Apple CEO Tim Cook Shares Tidbits About His Life

[QuarterSwede]

Kistler Chardonnay is generally priced between $75 - $100 a bottle. Not that extravagant for a man of his means.
(and yes, I realize the price of wine does not necessarily correlate with the quality of that wine)

When you have that much money you tend to only care about what you actually like, no matter the price.

My favorite daily wine is a $9 bottle of Kirkland Chianti Classico. Absolutely delicious and hits way above its price point.

My all time favorite, once a year wine, is a $250 Novicium. While it’s a blend, and not a grape to grape comparison, it’s really not $241 better.

 

[macos9rules]

Ok, so he’s not Tim Cook, he’s Tim Doesntcook!

 

[Reason077]

"Cook revealed that Apple collects the fruit from the trees that are around the Apple Park campus, using it to make jam."

Gee, as if the CEO of Apple doesn't make enough money that he can afford to buy his jam from Whole Foods or whatever? Maybe he could let some of the less fortunate Apple employees have first pick of the fruit trees? Or even let some local charity or whatever collect the fruit for free?

You'd also think that a CEO of a $3.5 trillion company would have better things to do with his time than pottering around making jam.

 

[citysnaps]

Gee, as if the CEO of Apple doesn't make enough money that he can afford to buy his jam from Whole Foods or whatever? Maybe he could let some of the less fortunate Apple employees have first pick of the fruit trees? Or even let some local charity or whatever collect the fruit for free?

You'd also think that a CEO of a $3.5 trillion company would have better things to do with his time than pottering around making jam.

Relax... It's OK for CEOs to have hobbies, or just being able to enjoy fresh apples. That they're apples from Apple Park is great!

I suspect employees can pick them as well. That's why they are there.

 

[Johnny907]

Uh. There’s paint drying, and then there’s that podcast.
Cook is a number crunching bean counter, he’s not people.
His success (and failure) as a leader of one of the largest companies in the world is all anyone cares about. Trying to flesh him out like this when there’s really nothing more to him is just weird, and he’s made no attempt to humanize himself prior so the timing of this is also weird.

 

[abdullamac77]

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook recently sat down for an interview with Table Manners podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware when he visited London in December. Cook shared insight into his daily routine, his focus on work, and his retirement plans. He also provided some fun details about Apple and some of his favorite things.

Cook revealed that Apple collects the fruit from the trees that are around the Apple Park campus, using it to make jam. He shared spiced apple jam created from Apple Park trees with the podcast hosts. Apple primarily has apple trees because the land where the Apple Park campus is located used to be an orchard, but there are also cherry trees.

While Cook does intend to retire at some point, it won't be the "traditional definition" of retirement. He doesn't see himself "being at home doing nothing" and "not intellectually stimulated." He says he'll "always be wired in that kind of way and want to work."

Cook said that his upbringing was "centered on work." He had a newspaper route at age 11, and at age 14, he "flipped burgers" at a fast food place called Tastee-Freez. His parents "instilled hard work," and the value of it has stayed with him "for a lifetime."

As Cook has said several times before, he wakes up before 5:00 a.m. to start work. He begins his day answering emails while it's still quiet. When asked why he starts with emails, he said it's the part of the day that has no surprises. "Well, as it turns out, it's the part of the day that I can control the most," he said. "As the day starts to unfold, it becomes less predictable."

The early morning is his favorite time of the day because he can "kind of block out the world and focus on a few critical things, and just be silent for a while."

Cook said that he works from Apple Park four days a week, but on Fridays, he tends to work from home. He said he works at home because "nobody's in the office and it's depressing when there's nobody there." Apple has a hybrid working schedule where employees are allowed to work from home up to two days a week.

There were no real hints of new products, but Cook said that there are "so many things" in the pipeline, as he often does. "We have so many things coming up," he said.

Some other tidbits:

• Cook loves white wine, specifically Chardonnay. His favorite is Kistler.
  
• For breakfast, he eats a protein rich cashew cereal from Whole Foods with unsweetened almond milk.
  
• Cook doesn't cook, and eats most of his meals during the week at Caffé Macs. He takes dinner home.
  
• Ethel's Fancy in Palo Alto is one of his preferred restaurants, where he likes to get the octopus.
  
• He eats a lot of fish.
  
• Cook loves chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
  
• Table Manners has a tradition of asking guests about their last meal. Cook said his would be an appetizer of hamachi crudo with jalapeno, a branzino for a main dish, broccolini as a side, and anything chocolate for dessert.
  
• When not working, Cook likes to hike, and he likes to go to national parks for vacation.
  
• Cook recently went caving in Slovenia.

The full Table Manners podcast with Tim Cook can be listened to through Apple Podcasts on the web, iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook Shares Tidbits About His Life

I honestly love that Apple still operates the hybrid work model.. and prefers to work from home on Fridays. It's refreshing to see that some tech CEO's still embrace such a work model. I also appreciate the point of waking up earlier at a time when the world feels silent, before the chaos of life consumes us. Oh, and the fish, he loves fish quite a lot, as I do!

 

[Lift Bar]

Tim Cook’s privacy is so absolute that the only explanation that makes sense is that there aren’t any relationships to hide. Otherwise, it’s unprecedented that he’s managed this level of discretion in such a high-profile role.

 

[nocsi]

Apple kinda needs a maniac like Steve Jobs at the helm again. I think the only good thing about Tim Cook is that he does his computering while tucked in bed - much like myself. Wouldn't be surprised if some teams had beds instead of desks @ Apple

 

[John_Blackthorne]

Real "man of the people," that Tim Cook.

 

[artifex]

I bet he spends at least 4 hours a day waiting patiently for his AVP to charge

I bet they let him have a spare.

