蒂姆·库克和乔布斯 FT年度人物 蒂姆库克

FT年度人物 蒂姆库克  

More than an hour into Apple’s annual shareholder meeting in February
Tim Cook had patiently fielded questions ranging from its plans for the television market to what he thought of Google Glass. But when one audience member tried to push Apple’s chief executive on the profitability of Apple’s various environmental initiatives
such as its solar-powered data centre
Mr Cook snapped.
“We do things for other reasons than a profit motive
we do things because they are right and just
” Mr Cook growled. Whether in human rights
renewable energy or accessibility for people with special needs
“I don’t think about the bloody ROI
” Mr Cook said
in the same stern
unpromising tone that Apple employees hope they never have to hear. “Just to be very straightforward with you
if that’s a hard line for you . . . then you should get out of the stock.”
Many investors
it turns out
are siding with Mr Cook. After a tumultuous 2013
the share price has increased by around 50 per cent since that shareholder meeting
at one point taking its market capitalisation above $700bn.
事实证明，许多投资者站在了库克这一边。经历了动荡的2013年，苹果股价在这次股东大会后上涨了约50%，一度将苹果市值推至7000亿美元之上。
Changing minds
In the three years after the death of Steve Jobs
Mr Cook
54
has held his nerve through attacks from activist investors and a loss of faith among some that Apple could succeed without its late founder. This year has seen Apple’s chief step out of the shadows of his predecessor and imprint the pany with his own set of values and priorities: bringing in fresh blood
changing how it manages its cash pile
opening Apple up to greater collaboration and focusing more on social issues.
As the new iPhone continues to smash its own launch records
Mr Cook has unveiled products such as Apple Watch and Apple Pay that take the iPhone maker into the realms of fashion and finance
recapturing a spirit of innovation that many feared had died with Jobs. In the process
Apple’s valuation this year has grown by almost as much as Google’s entire market capitalisation.
But the change in Wall Street’s — and Silicon Valley’s — appreciation of Mr Cook is down to more than just the 70m iPhones Apple is expected to sell this quarter or the $42bn in sales generated in the previous.
Financial success and dazzling new technology alone might have been enough to earn Apple’s steely chief executive the FT’s vote as the 2014 Person of the Year
but Mr Cook’s brave exposition of his values also sets him apart.
This was never more powerful than when he talked publicly for the first time about his sexuality.
“If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to e to terms with who he or she is
or bring fort to anyone who feels alone
or inspire people to insist on their equality
then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy
” he wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek in October.
It was a rare glimpse into his closely guarded personal life that also put at risk Apple’s brand in less tolerant parts of the world. Mr Cook was driven to take a stand by his experiences growing up in Alabama
where he has talked of seeing discrimination that “literally would make me sick”.
“From one son of the South and sports fanatic to another
my hat’s off to you
” eeted Bill Clinton
the former US president
in response to the article.
His eloquent defence of equality came after a year of faltering progress on gay marriage in the US and as arguments rage about the lack of diversity among the people running the Silicon Valley panies
including Apple
who shape so much of our culture.
Mr Cook has added three women to what was previously a white-male-dominated executive team and changed Apple’s board charter to mit to seeking out candidates from minorities when appointing directors.
“People claim he has a cool exterior but he’s a very passionate guy and he stands up for what he believes in
” says Bob Iger
Walt Disney chief executive and Apple board member since 2011. “That is in both his personal life and at Apple.”
As well as diversity
Mr Cook has championed sustainability and supply-chain transparency
including a mitment to reducing Apple’s use of conflict minerals. While hyper-efficient under Mr Cook’s management before he became chief executive
Apple’s supply chain has not always been something to boast about
with recurring plaints about working conditions.
But Anne Simpson
senior portfolio manager and director of global governance at the US pension fund Calpers
a prominent Apple shareholder
believes his ethical stance is more than just posturing. “He has a charming disregard for showmanship
” she says. “Tim Cook applies this Apple notion of elegance and excellence to these new arenas.”
Show must go on
Mr Cook’s lack of showmanship has not always been seen as an asset.
Critics have been eager to point out that he is not so closely involved in new product development as his predecessor
and fails to elicit the same excitement when he takes to the stage to introduce them. But Mr Cook is aware of his shortings and has drawn on the worlds of fitness and fashion to assemble a new team of talents
including Angela Ahrendts
formerly of Burberry
and industrial designer Marc Newson.
“I thought it would be impossible to replace Steve
and to some extent that’s true
” says Professor Michael Cusumano of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “But internally the spirit is still alive and the pany is anising around a less confrontational culture. We have to give Tim credit for that.”
