about the things he believed in. He believed in the simple, not the complex. He believed in collaboration, that if you put a small group of people together, the output of that small group would be much greater than any individual among them.”
Cook also reiterated something he’s said before, that he believed Jobs would remain Apple’s executive chairman “forever” after he stepped down as CEO. “Looking back, I know somebody could say, How could you think that, given the circumstances? But that’s not the way I was wired in that moment,” Cook said.
The interview then pivots to modern day Apple, with a specific focus on Apple and Cook’s relationship with the Trump administration. “The Trump administration is very accessible,” Cook remarked when asked about the differences between working with it and other presidents.
“So you can talk with them about your point of view on things. They may not agree, but you can engage. You can be heard. You may not, in the end, be able to convince. But engagement for me, not just in the U.S. but around the world, is so important because it is very complex, working through local laws, local customs, local culture, local regulations. Every country is its own story. Everybody’s looks at things differently. And the only way you get a feel for that is to sit before someone and communicate and engage. If you went in my conference room, you would see the Teddy Roosevelt quote ‘It is not the critic who counts.’ I’ve never believed that just yelling from the sideline about plus or minus was a good strategy. Your voice just goes into the wind.”
When pressed on how Apple balances the political climate and keeping people’s trust in the company, Cook said that you “have to have values that are consistent.” He reiterated the company’s unwavering stance on things like privacy, accessibility, education, the environment, and “treating everybody with dignity and respect.”
ESQ: So, lest there be any confusion: Your values are the same as the day you got here? Cook: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. They’re the same.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the Esquire interview, which I think is one of the best Tim Cook pieces in recent years. You can read the full thing on the Esquire website.
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