Laurene Powell Jobs profiles Apple’s Tim Cook in Time 100

Time has included Apple CEO, Tim Cook, within its annual 100 Most Influential People list, with a rather wise biographical note written by Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of Emerson Collective.

Tim Cook: ‘Compassion & discipline’

The short piece can’t be repeated verbatim, but what I found most refreshing about the profile is that Mrs Jobs works to look under the skin of Apple’s leader.

Cook has spent his life working at Apple and she believes he has demonstrated many great qualities in his work. Jobs observes that Apple’s products aren’t just gadgets but have also become critical parts of contemporary life. That means Cook must think deeply not just about the needs of the business but also around the impact of that business on society.

As she points out, that means Cook remains under huge pressure – not only must he ensure Apple’s business is done right, but he must also make sure it does right.  “Tim does it with compassion and discipline,” Jobs writes.

She’s full of praise for Cook’s efforts, calling him one of the world’s most admired CEOs and noting his moral leadership, tech imagination, and commitment to the environment and humanitarianism.

Jobs ends the short account paraphrasing a Theodore Roosevelt speech, ending the piece praising Cook’s commitment to Apple as a “grand cause”.

Jobs writes her account far more effectively than my paraphrasing can do justice to (so read the original here), but I do think it’s good that rather than focus on the nonsense that is occasionally thrown into the world about Cook, she seeks to delve a little deeper into the actual qualities that define the man, and how these are evidenced – and why they should be evidenced – in what Apple does and the actions it takes.

Tim Cook believes in responsible business

Cook has made the list at least four times

It’s not the first time Cook has made the list. He was included in 2021 with a profile written by Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, who called him a man of “wisdom” and “excellent judgement”.

In 2015, Cook’s profile was written by the great civil rights leader and Congressman, John Lewis, who said Cook was, “setting a new standard for what business can do in the world.”

Cook also appeared in the list in 2012, when Al Gore wrote, “It is difficult to imagine a harder challenge than following the legendary Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Yet Tim Cook, a soft-spoken, genuinely humble and quietly intense son of an Alabama shipyard worker and a homemaker, hasn’t missed a single beat.”

Cook spoke at the Time 100 Summit in 2019, among a range of interesting comments, he made one that continues to resonate. “It’s been an interesting time period to be a CEO,” he said. “I have always felt that people have values and by extension a corporation should have values.” Cooks continued commitment to privacy also continues to make waves.

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