Bringing harmony to Apple’s internal fiefdoms has not been easy. There is still “huge tension” inside Apple
according to one person who has worked with the pany for many years. “That tension is something he uses to run the pany but it can be dangerous.”
When things do go wrong
Mr Cook takes swift and merciless action. In late 2012
after the premature launch of Apple’s flawed Maps app
he dismissed Scott Forstall
who led the creation of iOS and was a close ally of Jobs
and John Browett
the former Dixons chief who had led Apple retail for less than a year. The actions sent a message that Mr Cook will not tolerate underperformance or internal politics.
At that time
the chief executive was also under pressure
given Apple’s lack of clear product direction beyond milking the iPhone. Sensing blood
activist investors began to circle the pany; first David Einhorn
then Carl Icahn
have lobbied for changes to how Apple is run and manages its finances. Mr Icahn has pushed for Apple to raise huge debt to return up to $150bn to shareholders and urged it to release more products
including a television set.
With a growing need for someone to block and tackle Apple’s raiders and (given its tax investigation in Europe) regulators
Mr Cook’s focus on people
strategy and execution — rather than products — finally started to look like an advantage.
“He is very
very good at not allowing that pressure to in any way disrupt what Apple is trying to achieve
” says Mr Iger. “Clearly there were issues that were on his mind but Tim made sure they were never on the minds of the people who do what Apple does best.”
Mr Cook’s decision to expand its cash return programme of dividends and share buybacks helped to defuse the situation with the activists
returning $94bn to date. In the end
he stared down the challenge just long enough for the next wave of iPhone growth to hit and new products to emerge from Sir Jonathan Ive’s workshop.
“I don’t think there are any panies that have survived big assaults from o of the biggest beasts in the hedge fund jungle
” says Ms Simpson of Calpers. “He is cool
calm and collected — the corporate exemplar of ‘Keep calm and carry on’.”
That calm can sometimes be taken for a lack of the urgency that is vital in the fast-moving tech industry. Many were disappointed that Apple Watch was not made available to buy this year. But analysts say Apple’s approach of waiting until it has perfected a product usually leads to stronger long-term performance. Samsung
whose smartphone sales have suffered this year
is on its sixth-generation smaratch
but has still not found a real hit.
With the momentum now back behind the iPhone and anticipation growing for the Watch
Mr Cook seems to have won back the confidence of Apple employees
something that analysts say was obvious in his demeanour at this year’s product launches.
“He’s had more of a sense of swagger and confidence” in recent months
says Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.
At its Worldwide Developer Conference in June
Mr Cook was mobbed by app makers who asked him to pose for selfies. By October’s iPad launch
he was even cracking jokes at his own expense. Clad in his habitual but unglamorous uniform of black untucked shirt and jeans
he said that Apple Watch had been well received by “people who know a lot about fashion and style — even more than I do”
pointing a knowing finger at the chuckling audience.
“He’s informal
candid and approachable
” says Ginni Rometty
chief executive of IBM
who praises him as “very authentic. It’s the hallmark of a modern CEO. What you see is what you get.”
Opening up
A partnership with IBM to sell iPads and iPhones to big corporate customers is just one example of how Apple is looking beyond its own walls more under Mr Cook
something Jobs had resisted.
Among dozens of small
technology-focused acquisitions
the $3bn purchase of Beats Electronics
the celebrity-endorsed headphones and music streaming service
stands out as Apple’s largest ever deal. The acquisition still bemuses many Apple analysts
but in Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre
Beats’ founders
Mr Cook has instantly regained credibility with the music industry after years of neglecting the iTunes download store. If Mr Cook is guilty of missing the rapid growth of subscription services such as Spotify
he has moved swiftly to pensate for it — though for a high price.
Prof Cusumano sees all this as evidence that the pany is opening up more
including in allowing developers to customise more of its iOS sofare.
Mr Cook must balance that with the secrecy that surrounds its product development. Already
there are whispers on Apple’s campus about another secret project
on the scale of the iPhone or Watch
which is pulling in talent from across Cupertino.
But whether another hit product can emerge to fend off questions about Apple’s life after Jobs
Mr Cook learnt long ago to be patient and trust his instincts
just as he did when he ignored the doubters to join the then-struggling pany in 1998.
“Even though I’m an engineer and an analytical person at heart
the most important decisions I’ve ever made had nothing to do with any of that
” he told an interviewer at Duke University
where he studied for an MBA
last year. “They were always based on intuition.”