I initially found it quirky that he eats so many meals from the company cafeteria, but on the other hand, they're probably very good with any dietary restrictions, know exactly what he likes, and he can amble in or call over any time.

 

[TheGenerous]

Does he floss?

 

[GMShadow]

Apple customers are not very lucky having Tim Cook at the helm. Apple shareholders are very lucky having Tim Cook at the helm.

Apple's product lineup is the healthiest and best it's ever been. The most people can complain about is not being able to use green GPUs in the niche Mac Pro product or that Apple doesn't give them 27 USB ports and a floppy drive on the Mac mini.

 

[ThomasJL]

Apple kinda needs a maniac like Steve Jobs at the helm again.

That would be Scott Forstall. Forstall was the most Steve Jobs-like person at Apple.

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

While Tim Apple might be a bean counter and cares more about shareholders than customers, I gotta say I'd love to work with and be around him than with Steve.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

That would be Scott Forstall. Forstall was the most Steve Jobs-like person at Apple.

Guys, we found Scott's burner account.

 

[karnac]

No children, no pets, no legacy. He's a strange man. The Cook years will be forgotten.

 

[McScooby]

While Tim Apple might be a bean counter and cares more about shareholders than customers, I gotta say I'd love to work with and be around him than with Steve.

Steve died, wise move.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

No children, no pets, no legacy. He's a strange man. The Cook years will be forgotten.

But Animoji and Memoji!!!!!

 

[tonywalker23]

I’m sure the scenery gets old even at Apple Park, but I can’t imagine working from home when I could work at that place. My favorite part of my day is driving to my office, walking into my office, turning on my coffee maker, turning on the heat, closing the door, playing classical music, and starting my day. And that is in an office with no windows and a low ceiling. I can’t imagine being able to do that surrounded by a piece of glass.

 

[steve09090]

That would be Scott Forstall. Forstall was the most Steve Jobs-like person at Apple.

The only thing they have in common is
1) they both worked for Apple
2) they both no longer work for Apple

Forstall was the cause of the Apple Map problems and those disgusting skeuomorphic apps. He started to internally kill Apple before Jobs left. But because they were mates, Jobs wouldn't fire him. Left that for the new CEO to do.

 

[Hank001]

I am lucky to have Tim Cook at the helm of Apple! Because of his squeezing customers on monitors and ram upgrades, I passed on the Mac Studio in the summer of 23 and built a machine I named Badass. I threw a 4090 and an i13900k in it with 8 TB and 128gb of ram with a 32” 4k monitor for less than that single upgraded Mac Studio would have cost. I have learned so much in the past year and a half about modern technology because Tim has taken this lifelong Apple customer for granted. I run LLMs locally, record/master some pretty cool stuff, have learned a fair amount of programming and am reaquinted with the cutting edge of the broader technology landscape. Even recently traded in my iPhone for a pixel pro xl which I absolutely love (my wife and kids got16 pros and are jealous!) We’ll see what happens with their chips (which rock but are software and market share starved), but I believe APPL will lost 1/3rd its market cap in the next 5 years. There’s too many forces way too far ahead of them in their core products and far more marketing hype than technical vision within the company. That can only last so long. Thanks Tim!

So, in short, you're on Windows and Android. Got it.

 

[foobarbaz]

He said he works at home because "nobody's in the office and it's depressing when there's nobody there."

That sentence kinda confirms my suspicion that RTO mandates are all about workaholic executives feeling lonely and using their power to make other people be around.

 

[newyorksole]

I’m the same way, Tim. waking up at 5am is a little too early for me, but I love waking up around 6:30-7:30am and starting the day while most people are asleep.

it’s comforting knowing that no one is going to message me and I can catch up on things in peace.

 

[ChrisA]

We haven't built so much as a transistor in 40 years in this country. US citizens are taught to become business analysts... not work in factories like 19 year old Chinese kids. Tim also knows that.

Actualy it is a lot worse than that.

While our kids don't look for factory work, they do seem to be largely employed as fast food workers and retail sales clerks. Currently there is an impossible-to-fill demand for low-skilled labor, picking strawberries, loading trucks, uber drivers and so on. But very few entry-level engineering jobs.

In 2021 (last year I can find data), China graduated 1.4 million engineering graduates, while the United States graduated 127,000. A more than 10X difference.

Most Americans who make it into a university look for the easiest possible major and end up in Business, communication arts or something like that. Chinese students study engineering, language (English or Chinese) and then mathematics.

Why is that? As a retired engineer, I know that engineering as a career is not easy. American companies care only about short-term profits. The first thing they do in a down turn is to fire the engineers and designers because those people are expensive and any money they generate will not be seen for months or years. it is a quick way to get a boost. They try to minimize these "not-profit producing" employees.

What's funny is what's happening now with Tik Tok. Users fearing the platform will end are moving to other Chinese social media and interacting with normal Chinese people and seeing what they post. Many are shocked to see a girl in China who just bought a super-cute pink full electric car for $15K. An American girl posts "Why can't I have that?" and get 20K "likes". The answer is because rich American companies are scared shirtless of the fact that Chinese universities dump a million and a half new engineers onto the street EVERY year. While they are busy trying to somehow make their current technology last "just a few more years" and to convince the government to "stop this stuff from coming here".

As it turns out, engineers are what they are because they really like making stuff. The same reason artists become artists. But for some reason, China is able to push more than 10 times the number of students through their educational pipeline than the US can. But China is "only" 4X the population of the US, but 10X the number of engineering degrees. All those graduates find "something" to do, even if it means being self-employed because they can't find any other job.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Cook doesn’t cook … really ? 😅
Joke aside, I cannot stand waking up before 5:00AM every morning: my daily routine starts at 6:00AM and it is a PITA 😥