21. Tim Cook
CEO, Apple – 2011-present
boxxe CEO Phil Doye’s assertion that Tim Cook “does not get the credit he deserves” (see below) would appear on the money considering his relatively modest ranking in this rundown.
While lacking the public profile of many of his top 30 counterparts, Cook has quietly built Apple into the world’s most valuable company during his 13-year reign (helping to boost its market cap from $364bn to $3.4tn).
Four of our 60-strong panel put Cook in their top five.
Leadership style
While Cook may have swapped Jobs’ micromanagement for a looser style, he reportedly gets up at 3.45am every weekday to “get a head start” on email. As Apple’s former COO, Cook arguably has a better eye for operational excellence and maximising margins than his turtleneck-wearing predecessor.
Low points
Despite growing Apple’s market value by nearly ten-fold, critics claim innovation has tapered off during his reign.
Killer quote
“If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.” (Cook, on becoming the first CEO of a Fortune 500 to publicly come out as gay in 2014 – see here).
What our panellists said about Cook
Phil Doye, CEO boxxe
“Tim Cook does not get the credit he deserves. People think he inherited an unstoppable juggernaut created by Steve Jobs. This misses the brilliance of what he has done. Sure, Steve Jobs created an incredible product. But Tim Cook has rewritten the book on sustainable competitive advantage. Timing into new markets has been pretty much flawless and there is rarely a misstep on product development. The growth in services has been remarkable too.”
How did IT Channel Oxygen compile The Century’s Greatest Vendor Leaders? See here
20 leaders were scored higher by our channel panel. See next page for more…
